My Readers Guide to Don’t Let Him In discusses this new 2025 suspense title by popular UK author Lisa Jewell. My guide to Don’t Let Him In includes a character list (you might need it!), spoilers, my questions, and the ending explained. But you never know with a Lisa Jewell book… be sure to check out my post on None of This is True!)
Readers Guide to Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
Table of Contents:
- Don’t Let Him In: Jen’s Quick Take
- Character List for Don’t Let Him In: The Seven Identities of Nick
Your Questions and Mine Discussed:
- What was Ash’s revelation about the letters?
- What did Ash and Nina talk about at the end?
- What was in Nick’s “Escape Pack” (thanks to Pat from the comments!)
- Why did Nick stop to urinate on the way to Bangate Cove? What was he up to? (thanks again, Pat!)
Don’t Let Him In: Jen’s Quick Take
- Don’t Let Him In is psychological suspense about a con artist who preys on women
- It’s a much more straightforward story than None of This is True and a few readers have said they were hoping for more twists.
- If you love podcasts like Dirty John (or the Netflix show) or Hey Beautiful on Hulu, this book is perfect for you!
- Published on June 24, 2025 by Atria Books. Thanks so much to the publisher for the advance copy.
Character List for Don’t Let Him in
Nick is the main character of Don’t Let Him In and known by seven different names (some of this a slight spoiler) but I think you get the gist of the story: he’s scamming multiple different women using different identities.
The Seven Identities of “Nick Radcliffe”
Nick Radcliffe: we first know him as Nick, who kindly reaches out to the Swann family after Paddy’s death.
Alistair Gray: but “Nick” is also married to Martha, a florist. And they have two young children together. Martha wonders why her husband keeps vanishing.
Jonathan Truscott: but wait, he’s also Jonathan and was with a woman named Tara. She’s missing, and her adult daughter HATES Jonathan.
Justin Warshaw: Yes, he also had a relationship with Laura Drummond.
Damian Law: way back, he married Amanda and they had two sons together. But “Damian” vanished and is presumed dead.
Andre: Nick goes by Andre to engage in sex work for extra money (having all these identities gets pricey!)
Simon Smith: the Matryoshka doll who is Nick ends with Simon Smith, which seems to be his birth name.
Here’s a Character List to help you keep it all straight while you are reading.
I consider this fairly spoiler-free, but if you’re worried, go to the red flag (heheh) of the person you are confused about: Nick, Alistair, Jonathan, Simon, André, Justin or Damian.
Quick Plot Summary for Don’t Let Him In
I am not doing a full summary for Don’t Let Him In because it’s pretty straightforward until the end BUT if you have questions, please leave a comment and we will try to figure it out together!
If you need the summary, let me know in comments and I’m happy to add it!
- A man named Paddy Swann is killed, leaving behind a wife and three children.
- About a year later, Paddy’s wife Nina starts dating Nick, an old friend of Paddy’s who reached out after the funeral.
- Nina’s daughter Ash (who is recovering from a mental health crisis and her father’s death) is super-skeptical of Nick and starts investigating.
- We also get the POV of Martha, who is frustrated that her partner Alistair “Al” keeps vanishing.
- Gradually Ash unravels Alistair’s web of lies.
Don’t Let Him In: The Ending Explained
SPOILERS AHEAD! These are my theories: I want to hear yours too!
Finally Ash gathers together everyone whom “Nick” has scammed to confront him:
- her mother Nina
- Martha
- Amanda and Damian’s son’s Sam and Joe (Amanda is missing)
- Tara’s daughter Emma (Tara is also missing)
- some of the young woman that “Nick” creepily followed
- Jessie Bland, whom Nick tried to blackmail and extort
Nina outs “Nick” as Simon Smith
Nick loses it, lunging at Emma. She asks him where her mother Tara is.
Upset at being confronted, Nick/Simon runs dramatically into the freezing waters of the English Channel.
His two young adult sons run in after him. But the water is too cold, and they have to come back. Police helicopters search for him, to no avail.
So is Nick Dead?
He’s missing, presumed dead. He’s wanted for the extortion of Jessie Bland and to be questioned in the disappearances of Tara Truscott and Amanda Law.
Wait, Nick is alive? How does he survive at the end?
I don’t have an answer. If I missed something, leave a comment.
It is hard to believe he survived the freezing water if he really was caught by surprise and had no time to prepare (like to arrange for Amanda to come in a boat and scoop him up.)
Nick seemed genuinely shocked to be confronted.
When he goes into the water, mentions how cold it is. There are search helicopters looking for him.
I did some research, because people DO swim across the English Channel. It’s 21 miles, though, at the shortest point, which is at Dover on the UK side. And it’s recommended that you train for 2-3 YEARS.
Pat from comments point out Nick’s “Escape Kit”
Pat from comments made a great catch: “in the book Nick talks about his escape plan, that he always carries with him a kit for if he ever needs to execute his “escape plan”. This was discussed prior to Martha & Simon driving to Bancate Cove, enroute to the final encounter between the victim group and Simon, when he grabbed as much of the money he extorted from Jessica that he could hide on his body.”
Pat, you are a STAR. I get too excited at the end of books and read too fast.
Yes, in chapter 73, Nick mentions both an “escape fund” and an “escape pack.”
He seems slightly suspicious of Martha’s suggested trip to Bangate Cove, and he takes cash out of a bag hidden under a settle (that’s a wooden bench for those of you, like me, who were like, huh?)
He also fishes out his “escape pack, the ones I carry with me everywhere.”
Why does Nick stop the car for a pee break on the way to Bangate Cove?
Pat, you are a genius as I think your two questions are connected. Again, this is just my theory and I want to know what you think in comments:
- Nick (or Al as she knows him) shows up at Martha’s. He hides the money (which I assume is Jessie’s blackmail money, right) in a bench in Martha’s entryway.
- He and Martha sleep together. Nick/Al thinks he’s A-OK with Martha, but he’s always uneasy. So he takes some money and his escape pack with him.
- Then he pulls the car over on the way to Bangate. He says he has to pee in the bushes, something Martha has never, ever seen him do.
I think maybe he hid something in those bushes so he could come back for it later? Maybe the money and/or his escape pack? He did seem a little uneasy after Martha sent her text and didn’t tell him what that was about.
Did Nick Kill Paddy?
Not with his own hands, but the book suggests that Nick was responsible.
Ash goes to see Joe Kritner, the mentally disturbed guy who pushed her father in front of the train. Joe claims that a “Silver Man” gave him fifty pounds and said that Paddy was a terrorist. The Silver Man told Joe to push Paddy in front of the train.
Ash shows Joe a picture of Nick. Joe identifies Nick as the “Silver Man.”
My Theory on the Letters at the End
There are a couple of aspects to this: why does Nick send Ash a letter, what does Ash realize at the end and what is the conversation that it sparks between Ash and Nina?
These are just my thoughts. If you disagree, tell me in comments!
What is the conversation that Nina and Ash have at the end of Don’t Let Him In
Several people were unhappy that Nina and Ash’s conversation wasn’t revealed. But I don’t think that means it was some big dark secret:
My opinion (until someone in comments changes my mind) is that it was all things we know:
- Nina and Paddy’s marriage wasn’t perfect
- In fact both of them were cheating
- Nick loved this because he hated Paddy
But I don’t think Ash knew this. She has that whole dramatic internal monologue about how she sensed her life was a lie. She’s been so hard on herself about the breakdown she had. And I think hearing that her parents were humans who made mistakes made her feel better.
I go more into my theory in the comments, so check those out!
My take on Ash, her boss, and the letters
The story of Ash and the letters gets told bit by bit and you don’t get all the pieces until the end.
- First off, Nick irrationally hated and was jealous of Paddy Swann and his success.
- I guess because Nick is a psycho/sociopath, and needs another hobby, Nick decides to stalk Paddy and his family.
- Through stalking the Swann family, Nick learns about Nina’s affair. Paddy is also having an affair with the hostess at one of his restaurants.
In addition, I guess just to mess with Ash and cause maximum chaos to the whole family, Nick starts writing fake letters to Ash from her married boss Ritchie. AND he also writes fake love letters from Ritchie to Ash.
- The fake letters to Ash, written by Nick, suggest that Ritchie is in love with her and they should be together. He asks her to meet him, etc.
- Meanwhile, Ritchie is also getting love letters, supposedly from Ash, that suggest she’s obsessed with him. Between these letters and Ash showing up to “meet” him, Ritchie accuses Ash of stalking him and his family.
- The letters all look alike, so everyone believes that Ash wrote them all: from Ritchie to her and from her to Ritchie. Ash doesn’t remember writing any of the letters, but becomes convinced that maybe she did and has a mental breakdown that severely shakes her confidence. Part of her storyline is learning to trust herself again.
A few months after all this letter drama blows up, Paddy dies and Nick steps into the picture.
The final letter revelation:
At the end of the book, right before the confrontation/intervention Nick mails a creepy letter to Ash suggesting that her family isn’t perfect. She shows it to Nina, who I think admits to Ash that she and Paddy didn’t have a perfect marriage and that they had been unfaithful to each other.
But then Ash notices that the paper and the font of the letter Nick sent her are identical to the ones she was accused of writing to and from Ritchie.
And she realizes that Nick was behind all of it:
Nick wrote the letters that her ex-boss, Ritchie Lloyd, wrote to her AND the love letters that Ash allegedly wrote to Ritchie.
Why does Nick Send a Letter to Ash?
He’s moving on from the Swann family and I think the letter to Ash is a final eff-you that will force Nina to admit to her daughter that her marriage with Paddy was not perfect.
Perhaps Nick also wonders if Ash will notice that his letter is the same as the ones she was accused of writing.
What Happens to Nick at the very end?
In the epilogue, the presumably missing Amanda is actually in Portugal waiting for her former husband, Damian.
Amanda is the only woman Damian/Nick/Simon was legally married to. He faked his death twenty years ago and reinvented himself.
Then, four years ago, after Nick/Simon/Jonathan killed Tara, Amanda helped him cover up the crime, then faked her own disappearance.
As Nick/Damian shows up for what he thinks will be a joyful reunion with Amanda, she reveals to the reader that she has contacted the police.
Amanda is ready to go to prison, and Damian/Nick/Simon is going there with her. Or so we hope!
Do you have questions about the book or anything you need to discuss? Leave a comment! Think I got something wrong? I am happy to hear it!
Megan was right all along about None of This is True and the rest of us got WAY too creative with our theories.
Hi! I feel stupid, but the epilogue totally confused me! How in the world did he survive the icy sea? How did no one spot him getting out? Just seems so very implausible. I couldn’t make sense of Amanda’s epilogue because of it but I guess I do now. Just didn’t feel like the ending was totally satisfying because it was confusing!
Hi!There are never any stupid questions on my site. If you were confused, that is valid. It happens to me too!
I agree that it would be nice to know who he survived, when his two young adult sons had to come back in to prevent hypothermia. I wish there had been a POV chapter for him to explain how he made it. Did he know it was coming? Wear a wetsuit under his clothes? But no, in his last POV he seems shocked by the intervention and describes the freezing water soaking his clothes.
I guess he’s just like one of those horror movie villains that keep popping up alive?
In the book Nick / Simon talks about his escape plan, that he always carries with him a kit for if he ever needs to execute his “escape plan”. This was discussed prior to Martha & Simon driving to Bancate Cove, enroute to the final encounter between the victim group and Simon, when he grabbed as much of the money he extorted from Jessica that he could hide on his body. I wish the author included another chapter from Simon’s point of view, how he carried out his “escape plan” after he walked into the water of the English Channel. And how he made it all the way back to where Amanda was hiding and waiting for him to return.
Ooh, Pat that is a great catch! Thanks so much and I will add that to the post.
But I agree: what was in the escape pack? Fake ID? He couldn’t have predicted that he will have to run into the freezing sea. All his cash would get wet. I agree that some more information would have been nice!
But your next question provides another clue. You are such a careful reader!
Do you think it’s possible that Simon/Nick/Al paid someone to run toward the water in Bargate Cove, if they saw him running from the building? Like he paid Joe to push Paddy onto the train tracks of the oncoming train? I think it was Ash who said that he always seemed to be one step ahead. Maybe he had a whole contingency plan for if whatever occurred in Bargate with Martha went south. Remember that when he was having sex with Martha, Simon/Al sensed she was acting, sensed her fear. Because it doesn’t make sense that Amanda’s grown sons, Sam and Joel, chased him all the way into the water, but lost sight of him. Maybe he never actually went into the water, but instead created a diversion, by paying someone to do just that. And then he proceeded to retrieve his “escape kit” from the roadside undergrowth, where he stopped to urinate. I guess that’s plausible, though far-fetched. This is going to make an amazing miniseries on a streaming network like Netflix. Lisa Jewell could write a sequel that would be a courtroom drama, involving all the same characters, testifying against him. I could see Simon mesmerizing and then manipulating the jury (instructing his attorney to try to seat all women) and getting acquitted, and then seeking revenge on all his former lovers, wife, victims.
I am open to any theory. BUT when get Nick’s POV as he walks into the pavilion he is genuinely shocked. And so mad he loses his cool and punches Emma. So whatever he was doing in the bushes, I do think he wasn’t expecting to be confronted by everyone like that.
Then when he runs into the water he doesn’t even take his shoes off. It seems like he doesn’t even try to swim. Plus, there are so many witnesses.
In Amanda’s POV when she’s waiting for him in Portugal she says he called her and told her about a “trap he escaped.”
BUT he is in a cove and the book describes it as “tranquil” so my best guess is that before the rescue team arrives he manages to swim to the other side of the cove?
I agree about a sequel – that would be great!
Yes, he is mad, but only when he is irritated by Tara’s daughter, Emma, whom he then punches! He doesn’t punch Tara because he had already strangled and dismembered her body four years prior to this scene.
I do wish for one more chapter after the epilogue. Amanda turned him in and the investigators were there to collect him.
But why didn’t this group of people bring the police, handcuffs, and possibly a firearm with them to the confrontation? I am struggling with that piece. So irritating.
Oh no – did I write Tara instead of Emma? Thanks; I will fix that.
I like the way you think! I would love to read a sequel- BUT I would want him to die a horrible death- a real death.
This reminds me of the “Tinder Swindler” I watched on Hulu a couple of years ago.
There’s a new-ish Hulu show called Hey Beautiful which I thought of so many times when I read this book. It really shows how men like this choose women they can manipulate!
I don’t understand the significance of the letters at the end and what Nina and Ash discussed
I think I know what you mean, but if this isn’t what you asked, please let me know! I’ll add this to the post anyway since it might be confusing.
The story of Ash’s breakdown and the letters is sort of dribbled out and you don’t get all the pieces until the end.
Nick hated and was jealous of Paddy, and I guess because he’s a psycho/sociopath, Nick decides to stalk Paddy and his family.
Through this stalking, Nick learns about Nina’s affair, and I guess just to mess with Ash, Nick starts writing fake letters to Ash from her married boss Ritchie. AND fake love letters from Ritchie to Ash.
The fake letters to Ash (written by Nick) suggest that Ritchie is in love with her and they should be together. The letters asks Ash to secretly meet him, etc. Meanwhile, Ritchie is also getting love letters, supposedly from Ash, that suggest she’s obsessed with him.
Between these letters and Ash showing up to “meet” him, Ritchie accuses Ash of stalking him and his family.
And the letters all look alike, so everyone believes that Ash wrote them all: from Ritchie to her and from her to Ritchie. Ash doesn’t remember writing any of the letters, but what other explanation could there be? She becomes convinced that maybe she did and has a mental breakdown.
A few months after all this blows up, Paddy dies (also engineered by Nick) and Nick sends his condolences to the family.
At the end of the book, Nick mails a creepy letter to Ash suggesting that her family isn’t perfect. Ash shows it to Nina, who I think admits to Ash that she and Paddy didn’t have a perfect marriage and that they had been unfaithful to each other.
But then Ash notices that the paper and the font of Nick’s letters are identical to the ones she was accused of writing to and from Ritchie. And she realizes that Nick was behind all of it.
I agree with Jennifer. What was the conversation Nina and Ash had that made Ash feel so much better about herself? I get that Nick was responsible for writing the ‘love letters’ actually suspected this mid way through, but completely thrown by the Nina/Ash apparent revelations???
In the very last chapter? After Ash gets the “take the world by the balls” letter from Nick but before she realizes Nick wrote the love letters?
I assumed that Nina probably told Ash about her affair with Ethan and Paddy’s with Boo, and that Ash realized that her parents and their marriage was far from perfect (which is what Nick says in the letter) and that Ash didn’t have to be perfect too, but just herself, a “real person with spikes and edges and layers and terrible truths to confront.”
Ash says she always had the feeling “her life was a story that someone was writing about her and not a real thing.” Which suggests to me that she sensed that all was not perfect in the family and that she didn’t really live in a “fake golden world,” as she calls it.
If you go back to the part where Nick talks about Paddy’s affair, he says “now I have them both [Nina and Paddy] dangling on strings … they are my puppets now in so many ways, and I am their master.” Which makes Ash’s comment about not being a doll or a puppet seem like a bit of a callback.
To me that’s the Occam’s razor explanation. When we discussed None of This is True some of the theories (including mine) got a little out-there. I’m all for an out-there theory, but to me this makes the most sense.
I am so impressed that you guessed Nick was the letter writer, though, so what do you think?????
Why did Simon / Nick urinate outside, on the car ride with Martha on the way to Bangate Cove (when he was confronted by the entire Facebook group of his victims / survivors? The book made it a point that Nick pulled the car over to go outside to urinate, and Martha commented she’d never seen him do that before. Was there any meaning to this odd behavior?
That is another good catch. Maybe he went to put on a wetsuit under his clothes. I’m kidding (mostly) but she does lose sight of him. You are right: he was doing something in that underbrush.
My best guess is that he was hiding the emergency kit and the money there so he could come back for it later?
Again my bookclub based at my son’s school picked this as our August read and our discussion is tomorrow. I think you also did a fantastic run down on Saltwater and all the connections of characters and plot points. Thank you for summarizing and connecting all these plot points!
Lynne, thanks so much! Your book club sounds really fun and I hope you enjoy discussing this one.