I was excited to read a book by Freida McFadden because I read somewhere that Dr. McFadden is a practicing physician who specializes in brain injuries so I was curious to see how she would weave her expertise of the human mind into her novels.
Never Lie by Freida McFadden was a book I could not put down. It’s giving haunted house vibes from the very beginning. At first glance I thought this book was going to be annoyingly predictable but I was quite wrong. I could not have guessed the ending if I tried. It was truly unexpected. The book starts off well, reels you in, but takes a turn for the worst. I thought there were many inconsistencies in this book for the whole purpose of creating suspense. I just don’t think the author really thought it through or maybe she thought the readers wouldn’t notice? I mean, I’m no Ernest Hemingway but I can spot a hole in a plot when I see one. I also didn’t love quite love the ending but that’s because I like a happy ending and you don’t really get that in this book.
I’ll do my best to provide a summary without giving anything away:
Tricia and Ethan are newlyweds searching for the house of their dreams. They visit a sprawling estate once belonged to renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Adrienne Hale, who disappeared 4 years prior without a trace. Tricia and Ethan get trapped at the estate during a violent winter storm and they conveniently have no cell phone service.
To pass the time Tricia decides to read a book but finds a secret room filled audio transcripts from all of Dr. Hales work with her patients. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance until the truth is ultimately revealed.
Never Lie by Freida McFadden is a captivating psychological thriller that has twists and turns galore. The foreshadowing and details in the beginning simply did not make sense once the plot was revealed which is a bit odd to me and left a bad taste in my mouth. To sum it up, the book was repetitive, full of plot holes, very far-fetched, and once the big reveal came, none of the events that happened previously made any sense. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I can’t say I am sold on Freida McFadden. I had originally planned to read the Locked Door next and had even reserved it from the Greenpoint Library but I have since canceled my request. Maybe her other books are more thought out? I might give her another chance but not anytime soon.
Would I read this again? Sure, it wasn’t the worst book in the world but there are better books to read such as the Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. I will be doing a book review on that book soon so stay tuned!
