None of This is True – Book Review

Title:- None of this is True

Author:- Lisa Jewell

Date published;- August 8th 2023

No. of pages:- 380 pages

Setting:- Britain

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

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 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, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

I have always been a fan of Lisa Jewell books and I always make a point to read all her books. So I am glad when I got my hands on her latest novel, None of this is true. I am having mixed feelings about the book in general.

Alix and Josie are two strangers when they meet at the restaurant to celebrate their forty-fifth birthday. They were both born on the same day and at the same hospital and so they call themselves as birthday twins. Josie then finds out that Alix is actually a famous podcaster and so she meets Alix again and asks her to do a podcast about her life. Josie married Walter when Josie was eighteen and Walter was forty two years old. As Alix further investigates about Josie’s family, Josie meanwhile stalks Alix…

Initially, I was actually hooked into the book and I was like…Lisa Jewell did it again! Josie’s character is such a very creepy character and the way she is stalking and stealing Alix’s stuff while doing the podcast was very creepy and disturbing. Josie’s family itself is creepy. I also like the Netflix parts that ends each chapter thus making the story more interesting and compelling. However, the ending actually lowered my rating for this book. I don’t want to put too much details which will spoil the book, but let’s just say, I am not very satisfied with the ending.

However, I have to say, I actually enjoyed reading this thriller and rate four stars.