BOOK REVIEW
Title: None of This Is True
Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: Thriller
Publisher, Year: Simon and Schuster, 2023
Goodreads: 4.1 average, 57k reviews
Amazon: 4.3 average, 41k reviews
About:
None of This Is True follows two women: Alix Summers and Josie Fair. Alix and Josie were both born on the same day in the same hospital, and meet for the first time in a gastro-pub on their forty-fifth birthday. Josie quickly latches onto Alix, a successful podcaster who features women who've overcome hardships to thrive.
Alix is bored of her routine, and is craving something new, dark, and real. When Josie offers her the chance to follow along as she changes her life, sharing hints of a dark and troubled past, Alix can't say no.
But as Alix and Josie grow close, and Josie's truth is shared, it's revealed that there just might be literal skeletons in someone's closet.
Chapters mostly alternated Josie and Alix's POVs, but were interspersed with documentary style interviews with people mentioned in the chapters, or 'clips' from the podcast recordings.
My thoughts:
I listened to the audiobook on Spotify and have to say - it was incredible. Between the writing style and full cast, I couldn't stop listening until it was over, and then I wanted more. Rarely do I consider an audiobook better than reading due to an auditory processing disorder, but I would listen to this again and again.
Jewell doesn't shy away from morbid themes in this psychological thriller. Not just dark, but at times pitch black, some conversations were hard to hear - yet impossible to brush past.
Each character felt real, in a way where I felt as if I knew them or knew of folks like them in my own life. The dialogue felt natural between all characters and internal thoughts. I also appreciated how, occasionally, the same events were shown in each POV with very different interpretations. Unreliable narrators, anyone?
All in all, if you're a fan of suspenseful, character-driven thrillers, and don't mind discussions of all types of abuse, death, and child neglect amongst other dark themes, I highly recommend this book.
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