Never Lie - Freida McFadden

 “I believe that any human being is capable of terrible things if you push them hard enough.” 

So here it is. My first Freida McFadden book. I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited one day because I needed something to get me out of my reading slump. And boy, did it get me out of my slump, but not the way that you might expect. 

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Started: April 1, 2024

Finished: April 4th, 2024

Synopsis: This story follows Tricia and Ethan, a newlywed couple looking to buy a new house. While they are viewing a new house, in the middle of nowhere, a snowstorm hits and they are stuck in the old house of Adrienne Hale, a world renowned psychiatrist-turned author, who was reported missing for years. While living in the house, Tricia comes across a secret room filled with cassette tapes, recordings of Adrienne's clients during their sessions. Tricia becomes entwined in a story that she wasn't supposed to hear, all while hoping to survive Hale's creepy house that seems to be watching them.

My Review (Spoilers): I think this story is a perfect entry-level book to read if you are looking to get into horror/thriller works. I will admit, I have read much more thrillers than this, but it has the foundation to be good. I enjoyed myself while reading this and it did get me out of my slump, however, the characters were annoying, plot points were shaky, and the ending left underwhelmed. 

First off, the characters. The main characters of Tricia and Ethan were painfully stereotypical. Tricia believing that her husband was her knight in shining armor just came off as horribly naive. She would go from believing that her husband was her savior, to believing that he as going to murder her the next minute. Now, was this all a distraction for her revelation of being an assassin at the end? Who knows, but it came off as annoying. 

Next, the mention of all of these clothing brands and expensive things. We get it. The people in this story are well off. It could just be a me thing, but I hate name-dropping name brand items during a story, it automatically takes me out of the story and does nothing to enhance my reading experience. 

The love interests of Luke and Ethan, left something to be desired. Though, I did enjoy Luke significantly more than Ethan. Ethan was just straight up annoying. Luke at least had morals and had a reasoning for doing what he was doing, especially towards the end.

Moving on to the revelation at the end. Turns out, Tricia is Patricia and she is a "final girl" (actually a murderer) who was hired by Adrienne to get rid of EJ (Edward), her stalker. The only reason why Patricia made her way to this house was to find out where Adrienne was because she was feeling guilty over what she did. Which is far-fetched because she clearly didn't mind when she killed her boyfriend, best friend, and another person before. Just saying. Luke was a homeless man living in the house, also trying to find Adrienne but in the end, he was killed for seeing too much. In the end, Tricia killed Adrienne in order to keep the secret safe. 

Final Thoughts: I overall enjoyed the pure voracity that I read this book. Was it the best thriller I ever read? No. However, it did get me out of my reading slump and I found myself enjoying the parts that were not overly annoying. The lead up was nice, listening to the cassettes were great, and the epilogue was interesting. Overall, it was a solid 3.5 for me.