Review of None of This is True

I am a fan of Lisa Jewell, who writes very twisted suspense novels. What did I think of her latest, which I put on my list of 2023 Thrillers I Can’t Wait to Read? Find out in my Review of None of This is True by Lisa Jewell, which I named as my Most Discussable Mystery of 2023!

Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

To be published on August 1, 2023 by Atria Books. Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.

Plot Summary for None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

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 birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject. 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 realise 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.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

What Else Has Lisa Jewell Written?

Jewell’s early books leaned more women’s fiction and romantic comedy, books like the Ralph’s Party series (1999 and 2010), Thirtynothing (2000), Roommates Wanted (2000), One Hit Wonder (2001), A Friend of the Family (2003), Vince and Joy (2005), 31 Dream Street (2007) The Truth About Melody Browne (2009), The Making of Us (2011), Before I Met You (2012), The House We Grew Up In (2013), and I Found You (2016)

Around 2014, she started moving more toward psychological suspense, publishing The Third Wife (2014), The Girls in the Garden (2016), Then She Was Gone (2017), Watching You (2018), The Family Upstairs (2019), Invisible Girl (2020) The Night She Disappeared (2021), and The Family Remains (2022).

Review of None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

I am a huge Lisa Jewell fan.

Her books, while do not have the breakneck, twisty pace of true thrillers, always have a strong sense of menace and danger. They tend to feature dark family relationships and secrets. There is always a psychological component.

So far, I’ve reviewed The Night She Disappeared, The Family Remains, and Invisible Girl.

I read rave reviews of this one, and hype can be a dangerous thing. I did really love None of This is True but was surprised that it was more straightforward than I expected. I don’t want to say too much, so I will go into all my thoughts in my Spoiler Discussion for None of This is True.

I did love the whole overall vibe of the book. Watching Alix, the podcaster, whose judgement was perhaps a bit impaired due to her marital issues, get enmeshed in the lives of family who clearly had a lot to hide, was harrowing.

I felt like there was a class component of None of This is True that was very understated. Alix is the wife of a successful commercial real estate agent and leads a comfortable upper middle class life. Her neighbor, Josie, is her “birthday twin” in date only, who has led a much more difficult life.

There was also a theme of narrative and storytelling and how it is intertwined with power that I wished had been more developed. Alix is a journalist and podcaster, the one who creates the narrative. The power dynamic between Alix and Josie was fascinating. Alix was almost shockingly trusting for a journalist, though I realize that the UK is a much smaller country and its social bonds are perhaps a bit stronger than those in the suburbs of a major city in the U.S.

None of This is True is a great discussion book, so I hope you will join mine! Come to my Discussion Post and let’s talk None of Us is True spoilers AND a comment from the author herself!