This book easily became one of my top 5 favorite thrillers of all time. My first Lisa Jewell novel, and she did not disappoint. With untrustworthy characters and psychological twists, this domestic thriller kept me guessing again and again. Who is the victim, and who is the assailant? What is the true scandal?

Grab your copy here.

Amazon Book Description

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer 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.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

Review

Before reading, the title made me think "unreliable narrator?" and "Should I believe anything?" This got me so excited before I even started the book. What a way to build suspense! Never had I read a book with such a powerful title (besides To Kill a Mockingbird, I suppose).

I also really liked that the book was separated by dates and time stamps instead of chapters, or even character POV. The story is told in hours, days, weeks, and months, and there is no set rhythm for which character is narrating. I felt this to be a nice way to pace the story, and another tool Jewell used to build suspense.

At times I was totally disgusted, and hoped nothing worse would come next. It was such a sad and interesting story for some of the characters, but from the beginning I was thinking, is any of this true? The story appeals to the feminist in you. The characters' lives easily make you dislike the men accompanying them, and this leads you down a certain path as you move forward in the story. It is easy for the story of a mistreated woman to pull at your heartstrings, and some characters are betting on that it seems.

Some characters you like from the beginning, and then you might hate them towards the end. It kinda makes me think of a choose- your-own-adventure novel. If I choose to believe this character's story, then I will end up with this understanding of what happened, and vice versa. At the end, you are left having to choose who to believe and what story is true, or maybe everyone is lying. It is so easy to hate some characters, and then you are left not knowing who to hate or who to believe.

Books like this make me hesitant to start my writing my own novel. How do writers think up stories like this? The deep complexity that Jewell writes into the characters and the plot are honestly mind-blowing. From the very beginning, the women meet on such rare terms, it's not like an everyday relatable thing. Then, turning that story into a podcast, and all the events that unfold from there really takes serious creativity from the author.

The podcast goes from empowering women to...well, empowering women. Josie's idea for a change of pace for Alix's podcast peaks her interest, and Josie feels granted the opportunity to manipulate and wreck all those that are near her. In the end, Alix gets her becoming opportunity as well.

Motherhood plays a big role in this story as well. We are given a true visual of the argument nature vs nurture with all of the mothers in this novel. Alix has a good relationship with her mom and her own kids, and Josie does not. No surprise there. I think this may be part of why Josie wants to be like Alix so much. Maybe if Josie had a better life growing up, this whole story would cease to exist?

These women and their twisted lives kept me up late with my infant all 3 nights that I read it. This super suspenseful read is hard to put down, and keeps you questioning the women's narratives even when you're not reading. Grab your copy of Lisa Jewell's None of This is True here.