None of This is True: The new addictive psychological thriller from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of The Family Upstairs

Product Information

Slowly she starts to realize 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.

You know that there is something really malevolent there, but what you do not know is what she is actually capable of, and the extent of the mysteries surrounding her.With her dream home and two lovely children, Alix is happily married, yet recent issues in her marriage leave her seeking a distraction. This isn’t a pleasant read, and it can easily become too much, but the exploration of themes like obsession, manipulation and warped mindsets did appeal to me. While reading the book, I felt like the emoji that has both hands over their eyes but with their fingers spread so that the upcoming train wreck is slightly visible. The way that the two of them got together was creepy and unsettling regardless of the perspective, and all round he just appeared extremely passive. What details from Erin and Roxy’s stories about their childhoods and more recent events shocked you the most?

It took me awhile to sort out my thoughts on this one, as it was not quite what I expected, but that isn’t a bad thing. The atmosphere of the novel, set mostly on this wild Greek island, echoes strongly the classical tragedies of Greece. It means she’s wrong, that everything, literally everything, about her is wrong and that she’s running out of time to make herself right. She is fairly amiable, but also frustrating and naïve, with how easily she is taken in by Josie and how she allows the other woman to infringe upon her life in such a profound way. As the story progresses, it's like a veil being pulled from your eyes, but I still couldn't believe what I was reading.Louise is a woman I feel a very strong bond with, although we don’t see each other much, I absolutely get her, and she makes total sense to me. I genuinely liked the story, and I think Jewell does a great job keeping the reader pulled into the story. In contrast, Josie takes an unsettling turn, becoming adamant about getting involved in Alix's life. The story behind Walter was left vague for me and didn’t conclude on the various aspects of his life and actions. Josie tells Alix she is about to make big changes in her life and wants Alix to document it for her podcast.

I might have been a bit negative on this one, but be assured it is wildly entertaining and addictive! Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. Even protagonist Alix has her blinders on selectively throughout and doesn't exactly do her due diligence with, well, anything. Meet Josie Fair, a 45-year-old woman navigating the complexities of a marriage with a man twice her age, a mother to two daughters and a dog enthusiast.Could this be her next subject, she wonders: the story of two women who share the same birthday but whose lives could not be more different. Indeed, the whole thing between them was toxic and their exchanges were the parts I enjoyed reading the least. I knew there was one more thing I could give myself (as at this point I still didn’t really truly know what had happened or who to believe) and to the reader, that would absolutely make sense of everything at the same time as turning everything on its head, and so when I wrote that epilogue and saw what had really happened through the lens of Josie’s warped and broken mind, I was as shocked as I expect my readers to be. If you are a sensitive reader, be aware there are trigger warnings galore, but know the events take place off the page. However, my reason for not giving this a full 5 stars is that this final 15% felt as if it just lost steam and wasn’t sure of how it wanted to end, so it took a milder finale that had me feeling a little deflated, going from full speed ahead to a little bit of, “Wait, that’s it?

Overall, this is the kind of story that lingers, imprinting itself in your thoughts and sending chills down your spine whenever it crosses your mind. Then Zoe and Alix turn the conversation away from the Huge Coincidence and immediately Josie sees that it has passed, this strange moment of connection, that it was fleeting and weightless for Alix, but that for some reason it carries import and meaning to Josie, and she wants to grab hold of it and breathe life back into it, but she can’t.There are a few aspects that I had to overlook up until this point, behaviors and lack of affirmative action in the characters that I don’t think would play out the way it did in the book in real life, but understandably needed to be done to progress this particular story.