Well, this was one of my highly anticipated books for this year and it did not disappoint. I like Lisa Jewell's writing. And she has nailed it yet again with None of this is True. What an apt title! It took me a while to get into this bizarre yet exciting plot. But after a few chapters, I was hooked. I did find the whole plot unbelievably outlandish. But that didn't stop my curiosity from wanting to find out about Josie's story. Also what is fiction, if not strange especially a thriller with characters like Josie and Walter Fair. At one point I did think how can Alix be so gullible and let a complete stranger come into her home and control her but then again I know it's very much possible even in real life what with human vulnerabilities and the need to believe in the good of others and our own ability to deal with things that are spiraling out of control.

Also this is exactly what makes this book a complex and layered domestic thriller. I liked how Lisa Jewell revealed parts of the story, as the book progressed without giving away much at one go, yet also showing us a glimpse of the true nature of the characters, making me want to keep reading. Which is exactly what I did. At one point, about 60 percent into the book, I started binge reading because I had to know, just like Alix Summer had to know about Josie's life.

Many parts of the book were sad to read, like the mistreatment of Erin and the unnecessary deaths that could have been avoided if not for the twisted mind of a person who wants to be desperately in control but also I think has psychological issues. The only reason I am not giving it five stars is because, I feel like there are so many unanswered questions which I would have liked explained but I guess the author wanted the reader to keep guessing. This is a well-written twisted, dark and tragic domestic thriller that is a must read. It has all the elements required for an intriguing novel. It's the third novel by Lisa Jewell that I have read since last year and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. In the meantime, I will try and read more of her blacklisted novels while I highly recommend you all to grab this one and settle in for a gripping read.

Another wonderful read from Lisa Jewell. Dark and twisty with a unique story. I loved this and binge read in two days.

I loooove Lisa Jewell. I think her thrillers are so twisty and dark and I enjoyed this one even more than her previous books. She is just a queen! Can't wait for her next book.

Starting a book with a title such as this puts the reader on guard from the beginning: if nothing is true, what do you believe?

​A chance meeting of two women who share the same birthday turns into a very dark tale. One woman runs a very successful podcast with links to a television series, the other is an odd, introverted seamstress who is obsessed with wearing denim. The plan is to make a documentary about overcoming abuse and trauma. The question is whose tragedy it is.

Jewell is a skillful writer. Using short, snappy chapters to progress the pace and tension, and haunting scene reenactments, the story considers grooming, mental health, parenting, trauma and coercive control. The writing is timeless and cliche-free although very modern in terms of the media involved in the tale, and the studio in the garden is very contemporary in the post-pandemic society.

All the characters are interesting, the weakest being the podcaster's husband who sometimes appears to be not quite credible, especially near the end, although the idea of perception could be at play. The mystery of the absent characters at the beginning of the book is enthralling and it is fascinating to see them unfurl against the expectations as the story develops.

Dark and disturbing, the core theme is truth, perception and the concept of victimhood. An excellent thriller in the 'unreliable narrator' mode.

Wow wow wow! Lisa does it again, writing another captivating psychological thriller that had me gripped from the off - to the point that I read it in two days, and twice in two consecutive months!

The way the characters were written gave me the creeps and I was so uncomfortable at so many points of the book! An aspect of thrillers that I live for!

Twisty, shocking (lots of gasps from me!), creepy, LOVED IT!! And I spent the whole book trying to work out what the hell was going off and would never have guessed the end!

Absolutely killed it! Quite possibly overtaken The Family Upstairs as my favourite!!

None of This is True Lisa Jewel
I'm a huge fan of this authors books. This book wouldn't go in a my favourite of her work, but I did enjoy it.
There was a different feel to the style of writing you come to expect from Lisa, but that's OK too!
Good all rounder.

OOOF! I just knew as soon as I saw Lisa Jewell had a new book coming out that I had to have it, didn’t even need to read the synopsis. As you can probably tell, it did not disappoint 🤩

We begin with two women, out celebrating their birthdays. An accidental meeting sees them realising they are birthday twins, who also share other past similarities. Alix is a true crime podcaster and Josie convinces her to make a podcast about her and their common backgrounds. From here begins one wild and twisty ride…

The narrative centres around the two women through their internal monologue, transcripts of the podcast and from a Netflix documentary series in the making. Both unreliable characters, though colourful and engaging, I was wholly invested in both their storylines, even forgiving some questionable decisions.

As the podcast unravels and secrets are revealed, both women question their relationships with their partners, families and each other. Jewell is relentless with her twists and turns and brilliant plotting, I was on the edge of my seat throughout.

At the novels core is the element of truth - what and who to believe - is the truth too much to bear?

For a change I’m stumped for words 😂 not wanting to give too much away and still floored by what will undoubtedly be in my top ten reads this year. In a nut shell, read it!

This novel had me hooked as the characters of Josie and Alix are slowly unravelled and intertwine. They meet as they are both celebrating their 45th birthday in the same pub and realize they are birthday twins. Alix is a podcaster and ends up interviewing Josie for her podcast. The pace of this story ramps up in the second half and nothing is as it seems. I mixed reading and listening to this and the narration was excellent and really added to the tension. Highly recommend to fans of psychological thrillers but also be aware some tough storylines are involved. Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the ARC

Absolutely loved this chilling twisty & very disturbing thriller.
Talk about a page turner I just couldn’t put it down.
Well written this addictive read had me burning the midnight oil.
Alix Summer & Josie Fair are both celebrating their 45 th birthday when their paths cross in a pub.
Alix is a well known podcaster where as Josie is an ordinary housewife.
After accidentally bumping into each other the next day Josie convinces Alix to do a podcast about her.
Josie says she would be a good subject as she is about to make some big changes in her hum drum life.
After Alix agrees to the podcast it soon becomes clear Josie is a very complicated & strange person.
As Alix digs deeper she starts to find Josie is hiding some very dark secrets & worries where all this is leading.
Excellent cleverly written storyline that pulls you in & gets under your skin.
Thoroughly enjoyed this brilliant read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5)

Chilling, unique and DISTURBING, this thriller has all the elements of a gripping psychological thriller: the pacing, the suspense, the twists and complexity was perfection + the combination of this with the short chapters and unreliable narrators made it so much fun to read 🙌🏽

I am OBSESSED with multiple formats in books so it was no surprise I loved the feature of the Netflix documentary as it developed, which, paired with the interchanging timeline + character perspectives, was a fun way for Jewell to provide context and drip feed us information.

This book kept me guessing till the very end, and although I do find her books on the slower-burn side, the constant “who do I trust?!” was mind blowing + I did NOT anticipate the ending 😮‍💨

[𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 @𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 (𝘐𝘎), 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩.] —— 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒚 @ 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 🥀

This is my favourite LJ to date (and I love all of her books!!!) The two MCs were so detailed , complex and well written that I could not put the book down and had to pull an all nighter to read it all in one shot - AND I DON’T REGRET ANYTHING - this was the best domestic thriller and I will recommend it to anyone who’s asking what to read this summer! 10 stars!

I really enjoyed this, a page-turning domestic noir where you don't really know who is telling the truth and who is telling things as they see them. Or to suit their own agenda. Great plot and I loved the format of podcast and TV documentary and flashback to dripfeed details to the reader. Very fast paced, I inhaled it and enjoy that style of Lisa Jewell's writing. Great characters, I could picture Alix and Josie and where they lived, their lifestyles and family set up. Great thriller and I highly recommend.

What a fantastic book. I was utterly gripped and was cross when I had to put it down to do things. It was so compelling and brilliantly done. I loved the excerpts from the podcast that hinted at the darkness to come and just thought it was a brilliantly paced, fascinating read. Highly recommend to any lovers of thrillers and books about messy characters. Great.

The best thriller I've read in a while. Josie Fair is discontent with her life when she meets her "birthday twin", podcaster Alix Summers on their 45th birthday. She latches on to the more confident and glamorous Alix and persuades her to do a podcast on Josie's life and how she's planning on changing it. Alix finds Josie's stories sad but compelling with elderly husband Walter, who seems to have groomed Josie since the age of 14. But Alix could never have predicted the outcome. Is any of it true? Nothing is as it seems. By the end I was doubting which way was up. Shocking. #netgalley #noneofthisistrue

Alix is celebrating her 45th birthday with her friends in a restaurant when she meets Josie in the toilets, who says they are birthday twins. They were both born at the same hospital on the same day.

Alix is well known for her podcasts about successful local women.

Josie thinks her story will make a great podcast as she is going to make some big changes in her life.

This story is dark with twists galore, there were several jaw dropping moments and I didn't see that coming!!

Just simply brilliant.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Alix and Josie meet randomly on a night out they realise that by pure coincidence that they share a birthday. After googling Alix and finding out that she hosts a popular podcast, Josie pitches her an idea for a new show and this sparks the beginning of a strange and dangerous relationship for the pair. Are all of Josie's stories true or is everything she says done for attention or worse? It's up to Alix to make that decision and deal with the consequences.

None Of This Is True had everything I love in a psychological thriller - family secrets, betrayal, obsession, suspense and a murder mystery. On top of all of this, sections of the book are told through the format of a True Crime Podcast which is one of my favourite tropes!

This is hands down the most exciting thriller I've read this year and if you listen to the companion podcast alongside reading the book it provides a truly immersive experience. Just brilliant.

★★★ 3.5 stars

Her lies could kill you...

Man, what did I just read? Where do I even begin to start a review for this book? I love Lisa Jewell and I'm always excited when she has a new release coming out. I had heard such good things about this book and yet once I was in there I found myself drowning and unable to get out.

First of all, I loved the format Jewell undertook with this one. Excerpts of a podcast and upcoming Netflix documentary drama. You just know with these interspersed throughout that something big is coming.

"Hi! I'm your birthday twin!"

That's how Josie Fair quite literally stumbles her way into Alix Summer's glamorous Instagram life. Watching her from across the same gastropub both women celebrating their forty-fifth birthdays, Josie can't help but want just a little of what Alix has. And so when she sees the other woman head to the ladies she orchestrates a chance meeting. But a few words exchanged in the ladies wasn't enough...Josie wanted more. And so later that night, after Walter had left their bed, she googled Alix Summer and stalked her social media wanting to find out more about her "birthday twin".

What comes next is not by pure chance. It is all carefully curated and orchestrated by Josie in which she swoops in and offers Alix the chance of a lifetime. A podcast about a woman embarking on a new direction in life, following Josie step by step as she undertakes these changes, from the boring caterpillar that she is and emerging as a beautiful butterfly breaking free.

Of course, Alix has no idea of the avalanche that is about to become her life. The podcast reveals some very disturbing facts and too late Alix realises she might have made a very big mistake. And as Josie slowly inveigles her way into Alix's life, into her home, she is about to discover that her new friend isn't all she claims to be.

This is such a difficult book to review. There is so much that could be said that really can't without giving anything away. Plus I found it very heavy going. Although I managed to plough through it in a day it was somewhat exhausting! I can only imagine what writing it would be like! As it is very character driven there isn't a lot of dialogue throughout which I really prefer, but having said that, this is still a very clever story. But it's not my favourite of hers.

The story itself is somewhat disturbing, if you were to believe half of what was said because the clue is in the title...which is kind of a spoiler in itself. The entire thing is a tale shrouded in ambiguity and Jewell keeps you guessing the whole way through.

While it wasn't one of my favourites, I still found it addictive and couldn't put it down until the very end. Josie is very much a train wreck of a character. You will love to hate her. And while her initial relationship and then marriage to her husband Walter were certainly not age appropriate, I do believe that Josie knew exactly what she was doing. She was a psychopath with no remorse, no empathy and no regard for others. She was controlling and narcissistic and a very disturbing individual. There was no victim blaming. Josie was a product of first her environment and then of her own making.

Overall, I found this to be a heavy read. It is chilling and somewhat disturbing in parts. But it is also very cleverly done.

I would like to thank #LisaJewell, #Netgalley and #RandomHouseCenturyBooks for an ARC of #NoneOfThisIsTrue in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Really enjoyed this thriller from Lisa Jewell. It had me hooked from the start.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

#NoneOfThisIsTrue

Another brilliant thriller from Lisa Jewell, this is the story of Josie and Alix, 45 year olds who share the same birthday and meet by chance. Josie is married to a much older man, and is feeling trapped. Alix's husband is almost perfect, but when he keeps disappearing after drinking heavily, Alix starts to wonder what life would be like without him.

Josie and Alix team up to record a podcast about Josie's life, which has been chaotic, disturbing and troubled. Alix gets drawn into Josie's world, the lure of finding out more about her past leading her to even allow her to move into the family home. Can she really trust Josie though?

On her 45th birthday, Alix Summer celebrated with a crowd of friends in the Landsdown pub on Salisbury Road when she encountered Josie Fair. She, too, was out celebrating her 45th birthday, only she was just with her husband, Walter. It turns out that not only are Alix and Josie birthday twins, they were both born in St Mary's hospital. That's where the similarities end, though: Alix, with her husband, Nathan, are in the midst of a joyful, monied group of friends and whilst they're not exactly rowdy, they're enjoying themselves. Josie, on the other hand, holds her handbag close to her tummy and you get the sense that Walter's not too happy. He's not used to spending this much money on a meal - but it is Josie's birthday after all.

Just a few days later, Alix and Josie run into each other again. I say 'run into' but whilst it was accidental on Alix's side, it had been carefully engineered by Josie. Alix is an established podcaster who has been doing a series on influential women. Josie suggests that Alix should interview her - not because she's influential, but because they're birthday twins and it would be good to explore the similarities and differences between them. She also convinces Alix that she's about to make real changes in her life and it would be good to document them.

Alix had known that her old series was coming to a natural end and this would be a good one-off. She finds Josie unsettling, but she can't quite resist the temptation. She should have done, because it isn't long before she realises that Josie has wormed her way into her life - and her home.

Normally, I'm not keen on the scenario where someone inveigles their way into a family's life and then wreaks havoc: it's usually only too easy to see an obvious point at which this simply should not have happened but this is Lisa Jewell and you're in safe hands. The plotting is superb and the characterisation is brilliant. You'll quickly come to respect Alix: she's the person who genuinely does her best. Josie, on the other hand, is different. It's not long before you wonder if she's an unreliable narrator. We know that Walter is twenty-seven years older than Josie but how did they get together and when?

We soon find out that there are faultlines in Alix and Nathan's marriage. Nathan's a high earner and generous. He's also a drinker. Alix wonders if his habit of disappearing without warning and then reappearing looking guilty the next day is going to spell the end of their marriage. The night-time disappearances are one of the few things that she has in common with Josie apart from the coincidence of their birth. As soon as Walter thinks that Josie is asleep he leaves their bed and is away all night.

I was going to say that I couldn't put the book down but I listened to an audio download, which I bought myself and I couldn't tear myself away from it. A large part of that was the story but the narrators are Nicola Walker and Louise Brealey. Brealey is excellent but Nicola Walker is beyond even that. I've long been a fan (Unorfotten. The Split, Last Tango in Halifax and most recently Annika) so this was a real pleasure. I'm certain that she could read a shopping list and I would be riveted.

Then - when you get to the end, there's a twist which will leave you wondering all over again. Superb.

For more from Lisa Jewell, try Invisible Girl.