Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

197 reviews

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No

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dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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fast-paced
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think it was really well written, but my personal preference for mysteries is when clues come from more than one source (in this case it’s literally just waiting for the missing memories to come back) and when the audience could possibly figure it out before the answer is revealed. 

This was more painful than I expected to listen for the domestic abuse. There aren’t many descriptions of the actual scenes of abuse, and they aren’t in great detail, but there are frequent reminders and we see in the past and present what the public dynamic is, which is so realistic and painful and frustrating and unfair and so, so sad. 

So even though the content warning is accurate that there’s minimal explicit domestic violence, there’s so much surrounding it and so much of other people judging victimhood and innocence and the way that people are sort of brought up in our patriarchal society to protect men’s reputations at all women’s costs and the horrific gaslighting. It’s just really heavy even though technically there’s not much DV. I was also just so conscious the whole time about how this took place in Texas and how this would probably be a really unsafe place for a woman to be abused and ever tell law enforcement. 

Thriller-wise, I thought it was well paced and was consistently intense. Mystery-wise, I would argue that this wasn’t the kind of mystery that the audience could solve until the protagonist figured it out. And the clues primarily came from recovered memories of the night in question, one scene at a time, which felt a bit overly convenient occasionally.

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dark funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I rated this 4* when I first read it, but after a week of reflecting, I realised it’s not that good. I enjoyed the story a lot and had fun with it, but
I just ultimately feel like the podcast element of the book wasn’t at all necessary for the plot or ending. I was so disappointed by the abrupt and incomplete final episode, and that Ben lied, and the whole thing ran dry. The podcast subplot could be totally missing from the book - especially after Lucy is in Texas. I just wish more was done with it, it felt a bit like a jump on the trend rather than relevant to the book.

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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