Pun Salad

This book has a raft of laudatory cover blurbs, including one from Steven King! It was nominated for an Edgar "Best Novel". Its Amazon page also says:

A New York Times Bestseller * A Good Morning America Book Club Pick * An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Washington Post Best Thriller of 2024

Somewhat surprisingly, I liked it anyway.

Five years ago, Lucy was suspected of bashing in the head of her best friend Savvy; she was wandering in the area where Savvy's body was found, covered in Savvy's blood, Savvy's skin under her fingernails. But she remembered nothing about the night of the murder. The murder weapon was never found. Lucy eventually moved from small-town Plumpton, Texas to LA, became a successful young-adult author (under a pen name), got a boyfriend, and…

Her life is quickly upturned when Ben Owens, a popular true-crime podcaster, decides to re-publicize the lurid case. (His podcast is titled "Listen for the Lie".) And (coincidentally) Lucy is semi-coerced into returning to Plumpton to celebrate her feisty grandmother's birthday. And Ben is there, interviewing a bunch of folks who all seem to think Lucy did it.

The book alternates between Lucy's narration and transcripts of Ben's podcast. We are introduced to Lucy's ex-husband, her family, and her friends (mostly ex-friends). She's revealed to have a somewhat tortured inner life, unbidden fantasies of murder permeate her consciousness, encouraged by a seemingly demonic voice in her head.

It's a page-turner for sure. I note the Portsmouth (NH) High School also has a copy, which old-fogy me found a little shocking, given Lucy's fondness for coarse language, violent imagery, and (occasional) explicit sexual encounters. Ah, well, modern times.