A false protagonist is a literary technique that initially presents a character as the main focus, only to later reveal that they are not the truely who they say they are, or what others may think of them, or what the reader assumes. The protagonists in these books excel at keeping readers on their toes, and here are my top picks that achieve just that.
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Thrilling False Protagonists You Must Read
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Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera
Listen For the Lie chilling mystery has been a great start for me as we ease into the cozy season of the year. Here is what it is about.
Lucy is close to being shunned from her small little town in Texas. One evening a local found Lucy wandering the streets, covered in her best friend’s blood Savannah, Savvy for short. But Lucy doesn’t remember a thing, her memory has escaped her from the night of the incident. But for obvious reasons, she is to blame and is certainly not welcomed in her hometown. So, she decides to move to LA to leave her past behind, but does it ever escape her? A huge hit crime podcast hosted by the alluring Ben Owens is fascinated by her case and has decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for his second season. With the case on the rise, Lucy is forced to face her nightmare town and aid in solving her friend’s murder. Even if she is the one who did it.
Y’all this book had me on the ABSOLUTE edge of my seat. The suspense is so real, I felt so enthralled in this story, it is truly insane. I honestly love Lucy, I mean with a name like that who wouldn’t lol, but her character was so real and raw. From the jump, Lucy has become self-aware in the sense that she knows who she is. She knows she is not so much of a people person and she doesn’t take her bluntness lightly. With a strong protagonist like Lucy, it made the story feel strong and true in some capacity. Especially her enduring some moments of misogyny. But the back-and-forth narrative that Lucy was having internally, was truly captivating. It did not feel excessive or displaced from the story it made me want to find out more about her mind and wanting to find out the root of her thoughts. Another theme that I thoroughly enjoyed was the topic of friendship. The friendship between the characters was genuine, they did not judge each other and had one another’s backs. But I will not go into detail on this because this is not a spoiler review. I want you all to read it! Therefore, please check out this book. I assure you that you will not regret it.
Never Lie by Freida Mcfadden
Another banger!
If you cannot already tell, thriller and mystery books are cozy comfort reads for me. Perhaps the reasoning is that I have some curiosity for the unknown and will plant myself down in a cozy chair until I find out, or perhaps it is playing on my emotions and I have some connection there. “Who knows?!”
Anyway let’s get into this book
Never Lie by Freida McFadden. This book follows the story of two women. One in which, is dead or missing. Tricia and Ethan are two newlyweds in search of the perfect home. They think they have found the most perfect estate that is out in the boonies. This house is massive but without any neighbors, Tricia is unsure to stay in such a place. But amid their house-hunting, a terrible snowstorm approaches and they must stay put. But where is there agent? So, they decide to take matters into their own hands and explore the house among themselves. But in their search, they soon realize that this house belonged to a Dr. Adrienne Hale, a psychotherapist known for her hit books, and who disappeared 3 years ago on her rise to fame. Tricia discovers a room filled with numerous cassette tapes from Dr. Adrienne’s therapy sessions. Will they help her reveal what happened to Dr. Adrienne Hale?
If you like a fast-paced thriller, this book will be your gem. In all honesty majority of Ms. Freida Mcfadden’s books will be your perfect thriller book read. But this book in particular, was gripping. I needed to know the ending and what happened. I thoroughly enjoyed this book so much! I thought it was fun and exciting, and even had some moments of comic relief. My favorite part of this book and many others that I naturally gravitate towards is when I begin to enjoy or dislike a character and then my thoughts about them suddenly change. I feel as though most people do not enjoy that but to me, it adds shock value. That was what I truly loved about this book. However, there were elements of the story that weren’t all that enticing. Some moments of the plot fell a bit flat for me. For instance, the blackmail situation did not feel as transparent to me. Without spoiling it, a character did something wrong but did it have to go to such lengths? What this person did does not compute to the outcome, if that makes sense. But overall, I believe this book is worth reading or listening to, whichever you prefer, for an enjoyable start to the fall season.