None of This is True: The new addictive psychological thriller from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Family Upstairs

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At the end of a particularly sinister and AMAZING horror movie, I always have that moment where I'm GRATEFUL to leave the theater, blink in the sunlight, and feel part of the less ominous real world. This book took me to that same sort of deep, scary place...and while I did manage to enjoy most of the ride? Lots of short, punchy chapters, interspersed with a Netflix documentary and podcast extracts, all make for a very fast-paced read. You know bad shit has happened from the start, maybe reeeaaaaalllly bad shit, but I didn't have a clue what, exactly, had gone down, and I was desperate to find out. Overall, I am not as enthusiastic about this thriller as I had hoped to be. I’m still a fan of Jewell and will gladly read her next thriller. When I first heard about this, I could hardly believe it. A story that follows two women turning forty-five, and I am turning forty-five this year. It can't be coincidence...

This story had me gripped throughout but I feel the ending let the book down a little. It was too contrived, and I failed to appreciate what drove this woman to do the things she did. I also enjoy more analysis when taking on difficult subjects and wanted a better ending for Roxy and Erin. The story behind Walter was left vague for me and didn’t conclude on the various aspects of his life and actions. Did he marry a much younger girl or was he guilty of ‘grooming’ her??. I settled on the former in the absence of any more detail. Even that was weird though. Having said that, there are a few things that keep me from giving this novel a higher rating. I know this is fiction and but a few things did bother me. None of the characters are particularly likeable (some worse than the others) which is fine. I know this is fiction but I could not ignore certain aspects of the story no matter how much I tried. Alix's inability to read the situation, her apparent blindness to several red flags in Josie’s behavior and her insensitivity to some extremely disturbing aspects of Josie’s life was off-putting. I also had issues with certain choices that were made in the handling of Josie’s present storyline. The author ventures into some very dark and disturbing themes in this novel (grooming, pedophilia, sexual abuse of a minor, trauma and mental health) and I’m not comfortable with the way those topics were presented. The ending did not spoil the book - it's just it could have been better. I would like to have seen the threads tied up nicely or differently, and then this would have been a clear 5 star book. Q: Were there any plot and character revelations you were especially excited to finally give the reader?When Nathan again goes out to meet friends, Josie follows him and overhears him complain about his “houseguest from hell.” Josie asks a co-worker to show up at the pub and try to lure Nathan to a hotel.

Erin recovers and moves in with her sister. Josie is still on the run. She sends Alix a letter claiming that Nathan’s death was a accident. because of this, the plot was not incredibly surprising and the plot twists were extremely mild/predictable… BUT all of it was unsettling and i enjoyed the vibe. i loved the documentary/podcast aspect of the book! That woman,” she calls out to Nathan, pulling one of the cat’s claws out of her trousers. “The one who kept staring. She came into the toilet. Turns out it’s her forty-fifth birthday today too. That’s why she was staring.” It took me awhile to sort out my thoughts on this one, as it was not quite what I expected, but that isn’t a bad thing. I buddy read this with my sister Irina, and part of the reason I love reading the same book as a friend or friends is due to the fact that you can really hash out your book review content ahead of time. We both ended up with similar feelings on None of This Is True, and foremost agreed that it was a compulsive, must read suspense tale.Q: None of This Is True includes podcast interviews throughout. What were you excited to explore by including a podcast within the structure, as well as by having one of the narrators be a podcaster? Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has cajoled her way into Alix's life - and into her home. Lisa Jewell always manages to capture you into the story with the way she allows the characters to grow within the book, never knowing what is true and what isn’t!