Never Lie by Freida McFadden - starting 10th of April, 2024

[Shae]

Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.

But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them 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. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.

[Courtney]

I was able to get a copy of this so I can join you guys :)

[Shae]

Yay!

[Courtney]

Starting this a little early since my copy expires soon.

Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[ One big secret? What is she hiding? (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 6 (view spoiler)[ Ethan can be EJ. After just finishing the Teacher I can see that being a possibility. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[ Tricia just found a secret door! (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 8 (view spoiler)[ Tricia is pregnant! She really needs to tell Ethan, though. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 17 (view spoiler)[ Ethan took that alot better than I expected. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 20 (view spoiler)[ EJ is blackmailing her with a tape! (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 21 (view spoiler)[ OMG! EJ is going to piss me off. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 31 (view spoiler)[ The painting over the mantel came from her patient, PL. What if Adrienne went into hiding to get away from EJ? I still want to say Ethan is EJ, but thats to obvious for a Frieda book. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 35 (view spoiler)[ They totally just found a body. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 40 (view spoiler)[ Luke is the one thats been hiding in the house! (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 46 (view spoiler)[ Tricia is Patricia, AKA P.L., I was definitely not expecting that one. So does she know who is in the floorboard already? (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 50 (view spoiler)[ Patricia killed Dr. Hale. I never expected her thats for sure. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Chapter 53 (view spoiler)[ Ethan killed his mom. No wonder him and Tricia seem to work. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Finished (view spoiler)[ They killed Luke! These two are dangerous, and they are bringing more kids into the family. Yikes! (hide spoiler)]

[Patricia]

Courtney wrote: "Finished [spoilers removed]"

Wow how you finished it so fast! I'm still in chapter 3 of the book😭😭but I was planning to finished reading it at the end of the week:)

[Courtney]

I listened to the audiobook while I followed along in the book. Plus it was REALLY good.

[Patricia]

I'm in chapter 38 now. The story gets more interesting and I'm so excited what happened next!

[Shae]

Courtney wrote: "Chapter 6 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yes that’s my thoughts too. EJ is Ethan. (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

Chapter 14 (view spoiler)[ EJ has to be Ethan- the wine is too much of a coincidence. I feel like this is too obvious though, there has to be more of a twist.
Also the picture is back on the wall!! (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Shae wrote: "Chapter 14 (view spoiler)[ EJ has to be Ethan- the wine is too much of a coincidence. I feel like this is too obvious though, there has to be more of a twist.
Also the picture is back on the wall!!" (hide spoiler)]

This book had me all over the place with the back and forth.

[Shae]

Courtney wrote: "Shae wrote: "Chapter 14 wall!!"..."

Haha (view spoiler)[
So I should expect some
Twists by the sounds of it (hide spoiler)]

[Riddhi]

Hey guys! Finished reading this book today and found out that there is a buddy read thread for it already. Thought I'd join you guys in the discussion :) I honestly didn't love this. But I do have a lot of unanswered questions about the story.

[Riddhi]

Courtney wrote: "Chapter 20 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I am not sure how serious an offence like slashing someone's car tires is in other countries, but do you think it was severe enough for Adrienne to buckle under the blackmail and agree to EJ's conditions putting herself in an actual physical danger? Because EJ was clearly malacious. (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Riddhi wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Chapter 20 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I think it was a wierd reason for her to be being blackmailed. Then again she felt if the video got out her reputation would take a hit. So it kind of makes sense but their could have been better ways to pull off the blackmail more interesting. (hide spoiler)]

[Riddhi]

Courtney wrote: "Riddhi wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Chapter 20 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

I agree with you. (view spoiler)[The second blackmail video did raise the stakes a lot. I felt so bad for poor Luke. He seemed like such a loving guy. He should have stayed away after he broke up with Adrienne once. (hide spoiler)]

[Riddhi]

Courtney wrote: "Finished [spoilers removed]"

Haha yeah. (view spoiler)[And how could they be so okay seeing their daughter playing over the grave of the guy they buried together in the garden? That gave me the ick too. And Tricia was already planning for the possibility of killing Ethan! (hide spoiler)]

[Riddhi]

I also wonder why (view spoiler)[Tricia's full name Patricia was not used throughout the book? I understand the author wanted to keep her identity hidden. But in Adrienne's recordings of her sessions, only her initials PL were used. So we anyway didn't know who the person was and her full name could have been used in the rest of the story. Do you think it would have been easier to figure out that Patricia was PL? (hide spoiler)]

[Courtney]

Riddhi wrote: "I also wonder why [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ She used initials because of patient clint privilege. I honestly liked that twist. It was so left field. I was to busy hating on Ethan. 😆 (hide spoiler)]

[Riddhi]

Courtney wrote: "Riddhi wrote: "I also wonder why [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Yeah same. Ethan was not very likeable throughout. (view spoiler)[I was feeling sympathetic for Tricia thinking how she is stuck with an impulsive controlling guy lol (hide spoiler)]

[Riddhi]

Also, I just realised that (view spoiler)[all the three psychopaths in the book (Ethan, EJ and Tricia) killed their parents or grandparents :/ They all are similar to one another. (hide spoiler)]

How you guys feel about Adrienne Hale by the end of the story? (view spoiler)[Do you think she was also manipulative and selfish and deserved what happened to her? Or was she just a victim of circumstances?

I personally did not like how she treated Luke. She was clearly manipulative even though in her head she convinced herself that she was just being reasonable. But she clearly took advantage of the fact that Luke was in love with her and would do anything for her. We did not get to know much about her past life in the book but I won't be surprised to find a few buried bodies in her backyard as well. She was also so judgmental for a psychotherapist. (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

Courtney wrote: "Chapter 46 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ this blew my mind!!! I can’t believe and was not expecting Tricia to be PJ! (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

Riddhi wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Finished [spoilers removed]"

Haha yeah. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ yes Tricia planning to kill Ethan and their daughter playing on top of the grave was so weird (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

Courtney wrote: "Riddhi wrote: "I also wonder why [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Haha me too! (view spoiler)[ I was so busy hating on Ethan and cracking that mystery, I was fooled by Tricia!! (hide spoiler)]

[Shae]

Riddhi wrote: "Also, I just realised that [spoilers removed]

How you guys feel about Adrienne Hale by the end of the ? O..."

(view spoiler)[ yes I thought she was manipulative and definitely thought something was going to come out about her in the twist. (hide spoiler)]

[Kat]

I finished this in three days, so many unexpected twists and turns. I couldn’t find the post whilst reading so couldn’t update. I gave it 4*

[Maisha]

Planning on starting this book today. Might just join this buddy read as well :3