The Stupid Case of Never Lie by Freida McFadden

A book about newlyweds who, while searching for a new house, find themselves staying at a potential property that happens to be the former residence of a psychiatrist who vanished a couple of years prior. The narrative gradually reveals the circumstances of her disappearance and the fate of the newlywed entangled in this mystery.

It sounds fascinating on paper (ironic, I know!), but the execution fell short. Freida McFadden, a New York Times best-selling author, brought this concept to life in her 2022 book, Never Lie.

Before detailing why this book won't make my recommendation list, I'll provide a brief overview of the plot and characters. The story centers on Tricia and Ethan, a newlywed couple seeking a home. Their realtor, Julia, discovers a mansion in a remote area and invites them for a viewing. Upon arrival, a blizzard forces them to seek shelter in the old manor. Inside, they search for Julia but find no one. They then discover a portrait of the previous owner, Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who disappeared years ago. The narrative alternates between Tricia's present-day perspective and Adrienne's past, revealed through flashbacks.

As the story progresses, Tricia becomes increasingly uneasy, sensing an unseen presence in the house. She remains vigilant, while Ethan becomes enamored with the property, deciding it's their ideal home. The story unfolds, revealing Adrienne's disappearance and the couple's involvement in the mystery.

Now, with a *Spoiler Alert* in place, let's discuss why this book disappointed me.

The story begins with Tricia and Ethan seeking shelter from a blizzard. Tricia, for reasons unexplained, dislikes the house, while Ethan insists on buying it. They find a light on in a room but discover nothing and believed that someone else is in the mansion. They then notice a portrait and learn it's Dr. Adrienne Hale, author of The Anatomy of Fear, who vanished years ago. During their stay, Tricia discovers a hidden room containing cassette tapes and listens to them in secret. The tapes feature three patients: PL, suffering from PTSD; EJ, with narcissistic personality disorder; and GW, experiencing paranoid delusions.

Through the tapes, Tricia learns EJ was blackmailing Dr. Hale with a video of her slashing his tires after she terminated his treatment because she was not being paid, only senseible decision in this book). Adrienne sought help from her boyfriend, Luke, a computer hacker. In the present, Tricia's suspicions are confirmed when she finds a sleeping bag in the attic and later encounters Luke in Dr. Hale's office. They restrain him, and he claims the body they found under the floor isn't Adrienne's. This leads to a plot twist: Ethan leaves to get help (shouldn't you have done it the second you saw that blizzard has stopped and secondly why go to an open house when you started to realize a blizzard has started, make it make sense), and Tricia, left alone, re-hides all the tapes except one. This tape reveals Tricia whose real name is Patricia, was infact PL. Adrienne enlisted Tricia's help to kidnap and then kill EJ by locking him in floorboard. Tricia, fearing exposure, then kills Adrienne and burns her body. The final twist reveals Ethan is the son of GW, who's worst fear came true when her son indeed killed her. Tricia, aware of his identity, had been stalking him before their relationship began. The story concludes with Tricia and Ethan's children playing in the backyard, where Luke and EJ are buried.

My main issue is that the author, intending Tricia to be the killer, created convoluted connections that lacked coherence. The plot was written in such a way that it doesn't matter how but the murder has to be Tricia only and noone else.

The plot twist seems senseless; the motivation to kill EJ was that he has a video of you slashing someone's tires (Stupid much!). As for Tricia and Adrienne's plotline, nothing made sense, if you knew that she was the killer and everything, shouldn’t you have informed the police, especially the police officer who knew she did it but didn’t have proof to stick it? You were just going to let a murderer go away and live a happy life in a different state? After the revelation till now I have a lingering thought in my head, why the hell were you holding this information and what made you think that she wouldn’t do anything to you after you asked her help to do something illegal when you already know that she have killed for something much less (I don't condone cheating.)

There are so many things that just didn’t sit right with me. For her not telling Ethan she was pregnant intially and then randomly spitting it out because she threw up, like if you are here to find a dead body, then why are you telling your husband you are pregnant all of a sudden, and what was the need of pointing out that Ethan was staring at the portrait? (Btw who hangs a huge potrait of themselves, like seriously) Why did he know where the heating system was? Or why did Tricia, on one hand, hates the idea of wearing a missing person’s clothes yet happily wear it? And mainly, why, seriously, why, is there so much eating and why is everything so stretched and so long? I had a pet peeve of people not ever sitting down and having a meal but this book made sure that I have develop a new one. They are eating in every chapter, and not just eating; they are telling you what they are cooking and how they are cooking.

The biggest problem with the book was that you never felt anything; you were never pulled in. The writing just tells you everything; it doesn’t build the atmosphere that makes you wonder why this thing was happening or keeps you at the edge of your seat. It calls itself a mystery thriller but there isn't an ounce of mystery in it, for example the book keeps on telling you that there are similarities in EJ and Ethan, hence, floating an assumption that maybe they are same people; only to reveal that they are two different beings. This assumption only works when there are other factors that can point at other people and you starting adding two and two to reached this point.

Nothing is choersive (Much like this post, which I say was deliberate!) in this book. And don't get me started on the nicknames in this book, it is like, boom you didn't see that coming now did you. Yes, we didn't because there was nothing previously mentioned for us to be like 'that was so blatantly in our face.'

It is a quick read, and the funniest thing was that if you read the first few chapters and then directly jump to the last few chapters, you won’t miss anything. The revelation was as bland as possible, like the end of the chapter before the plot twist, which, mind you, is a transcript of a tape that ends with ‘something, Patricia,’ and boom, the title of the new chapter is ‘(PA)tricia,’ and then the chapter starts off like, ‘Yes, I did kill them, etc., etc. Like being honest with you, this was the worst kind of murderer revelation ever.

To end it all, this book is a quick read if you are planning to buy something for namesake and don’t plan to end it because, for me, picking this book was the worst decision I could ever make, and to write this review, I had to go back and check a few things, which made me want to cry and beg God to give me back the hours I have wasted on this book.