Never Lie

This caught me completely off-guard. I was sure I knew what was going to happen, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong! I love when a thriller surprises me!
Tricia and Ethan are searching for a new home, but get caught in a blizzard on their way there. Their agent isn't there, but they are able to get into the house for shelter. Tricia is very uneasy about it. The owner was Dr. Adrienne Hale, a psychiatrist who disappeared 4 years ago. Interspersed with their story is Hale's story, and the revealing tapes of her sessions with patients.
As the story progresses, the clues get dropped, but I was still surprised at the finale. I dropped one star, because I wouldn't think that some of the characters would do what they did, even though not doing it show more would have tarnished their reputation.
Another twisty psychological thriller from McFadden! show less

Trust nobody, suspect everybody and never lie.
Newlyweds Ethan and Tricia are isolated inside a cavernous old house they are viewing in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a heavy snowstorm. The owner, renowned psychiatrist Dr Adrienne Hale, mysteriously disappeared 3 years ago leaving everything she owned behind including cassette tape recordings of every session spent with three key patients.
I loved the creepy, chilling setting - no mobile signal, no wi-fi, impassable banks of snow outside. I loved how the plot unspools through the dual, first person narrative over two timelines – Adrienne (before) and Tricia (present). I loved the mysterious manifestations, the revelations and realisations, the building tension and suspense.
Twist, show more after twist, after twist, Secret and Lies is cleverly constructed and impossible to second guess.
“The only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead”. show less

I am not sure how to rate this lol. I’m not a fan of the ending BUT, she does a REALLY good job of making the MC likable and makes you unaware, until a certain point, who she really was. I was NOT expecting that. I know Freida likes her plot twists as I’ve read a few of her other books BUT, I was NOT expecting it to be the way it was…But she does SUCH a good job with the MC fooling the readers the whole time.

I had several ideas of who it could have been but not, ONE of them was remotely CLOSE. All and all, very good read!

Never Lie is a super quick, addictive thriller that basically dares you to read “just one more chapter” and then steals your evening. The creepy house, the cassette tapes, and Tricia slowly uncovering Dr. Hale’s secrets all kept the tension moving nicely. Some twists felt a bit over-the-top, but honestly, that’s part of the fun with this kind of book. Fast, messy, twisty, and very hard to put down.

Never Lie focuses on how lies and secrets can slowly damage trust between people. One of the main themes is that hiding the truth doesn’t protect anyone; it makes situations more dangerous. The characters don’t “grow” in a traditional way. Instead, readers learn who they really are as their secrets are revealed, showing how fear and guilt shape their choices.
A key literary element is suspense, which McFadden builds by holding back important information and revealing it little by little. The isolated, snowbound house works as a symbol for being trapped, both physically and mentally. The story also uses recordings and shifts in time to create tension and let readers see how the past affects the present. Since the book has no show more illustrations, its emotional impact comes from tight pacing and descriptive writing that makes the reader feel the characters’ anxiety and discomfort. Also, the ending is amazing. Best ending to a book ever. show less

“Something terrible has happened in this house.”
― Freida McFadden, Never Lie

Absolutely phenomenal. Kept me guessing the entire time. Yes, of course i thought i had it all figured out only to be absolutely blindsided - but that's what makes for a good mystery novel right. If you aren't sitting their slack jawed staring at a wall at the end the author is doing it wrong.

A wonderfully tangled psychological thriller!

I’m so excited to have recently discovered Ms. McFadden. The few books I’ve read are exceptionally twisted and she has many more that I’ve added to my TBR list. She’s amazing at fabricating tangled psychological thrillers!

A newlywed couple drives through a snowstorm to look at a house in a remote location. Most people would check the weather when driving a BMW way out to the boondocks, but not them! When the agent doesn’t show up, they find a way into the house to get out of what has become a blizzard. Ethan immediately falls in love with the beautiful, enormous house but Tricia thinks it’s creepy. The house has been empty for a few years and is still filled with the previous show more owner’s belongings. Everything suggests she left the house, intending to return. After some snooping, they find the house was owned by a famous psychiatrist—Dr. Hale—that went missing years earlier. And Tricia found a secret room where Dr. Hale stashed audio tapes of all of her client sessions. Tricia starts listening to them and can’t stop until she unravels some of the mysteries surrounding the house and the previous owner.

My last two reads were intense so this was fun and light in comparison.

#NeverLie #freidamcfadden #dreamscapemedia #kindleunlimited #netgalley #audiobook #audiobookreview #honestreview #bookreviewer show less