Yes, my friends, I’m back with another Freida McFadden thriller. My strategy to get to a Cannonball is picking books I can get through at a brisk pace. McFadden has never let me down in this department. As I once wrote, her books are like potato chips: compulsively readable and bad for you.
McFadden’s newest book (man, she churns them out) Never Lie has a similar set up to many of her other books. The chapters flip-flop point of view, which I enjoy for the most part. The main characters are Adrienne, a psychologist, and Tricia, snowed in with her husband in a big creepy house. McFadden loooves handsome, swoon worthy men and utterly besotted wives, and this book is no different. It’s becomes humorous after awhile how perfect the men are in her books, chiseled jaws and all. Although she did try to make this hunk relatable—he has hair on his back, Tricia observes, but she loves him anyway.
The Tricia chapters were surprisingly scary. McFadden rarely summons fear in her books, thriller or no. But I was genuinely uneasy about the descriptions of the deep snow, dark house, and the suspicion someone else is lurking in the shadows. So points for that.
The ending was pretty good, and of course there was the “famous” McFadden twist. It was a very speedy read; I think I finished it in three hours. Somehow it feels like a bit of cheat as I drag my way to 52 books—I wasn’t really that interested in reading it, and I do like to be excited by my choices. Still, not a bad way to spend my time. Cannonball here I come!
