Never Lie is a psychological thriller/mystery/suspense fiction novel by NYT best selling author Freida McFadden. The book centers around two main characters, both females, with big personalities. Tricia, who is a newly wed to her husband Ethan, and Dr. Hale, who is a famous author and psychiatrist, who just so happens to live out in the middle of nowhere New York, alone.
Dr. Hale goes missing, and has been missing for three years, everyone thinks the boyfriend did it, but did he? Throughout the course of this 290-something page turner, we uncover the truth as to what happened to Dr. Hale, and more importantly, what happened to Tricia in the past, prior to her marriage to Ethan.
Tricia is a deeply developed character, at first seeming surface and generic. Your average New York woman in her thirties who’s biggest problem is which shoes she’s going to wear that morning.
Dr. Adrienne Hale is a lone wolf power woman. Not scared of anything, or so she seems at the beginning. Dr. Hale is intelligent, and down to earth, but in the most fucked up yet humbling way. How she thinks is so brutally honest. If I had even half the ability to channel Adrienne in my day to day I’d be unstoppable. Her tenacity and desire for the truth is seductive (in a non-sexual way) . You can’t help but to love her, side with her, feel her thoughts and words as your own.
If I go on, I fear i’ll spoil a great read. But of course this doesn’t come with it’s cons. And this book really only has a couple for me. One, it reads very easily, and that’s not a bad thing for most readers, but I have been reading high fantasy and intensely written books for months now. Switching to something so simplistic and easy was weird, it was like i wasnt really reading. I don’t really think this is a bad thing, now that I think about it farther, but for someone who might be looking for a read that isn’t so elementary, I wouldn’t recommend this book, but if you are, and your brain needs a break, then this is a phenomenal option.
Two, the book is very “I”, “Me”, especially at the beginning. I understand that this happens a lot, especially in books with first person pov, but I personally find it icky, especially if it isn’t done tastefully. And this book went a little too far into the ick side for me, but mostly at the beginning.
Overall, I gave this book a ⅘ stars on GoodReads. The story was twisty and although at first it was easy to guess what was going to happen, after about 50% in, I could not guess anymore at what was going to happen next. I was completely caught off guard and taken by surprise at the details that developed in the final 50% of the book, mostly at the ending. Talk about crazy.
Anyways, give this book a read, but just understand that it may not be your cup of tea and there are some trigger warnings associated with this story, like murder, obsessive behavior, and death just to name a few.
As always, xoxo,
Ari
Ariana Alexander 