Book Recommendation – None of This Is True

All I can say is, “Wow!” I could not put this one down. Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True was a novel that kept me wanting to know more.

I feel like I should give you the Goodreads synopsis before I start giving my thoughts, so here it is:

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 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?

Right from the start, the characters are a bit odd. The podcaster, Alix, seems to be the most normal of them. Josie is a bit creepy, if I am being honest. The more she tells Alix, the more “off” she feels. The things she mentions, the things she says, and the things she does point to a very disturbed person.

With each chapter, you learn more and more about Josie and who she is. The thing is – you know she has done something, but you have no idea what that something is! Little by little and piece by piece the puzzle starts to come together. You get bits and pieces and I found myself wanting to know “what was that about?” “How does that tie in with what is going on?” “Did she really just ask here THAT!?”

The book reminded me of Listen For The Lie, which also revolves around a podcast. But None of This is True was even better, in my opinion. Lisa Jewell really hit it out of the park! It was a suspenseful thrill ride that I absolutely enjoyed.

5 out of 5 stars!