Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

52 reviews

gondorgirl's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gore, Murder, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Sexism, Cursing, Eating disorder, and Sexual harassment

tjdewald's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Very quick read, easy to follow. This book did have me hooked for the first 200-250 pages. However, when there was about 60 pages left, I felt it dragging on. The conclusion was unsatisfying and felt very rushed yet somehow drug out. It was like the author decided who did it 250 pages in and had to quickly tie it to that character. I thought there was an unnecessary amount of sexually explicit scenes. Some are okay but it became tacky quickly, especially one of the later ones (you know which one if you’ve read it). 

Overall, it was okay. Two stars for the first 200-250 pages but the last 100ish just didn’t work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Blood, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Rape, Murder, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

onabookban's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So good. I had been reading so much hype about this, and I was surprised when it was (for me) a little slow to begin! But it became so addictive so quickly - such good character building and detailed thoroughness in the plot and world, too. I love a thriller that is also a little sexy, and also one where the victims and narrators are complicated/imperfect, and this is awesome on both counts. And - so amazingly unexpected in all the turns and shocks, right down to the end - I loved it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexism, Violence, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Sexual violence

enzopudge's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

abookwanderer's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

When a copy of Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera landed on my doorstep—kindly provided by the publisher—it wasn’t a book I’d planned on reading anytime soon. But I’d noticed all the buzz around this thriller, and I couldn’t help but be intrigued. It seemed like everyone was reading it! While thrillers and mysteries aren’t my go-to genre, I do enjoy them when they’re good, and within the first few pages, I was hooked!

I sped through this one quickly, entranced and entertained—a great cast of characters, a creepy small-town setting, all wrapped around a podcast I would listen to. A few things gave me pause, but let’s start with what I liked.

Books set around a podcast are popular right now, and I don’t mind it one bit. I just finished a romance/mystery that featured a podcast theme (The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn), and I thoroughly enjoyed it, as well. I like alternating between the narrative and the podcast, which breaks up the story, building the suspense. I like how podcast hosts are basically the modern-day version of an old school detective.

Listen for the Lie is set in my home state of Texas during the smoldering summer, and I could easily identify with every description of the oppressive heat. It also successfully matches the growing pressure to solve this cold case.

The cast of characters are pretty much all unreliable, but I didn’t mind. They’re each distinctive and easily recognizable. The story is told from Lucy’s point of view with the podcast transcripts and interviews alternating some of the chapters.

Even if Lucy is unreliable, I liked her. She’s witty and sharp-tongued, but she’s pretty much been forced to put up a wall of protection around herself since almost everyone—including most of her family—thinks she may be a murderer. And thanks to her amnesia, she doesn’t even know the truth herself. I found myself rooting for Lucy, even if she did kill her best friend!

A few things did make this story a bit unrealistic for me—most that I can’t talk about without spoilers. While they took me out of the book at moments, I was able to shrug them off and keep reading. For example, almost everyone in this town is cheating on someone. I can understand one or two instances but at some point it just becomes redundant. And as much as everyone drinks and sleeps around, I found it hard to believe that the key characters hadn’t let any secrets slip.

I rarely read a thriller where the ending wraps up perfectly for me, so I’m always prepared to be underwhelmed at the end—it’s just not something I necessarily require to enjoy a mystery. If the bulk of the book has been good, I can forgive a weaker ending. And while the climax of this story was rewarding, the reveal felt a little too predictable for me, but not so much that it affected how I felt about the entirety of the book.

Listen for the Lie kept me invested, I didn’t want to set it down, so for me that’s a win! If you’re a fan of podcast mysteries or dark comedies, add this one to your tbr. It’d be a perfect vacation or poolside read for the summer!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Celadon Books for providing me with a copy.

Check out my reviews and playlists at A Book Wanderer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

ddrosche's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

amandafitz's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I was hooked from the first pages. I fell asleep reading and picked it back up in the morning.  I loved Ben’s cocky but sweet smugness. Lucy’s sarcastic comments during awkward situations were hilarious. I loved her grandmother’s personality even more. I’ve never laughed so much while reading a thriller like I did while reading Lucy & the grandmother’s interactions with other people. I would love to see a series come from this with Ben’s podcasts solving other cold cases (but not without Lucy and her grandmother of course 😏)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Sexism, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

lauraelovesbooks's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I could not put this down! The blend of sarcastic humour, murder mystery, and small town dynamics was so captivating. 

Lucy is such a great character. I loved her wit and her resilience in the face of almost everyone automatically assuming the worst about her.

The way the book was formatted, with transcripts of the podcast woven in, lent itself particularly well to an audiobook (and the narrators did a fantastic job with the different voices of the characters). 

The whole experience of this book was such an enjoyable one. There were plenty of twists and turns, but never any that went too over the top (there is so much pressure these days to have jaw-dropping plot twists, often at the expense of plausibility). It’s strange to say, but I was enjoying this book and its characters so much I didn’t even really try to guess what was going to happen next, I was just happy to be along for the ride 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual assault

christinesreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting