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I read a digital advance copy of None of This is True from Netgalley. This is the sixth book by her that I’ve read.

“With so many versions of events, the ending shatters, leaving readers to decide whose is the truth…[it’s] hard to look away from.” —Kirkus

About The Book 📚

Title: None of This is True

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publication Date: August 8, 2023

Publisher: Atria Books

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 384

Content Warnings: adult/minor relationship, alcoholism, domestic abuse, pedophilia, murder, violence, death, mental illness, stalking

PG-13 May include profanity, violence, sexual situations, or drug use.

About The Author

“LISA JEWELL was born in London in 1968.

Her first novel, Ralph’s Party, was the best- selling debut novel of 1999. Since then she has written another twenty novels, most recently a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls, Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and The Night She Disappeared.

Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.” https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93504.Lisa_Jewell

My Review

› I love the cover. It’s giving mirror/twin vibes. None of This is True is told from multiple timelines and from many perspectives. The story is about Alix, a popular podcaster, who recently helped develop a fictional Netflix True Crime series called Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin! based on her real-life experience with her birthday twin Josie.

“Coming to Netflix in May: Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin!”

› The short chapters of the Netflix special include a description of the video and audio recording transcripts of Alix Summer’s podcast from the summer of 2019. Many people are interviewed for the Netflix series: old neighbours, schoolfriends, Detective Albright and others.

› Saturday, June 8, 2019: Josie usually stays in to celebrate her birthday, but this year she’s turning 45 and feeling like she needs a change in her life. Josie and her husband, Walter, go to a pub to celebrate her birthday where she sees Alix with her friends also celebrating a birthday. They run into each other in the bathroom where Josie discovers they have the same birthday, they are both turning 45 and were even born in the same hospital. She’s convinced it must be fate.

› Alix seems like she has a perfect life, however, her husband Nathan is an alcoholic and will go out with friends on an overnight bender and show up the next day a mess, apologizing and promising he’ll never do it again. They have two young children who attend the same school Josie’s kids used to attend when they were younger.

› Twenty-three-year-old Erin is Josie and Walter’s oldest. She’s a gamer who never leaves her room. She doesn’t eat regular food and only eats baby food that Josie heats up and leaves outside Erin’s bedroom door. Roxy is two years younger than Erin and left home when she was 16. For the past five years, Josie searches for Roxy online and on the streets but hasn’t seen her daughter since she left.

› Josie’s husband is a lot older. She was 13 and he was 40 when they met. Yup. He’s a pedophile, and this isn’t the first time he’s had a relationship with a teenage girl. She understandably has unresolved trauma caused by this relationship. She also has trauma from her relationship with her mother.

› Josie is a lurker. She’s constantly observing other women’s lives, wishing she can be more like them. Have their job. Have their house. Have their family.

“She never posts, she never comments, she never likes. She just looks.”

› Josie convinces Alix to interview her for her podcast because she wants to tell her life story and is determined to make a big change. She wants Alix to help her document everything so she can be an inspiration to other women to chase their dreams. Alix usually interviews women after they’ve achieved success, so she’s thinking this could be a fresh new take for her podcast.

› Where is Roxy? Why does Erin never leave her room? Why does Nathan go on benders and why does Alix stay with him? What are the secrets Josie will tell Alix? Is Josie telling the truth? How much of it is true?

What happens when you let the wrong person into your life?

› Characters: 3
I usually love how Jewell develops characters, but these characters just felt flat. Some didn’t have motivation for their actions, I wanted more characteristics – more strengths, more external conflict and interesting side characters.

› Atmosphere: 4
I wanted more description and world-building. I didn’t feel anything.

› Writing Style: 6
This didn’t feel like Jewell’s typical writing style. It was repetitive and strange. “Her hair is winter blonde, cut into a shape that makes it move like liquid.” What does that even mean? However, she did a great job with the multiple timelines and perspectives.

› Plot: 6
Great beginning and middle. This was a page-turner, but anti-climatic and I did not like the ending because it felt rushed and unfinished.

› Intrigue: 10
I was hooked from the first paragraph and didn’t want to put it down.

› Logic: 4
I have an issue with how Walter and Josie’s relationship was treated in the story. The victim blaming doesn’t sit well with me at all. “allowing herself to be groomed” Ummm…no…she was 13, he was 40. There was no “allowing”.
“Why did she get pregnant at twenty?” Well, because she had sex and birth control isn’t full-proof. I really don’t like it when a woman is accused of getting pregnant as if it’s her fault.
I can’t stand it when a character who should just call the police and has no reason NOT to call the police doesn’t call the police.
Josie meets up with someone who she’s never met, yet walks in and knows what they look like.

› Enjoyment: 8
Overall, I had a good time. None of This is True is a great suspense novel. It has an average Goodreads rating of 4.44 and 90% of Goodreads readers gave it four or five stars, so I am in the minority on this one.

Average 5.9

My Rating ★★★

Other books I read by Lisa Jewell:
Watching You ★★★★★
The Family Upstairs ★★★★★
Invisible Girl ★★★★
The Family Remains ★★★★
The Truth About Melody Browne ★★★

› Final Thoughts
• None of This is True is an unsettling, dark, tense, compulsive and mysterious novel that will keep you guessing even after the ending. I recommend this one to fans of true crime series and podcasts.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

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