None of This is True by Lisa Jewell, a review

I decided to read None of This is True after reading Sarah’s review. I like a lot of the same books as Sarah, but I also really enjoyed Lisa Jewell’s book The Night She Disappeared.

The Blurb

Celebrating her 45th 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 45th 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, which you’ll hear, fully produced, throughout this audiobook.

Slowly Alix 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, her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

My Review of None of this is True

This is a real dark page turner. Seemingly innocently two women end up in the same gastropub on their 45th birthdays and end up speaking to each other.

As a podcaster Alix is looking for something a bit different, so when Josie comes up with the idea of talking about being birthday twins she goes a long with it.

The women’s lives become entwined and Alix is not sure what she’s let herself in for, but is also intrigued to get to the bottom of the story.

Josie is a strange character, it’s obvious she has issues, but are her stories true. It seems so difficult to piece together what is or isn’t true and even right at the end the author leaves you wondering.

There are some gruesome lines in this story including domestic abuse, child abuse, paedophilia and murder. It’s not for the faint hearted that’s for sure. But it’s also incredibly intriguing as you kind of know what’s happened but just like Alix, you feel the need to know the whys and hows. Sadly, so Alix finds out, getting the truth is never easy from some people.

I listened to None of This is True on Audible and it is by far one of the best performances I’ve heard in a long time. Nicola Walker and Louise Brealey were brilliant and I loved the additional performances from the podcasts and news reports and other voice actors. The music was timely and really gave the whole story a great atmosphere. I just couldn’t stop listening!

I’d suggest a 30 free trial just to listen to this book (trust me, you’ll be finished in 10 hours!)

Or you could buy a copy from Amazon.