None of This Is True

I have been a huge Lisa Jewell fan since her breakout novel Then She Was Gone, and every year that we are treated to a new installment in the Jewell universe is a lucky one. With None of This Is True, Lisa Jewell proves once again that thrilling chills and multifaceted characters make for a perfect marriage of psychological suspense.

None of This Is True begins with the unlikely meeting of two women celebrating their forty-fifth birthdays—unwitting “birthday twins” who connect over the occasion in a local bar. Soon after meeting, one of them, Josie, begins listening to her new pal Alix’s podcast about inspiring women and becomes convinced she would be the perfect subject for an episode about midlife reinvention. Alix hesitantly agrees, but once she gets a taste of Josie’s life, she can’t help but become fully mesmerized by and invested in its many twists and turns. The more she learns, the more Alix questions the truth of what Josie tells her, even as she lets her stay in her family’s home. By the time Josie disappears, she has fully ingratiated herself into Alix’s life—and those Alix loves are in grave danger.

This thriller is classic Lisa Jewell—twisted family dynamics, complicated female friendships, and delectably unreliable narrators that will keep you guessing till the bitter end. The podcast excerpts take it up that extra notch, with witness interviews painting a picture of a darkening world that you can’t help but be sucked into. So do yourself a favor and pick up None of This Is True—just be warned that reality might not look the same once you’re done . . .

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.