Written by Frieda McFadden, published in 2022. Summary and review.

Never Lie is a psychological thriller novel written by Freida McFadden. The story follows newlyweds Tricia and Ethan who are searching for the house of their dreams in BFE New York (if memory serves). During a blizzard, they visit a remote mansion that had previously belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who had vanished without a trace four years earlier.

With their car stuck in the snow, the two love birds are forced to stay at the estate with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end. In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. Could be fun, yeah? As she listens to the cassette tapes (an ancient form of recording audio for the young folks playing along), she learns about the events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes while sneaking off from Ethan, who wouldn’t allow such a breach of trust. But of course this provides us with the creep tale of Never Lie.

While I didn’t love the writing style, which felt very elementary (not saying I could do any better), I did enjoy the twists and turns that happen. I had pegged the bad guy… only to find out he wasn’t the bad guy… but the it turns out he was the bad guy! (cue Billie Elish).

SPOILER ALERT. Everyone is bad in this tale… just to what degree. You’ve got Ethan loving husband and matricidal killer. The mom was the missing psychiatrist who’s tapes we listen to. Tricia is crazy and has killed SEVERAL people before our story takes place (though that’s not integral to the story other than to confirm she’s nuts). The dead mom/psychiatrist is ALSO a killer, having muckducked one of her deranged patients EJ.

It’s kind of fun thinking you know the killer… but come to find out everyone is bad. I can respect a fully dark story.

TLDR: Neve Lie was a little slow to start, and the writing style was quite simplistic (easy to reach I suppose), but the story built nicely and finished with some bombs. I ruined them above, you’re welcome. Would Recommend. 4/5 Stars.