Amy Tintera’s Listen for the Lie is the latest pick for the Good Morning America book club.
Tintera’s thriller, published Tuesday by Celadon, follows Lucy, a woman suspected of murdering her best friend after she is found wandering the streets covered in blood. Lucy tries to start a new life, moving from her small Texas town to Los Angeles, but the case is resurrected by the host of a true crime podcast.
A critic for Kirkus praised the book, calling it “smart, edgy, and entertaining as heck.”
Eva Pilgrim of ABC News announced the novel’s selection on the morning show, saying, “We recommend clearing your schedule, because once you start reading, you’re not going to be able to stop.”
Pilgrim talked to Tintera about the novel, asking the author why she decided to tackle the true crime genre in the book.
“I listened to Serial years ago, with everyone else, and I loved it,” Tintera said. “It just seemed like a really interesting way to get background about a story. I thought, If you put that into a book, what an exciting way to hear about what happened.”
Pilgrim noted that the novel contains humor, and she asked Tintera about writing the book’s funny scenes.
“I personally can’t really write a book without being funny,” Tintera said. “I need to make jokes in serious situations. Maybe it’s like my coping mechanism. So writing a murder mystery with jokes just felt very natural to me, and true crime is a little bit funny when you think about it. It’s terrible situations, but then we’re listening to these very dramatic portrayals of them, so I’ve got to make some jokes about it.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
