BookLife Review: None of This is True, A Novel, by Lisa Jewell

thriller, podcast, multiple murders, psychopath, childhood trauma, pedophile, gaming, runaway

Dark, very deliciously dark. The two women at the center of this story become intertwined almost by accident and with tragic results. None of This is True is a thriller by Lisa Jewell that is fresh and contemporary. A popular podcaster, Alix Summer, crosses paths with her “birthday twin”, Josie Fair, when the two happen to dine at the same London restaurant for their 45th birthdays. In a fateful encounter in the restroom, Josie learns that she and Alix were born on the same day at the same hospital. The two have lived very different lives.

Josie was raised by a single mother, and at 15 met a forty year-old man (her mother’s beau). Josie had become sexually involved with him at age 16. She was married at 18, and had two children before she was 22. At forty-five, Josie is married to a man in his 70s. Alix enjoyed a more affluent childhood, married later in life and at fort-five has two pre-teen children. She has a successful podcast series focused on women who make successful careers from humble or challenging beginnings.

Josie becomes obsessed with Alix, and is desperate to share her “real” story with Alix for her podcast. Alix is intrigued by Josie’s history of a teen marriage to an over-40 year old man. Despite her misgivings, and although Josie’s situation does not fit Alix’s traditional podcast model, Alix opts to explore Josie’s story as a “birthday twin” story. Quickly, Alix uncovers some of the dark layers in Josie’s troubled past, and she grows increasingly uncomfortable with Josie’s apparent lack of insight into her own situation and her growing obsession with Alix.

So, Alix investigates. Josie’s children attended the same school Alix’s children currently attend. Alix learns about Josie’s daughters rocky history at the school. She convinces Josie to introduce her to Josie’s mom, who seems to dislike her own daughter. Josie’s story and her troubled past encroach further and further into Alix’s life, while at the same time Alix realizes that the podcast has the potential to be a huge hit.

Jewell’s novel is fresh and contemporary in its structure. It toggles back and forth between the past narrative of Alix’s development of the podcast based on Josie’s story, and the airing of a Netflix special based on the podcast. The Netflix segments are purposefully unclear about who is alive and who is dead at the time the special airs. It is only as the novel nears its end that all is revealed—or is it? Dark and twisty, the novel ends with an eerie twist and some unanswered questions.