Thank you Atria Books, #partner for the advanced copy of None of This is True in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: August 8, 2023
Summary:
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?
My thoughts:
Lisa Jewell is one of my favorite thriller writers and so when I got an early copy of her upcoming book, which isn’t due out until August, I literally dropped everything and started reading it that second. Now if you know anything about my reading habits, especially when it comes to ARCs (advanced reading copies) – I don’t tend to do that. I usually read them much closer to pub date…but I just couldn’t resist with this one and I ended up finishing it in just two sittings – and that was only because I started it late in the day and had to sleep, otherwise this would have been a one-sitting read!
I loved this book! It’s deliciously clever and twisted and I flew through it. Once I started, there was no stopping and I knew, other than that pesky thing called sleep, that nothing was going to stop me from reading this one until I was done. It grabbed me from the beginning, and I just loved how everything was laid out – the podcast, the characters and not knowing who I could trust, and the idea of birthday twins and that being the vehicle that gets our main characters together. There is something off about Josie and once Alix starts talking to her during the podcast interviews, things get a little unnerving to say the least. And that’s just the start of it!
This story is full of some of the most crazy and memorable characters – it’s hard not to want to give you the details but to do so would be to start treading into spoiler territory and I certainly do not want to do that. Just trust me when I say you won’t be forgetting any of these characters anytime soon. Add in a horrifying discovery, some crazy twists and you have the makings of one binge-worthy read!
I know this book doesn’t come out until August but trust me when I saw you want to put this one on your list. Pre-order it, get in your library holds, do whatever you need to do to get your hands on this one because you are definitely not going to want to miss it! I’ve loved every single book I’ve read by Lisa Jewell, and I think this one might be her best one yet!
