Never Lie by Freida McFadden (Goodreads Author)

Amy Caudill‘s review

Nov 03, 2024

I honestly can’t say I remember when I picked up a copy of this book, but I will say I will be reading more from this author, assuming my heart can handle it.  Freida McFadden’s work contained shocking twists near the end, and they just kept coming.  

What begins as a seemingly run-of-the-mill plot, with a couple stranded at an isolated country home during a blizzard, leads the reader on a merry chase with one red herring of an antagonist through the majority of the book.  Tricia and Ethan seem like a happily married newly wed couple, but why are they keeping secrets from each other, and why are they afraid of how the other will react when they are revealed? From the very beginning some of their interactions seem off, though I only realized this in hindsight.

The home they find themselves in is the former abode of Dr. Adrienne Hale, a psychiatrist and bestselling author who disappeared under mysterious circumstances three years prior.  Will their unintended stay reveal clues to the doctor’s disappearance, and is she really the innocent victim?

Tricia finds a secret room where the good doctor kept cassette tapes of all her sessions with her patients, and surreptitiously starts to listen to them to pass the time, and because she can’t contain her curiosity.  Meanwhile, Ethan disappears somewhere upstairs to “work” remotely, and the reader is left wondering about the identity of one particular patient, who was blackmailing Dr. Hale.  

The chapters with Tricia and Ethan are interspersed with those of Adrienne, prior to her disappearance, and the audience learns of the same events from her point of view.  While Adrienne seemingly believes she does a lot of good, it is amazing the lengths she will go to to keep her secrets; and the reader has to wonder exactly what happened to her, and who caused it, which is only revealed near the end.  

The big question posed by this story; is anyone truly innocent?  Without revealing any more spoilers, I will say the conclusion shocked me.

This is an excellent psychological thriller and I would recommend it to any fans of the genre. I give this story five stars.