Warning: Spoilers for Lisa Jewell’s novel None of This Is True.

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None of This Is True is the latest book by English author Lisa Jewell. Published this year in July, it is a thriller/mystery focused on two main characters, Alix Summer and Josie Fair. Alix and Josie meet by chance in a trendy restaurant on what turns out to be their common birthday. Alix is a podcast creator and producer who has enjoyed a fair degree of success focusing on women entrepreneurs and professionals. Josie, married to a much older man and facing negligible relationships with both of her children, is generally dissatisfied with the pattern of her life and, we discover, is planning to make a significant life change. Josie manages to convince Alix that a new podcast documenting the transformation of her life would be an exciting, innovative project. As the podcast progresses, Josie shares many personal details with Alix, weaving a sordid tale of abuse. But, Josie’s friends and family, coupled with Josie’s unusual behavior, casts doubt upon many of her biographical details.

The strongest part of this novel is, undoubtedly, Josie’s story, or the story Josie carefully crafted about her life and shares with Alix. Jewell has clearly laid this out, revealing different, relevant points throughout the novel. In some cases, the reader gains insight via transcript of interviews between Alix and Josie, and this dialogue, where shared, is a particularly engaging read. It is conveyed very realistically, with pauses and thought-inspired moments, portraying Josie as exceptionally well-prepared for Alix’s probing questions, but still occasionally surprised by the line of inquiry. At points throughout the novel, circumstances set up by Josie were specifically designed to confirm her claims. For example, Josie orchestrates a meeting between Alix and her mother after describing her mother as a narcissist who exhibited little care for her well-being as a child. At this point, much of her mother’s behavior could easily be interpreted in this context, lending support to Josie and heightening Alix’s, and the reader’s, sympathy for Josie. Josie’s story is shared throughout the book up to the action that characterizes the end of the novel, and her biography is shared so effectively that the reader naturally wishes to know more and is, perhaps, as eager as Alix to believe what Josie says.

Unfortunately, some parts of this novel are either obviously calculated to advance the plot (or conclude it). At certain points in the novel, Josie’s story is called into question, as one might naturally expect. A key example is her husband, Walter, who warns Alix that Josie tends to manufacture a reality that pleases her rather than explaining exactly what might be true about her life. But, these moments really only amount to “wait, she might not be telling the truth!” without much evidence to demonstrate why the reader should give pause reading through Josie’s retelling of her life story. More substantial “reveals” at strategic points throughout this novel would have been more effective, particularly if they were coupled with physical evidence of some kind calling Josie into question. Instead, Jewell backloads the novel, reserving every contradictory point until the end of the book. By this point, the reader clearly knows that Josie has been lying, and a lengthy play-by-play of actual truths lessens the impact of this climatic part of the novel. One big reveal, or perhaps a few, after more effective bread crumbing throughout the novel would engage the reader, transforming him/her/them into a more active sleuth who was, like Alix, eagerly attempting to interpret Josie’s story as the novel progressed. As the novel stands, the reader is force-fed the entire true narrative in the last few chapters of the book, and while the true story is very interesting, it almost feels as if one is reading an entirely different book at this stage in the text.

The “big reveal” about Josie’s true life story is coupled with a series of shocking murders that are either revealed or occurred at the end of the novel. There is one hint in the book that murder of some kind is imminent and that there will be more than one victim, but there is no further indication exactly who, how, or when these murders might occur. At the end of the book, the reader learns that Josie, who had shown up late at night on Alix’s doorstep a week before claiming to have been physically abused by Walter, actually killed her husband and attempted to murder one of her two daughters. The reader can, perhaps, draw a line from Josie’s expressed desire to change her life early in the novel and this dramatic conclusion, but Jewell does not explicitly state this or build a relationship between these important unifying plot elements. Less explicable, in my opinion, is the fact that Josie sets Alix’s husband, Nathan, up and ultimately murders him, although she claims that this was an accident. Nathan’s part in this novel unifies the “obvious plot device” with “head-scratching slaughter” problems with this story. Nathan is a good father and husband, but he has a tendency to go out with friends, get drunk, and wake up in random hotel rooms with no memory of what happened. The tension between Alix and Nathan on this behavioral point is not very well-developed beyond Alix making a lot of late-night calls to Nathan’s phone. Nathan himself, beyond this behavior, is not a particularly well-developed character. It is clear that Nathan’s “benders” are a plot device intended to create a convenient opportunity for Josie to attack Nathan. It is also unclear why Josie attacks Nathan in the first place. Josie expresses a dislike for Nathan’s behavior, but this is far from a satisfying reason why she might consider murdering him. Given her longer, closer association with Alix, and her borderline obsession with her, it would have made much more sense for Josie to attack Alix. And, at this point, the novel actually shifts into what I would call “more realistic” territory—obviously, since Josie was responsible for Nathan’s death, Alix would not see Josie again or continue the podcast. But, since Alix is a skilled interviewer, it would have been more interesting to witness Alix and Josie engaged in one more interview after the murders. Instead, the reader is treated to a far more conventional ending—Alix produces a celebrated podcast with the material she has accumulated from Josie and with comments by other friends and family who do reveal the true story.

This novel is, despite the flaws in the plot, a very engaging read. I enjoyed reading through most of it, but I have to admit that once Josie began staying with Alix post-false-abuse, I started to lose interest because the story became less believable from this point forward. Still, I was very interested in learning the truth about Josie’s story, and Jewell does skillfully suggest that even the “real” story may not be “real” at all at the very end—a fitting way to close the circle on the ambiguity that characterizes the story as a whole. I also very much enjoyed reading Josie’s claims and how she described each of the most important aspects of her life—her relationships with her mother, her husband, and her children, for example. If you are interested in thrillers, I recommend this as an enjoyable read with some very well-developed plot elements. But, the story might lose you at a certain point, and, even then, it is still worth reading through until the end.