And how many times do we have to hear her tell us her friends think her husband she married that she barely knew has red flags but they are clearly wrong because he’s just “so sweet”? Or how many times do we have to hear that he wants this house and her thinking to herself “nope! Not going to happen!”? How many times do we have to hear that they saw a light on upstairs as they approached the house? We get it!! It’s so hard to concentrate on anything with the juvenile-esque writing style. It would be different if any of the characters were interesting or had a personality, but we don’t have that here either. Unless you count the female MC being utterly vapid as having a personality. Not my jam. I’ve given two books a shot now and am not even a little impressed. Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are snowed in during their viewing at the creepy, dusty, secluded mcmansion once owned by Dr. Adrienne Hale, who mysteriously disappeared without a trace four years ago. When Tricia finds her secret tapes of her sessions, she starts listening to get to the bottom of the doctor's disappearance. Newlyweds Ethan and Tricia were house hunting, looking for the perfect house to live their lives and grow their family. One evening, during a snowstorm, the drove to a remote manor where Dr. Adrienne Hale once lived. Dr. Hale vanished without a trace four years earlier. Tricia is initially creeped out by the house; she felt uneasy the moment she walked in there. Ethan didn’t seem as uneasy. While looking to for something to keep herself occupied, Tricia reaches for a book to read, and instead of coming off the shelf, opens to a hidden room where Dr. Hale kept tapes of all her sessions with her clients. Tricia decides to listen to the tapes, and she learns about what happened leading up to Dr. Hale’s disappearance. And then Tricia listens to one particular tape, the one that reveals the truth.

Never Lie, a review by Kristin – The Book Review Crew Never Lie, a review by Kristin – The Book Review Crew

Narration notes ~ fine job, but wish I could've sped it up some more without it skipping. Her voice was a little slow and I really wish there were 2 different narrators or some distinction between characters. I'm wondering if I would've enjoyed it a tad more if I read it rather than listened. I have yet to read all of Freida's books, but I can say with some certainty that one words sums them up perfectly.They end up at an old, gigantic manor, waiting for their realtor. But due to a blizzard she never shows. The the of them take shelter in the house.it turns out to be the house of missing Dr Adrienne Hall, bestselling author of “Anatomy of Fear”. Tricia already has a bad feeling about the house, something happened here. Then she stumbles across a secret room, filled of recordings of Adrienne’s sessions with her patients. That’s when the mystery unravels. I never completely meshed with this story. So much of it was over-the-top unrealistic. I think we all want to feel that we could walk in the shoes of the characters we read about even if only for a moment. (Or a chapter). But it just wasn’t possible here.

Never Lie by Freida McFadden | Goodreads Never Lie by Freida McFadden | Goodreads

Where to start, where to start? Ok let's do the writing. I truly believe there are sixth graders who can write more compelling sentences. Here's an excerpt that nearly gave me an aneurysm: Lastly, tell me how Tricia can get away with murdering nearly ten people that are all intimately known to her. So her grammy and fiance and besties all die and no one bats an eye? Even Detective Pikachu could make the connections. Cmon now. Overall. I don't really get why a lot of people are raving about this. It felt rushed to me. Yes, there were a couple of complex characters but they weren't likeble at all. A lot of twists were easy to figure out because the author threw a lot of obvious foreshadowing. Or the ludicrous twists that may have worked if this book had been written in third person, but in first person are utterly absurd? Told in the now by Trisha and in the before by Adrienne with some transcripts thrown in for fun. This approach was a good call to build up the suspense.

Then we have the aggressive spoon-feeding. I felt like I was being choked to death with the flashing neon sign foreshadowing that Freida deployed. Here's a sample: THOUGHTS I often tell a book is fast-paced (everything is when you have ADHD). BUT THIS, THIS WAS OVER IN A HEARTBEAT. It was simply written, just how I like my thrillers, I don't need good descriptions, just give me the creeps. And it SURE DID DELIVER. I want to read everything this author has put out and I'm so glad I jumped on this band wagon.