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A review by renegaderoxi
Never Lie by Freida McFadden
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I know this book gets high ratings, so I’m willing to admit that perhaps it just wasn’t my cup of tea, (and that’s totally okay). This was my first Frieda McFadden book and I’d be willing to give another one a try just to have a basis for comparison.
I’m giving 2 and a half stars in acknowledgment of the fact that the “whodunnit” towards the book’s end was twisty and did catch me by surprise. But the characters were, for me, so unbelievable and unlikeable that I couldn’t even bring myself to care. Perhaps the twists would have hit much harder if I could have.
The beginning felt very repetitive to me with Tricia’s declarations of how wonderful her new husband was, and certain details of the story that were hammered home again and again. Now that I’ve read the end, I understand that these details were repeated on purpose to draw your attention to a particular place, and make you think one thing was going on, while it was really a wholly different thing altogether, a bit of literary sleight-of-hand, if you will.
Although, I give stars because McFadden pulled it off and I didn’t guess correctly, in part, this was because the characters’ actions just seemed so far fetched. Even if you account for the fact that extreme mental illness and psychopathy could account for seemingly incomprehensible and over-the-top courses of action that result in a domino-effect of terrible events, surely not all the characters in the book are this disturbed.
It seems the book wanted to venture into the premise that all human beings are capable of terribly dark acts given the right circumstances. Perhaps this is true, but the circumstances that caused these characters to give in to their worst impulses were, in my opinion, fairly low-stakes. (This was not the case for all of them), but was so often enough for me to find it highly unlikely and therefore lacking believability.
That said, it was a quick read. I was able to finish it in one afternoon with plenty of breaks taken, so if you’re looking for a fast-paced, thriller read covering the themes of psychology/Psychiatry, mental illness, a grand spooky house in the middle of nowhere, a stalker and blackmail and human beings behaving at their worst, then this book just may be for you, and hopefully you’ll like it more than I did.
I’m giving 2 and a half stars in acknowledgment of the fact that the “whodunnit” towards the book’s end was twisty and did catch me by surprise. But the characters were, for me, so unbelievable and unlikeable that I couldn’t even bring myself to care. Perhaps the twists would have hit much harder if I could have.
The beginning felt very repetitive to me with Tricia’s declarations of how wonderful her new husband was, and certain details of the story that were hammered home again and again. Now that I’ve read the end, I understand that these details were repeated on purpose to draw your attention to a particular place, and make you think one thing was going on, while it was really a wholly different thing altogether, a bit of literary sleight-of-hand, if you will.
Although, I give stars because McFadden pulled it off and I didn’t guess correctly, in part, this was because the characters’ actions just seemed so far fetched. Even if you account for the fact that extreme mental illness and psychopathy could account for seemingly incomprehensible and over-the-top courses of action that result in a domino-effect of terrible events, surely not all the characters in the book are this disturbed.
It seems the book wanted to venture into the premise that all human beings are capable of terribly dark acts given the right circumstances. Perhaps this is true, but the circumstances that caused these characters to give in to their worst impulses were, in my opinion, fairly low-stakes. (This was not the case for all of them), but was so often enough for me to find it highly unlikely and therefore lacking believability.
That said, it was a quick read. I was able to finish it in one afternoon with plenty of breaks taken, so if you’re looking for a fast-paced, thriller read covering the themes of psychology/Psychiatry, mental illness, a grand spooky house in the middle of nowhere, a stalker and blackmail and human beings behaving at their worst, then this book just may be for you, and hopefully you’ll like it more than I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Mental illness, and Death