None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

Hello Beautiful People! Welcome back to another review! For this review, I get into a current best seller None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell.

Main Characters:

• Alix Summer: Popular podcast host, becomes the victim of Josie’s affections
• Josie Fair: A scary interesting woman who has quite the story to tell, uses her story to sneak her way into Alix’s life only to flip both of theirs upside down in the process

Warnings for future readers:

• Includes murder
• Includes adults having inappropriate relationships with teenagers
• Includes stalking

My Review

Since this is such a new book I won’t be doing a summary and commentary but just a more in-depth review. Since the release of None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell it’s been getting super great reviews and people have seemed to love it. I have seen a few reviews though where some people didn’t love it so I tried to not feed too much into the hype and just went in with an open mind.

I thought None of This is True was an exceptionally unique thriller that captivated me from the first page. While there were moments where I sensed a slight predictability, the majority of the narrative kept me on the edge of my seat, constantly guessing and second-guessing the unfolding events. Notably, the story’s ending, with its clever twist, was executed masterfully, seamlessly fitting into the overall mood and leaving a lasting impression.

One aspect that truly stood out for me was Lisa’s narrative style. The alternating perspectives between Josie and Alix, coupled with interview and podcast clips, added a layer of complexity that elevated the storytelling. This method of narration can be challenging to execute effectively, but Lisa navigated it with finesse, creating an immersive experience. Reading it felt like poring over the transcript of a gripping true crime documentary, with each page unravelling new mysteries and revelations.

I awarded None of This is True a solid 9/10 rating. Despite delving into intense themes, the narrative never felt overwhelming. Lisa skillfully balanced the weighty subject matter, allowing readers to engage with the story without being weighed down by its darker elements. The novel, with its unique structure, engaging plot, and well-crafted characters, is a testament to Lisa’s storytelling prowess, making it a standout thriller in its genre.

The book starts off with Josie and Alix crossing paths by discovering they have the same birthday. It’s both women’s 45th. Ever since the two just happen to cross paths, Josie becomes infatuated with Alix, her life, and her success. Despite Josie presenting Alix as this posh, poised, and extremely successful woman, we the reader soon see that Alix is fairly average. Alix is an everyday woman who now close to her mid-life is struggling to decide what her next path is. Attempting to juggle work, children, and trying to keep her marriage alive, Alix is just like most of us. It is interesting because I felt like maybe more under the surface, but the main theme in this book is how untrue the internet and social media is. Josie puts Aix on this pedestal because she assumes the Alix she sees online is the exact one she runs into on her birthday.

With Alix looking to change around her podcast, and a new friend Josie with an interesting story it seems the two have something they can offer each other. Josie can pretend even for a few hours that she is living Alix’s life, and Alix can have a new story to tell to her listeners. What Alix doesn’t expect though is that her new friend will turn her entire world upside down. I really enjoyed Alix as a character but there were some parts where I was rolling my eyes a bit because she was being a bit naive and overtrusting. I may also just be a bit too untrusting… who knows. I just felt like throughout the book she was missing a lot of signs that things with Josie were starting to get weird and she either ignored her gut or just completely missed it. I wasn’t expecting how much Josie’s obsessions would escalate in the book so I found that to be an interesting twist. The one thing I didn’t totally love about Alix as well is that she could have avoided a lot of this mess earlier on. Realistically Josie’s issues that she started to share on Alix’s podcast were something that Alix was not equipped to handle. She should have stopped the interviews early on when she realized that Josie may need help in many different ways, but didn’t. I am not sure if she maybe just really wanted a good story, but realistically when Josie started to share her life with her she should have seen that she wasn’t equipped to handle it. She just didn’t handle some of the things Josie shared in the best way and may have just been looking more to grow her audience.

When I first picked up the book I wondered about the title a bit. We find out quickly in this book though that this is the perfect title for this book. The reader is constantly left wondering what is true since we get the different perspectives of Josie and Alix. Even though both women are doing the same thing their perspectives are very different and it’s hard to know who’s telling the truth. I love a book like this though where you left guessing the whole time, it makes it such a brain teaser. I flew through this book because I kept wanting to know where this story was going to go next. When I spoke earlier about some parts of the book being predictable it was more so Alix’s naivety or Josie’s obsessions that were predictable. I feel like maybe Lisa meant for it to be this way but we start to see these patterns early on in the book of these woman’s flaws, and how it may start to bite each of them in the ass.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is into a gripping thriller written in a unique style. I hope you enjoyed this review! Feel free to check out my socials @baddiebookreviews to be kept up to date for when I drop a new review.