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If this book didn’t victim blame a thirteen-year-old girl, it would have been a four-star read. A teen is incapable (and inculpable) of holding any power over a creepy middle-aged man. Erin says that Walter and Josie fought, and when Erin came into the room, Walter was lying on the floor bleeding. Josie refused to call an ambulance. Then Erin hit her mother (which is why Josie ended up looking battered at Alix’s.) When Erin woke up, she was tied to a chair. Lisa Jewell is an incredibly talented storyteller, as she can really take the odd day-to-day occurrences and entwine them with clear and concise character development, giving birth to novels that allow the reader to fully engage with the cast of characters, no matter if they are likable or despicable. This book is no different, and the multiple povs really give us insight into the various narrators inner thoughts and feelings while the tension ramps up around them. Josie and Alix couldn’t be more different; they come from different lifestyles and circumstances, and yet… Could they be more similar than originally meets the eye?
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. First, if you handed me the first three chapters of a story in a binder, with no title and asked me to guess the author-I could identify her distinctive writing by her often QUIRKY and always well developed characters. When two women who share a birthday meet, a journalist becomes the subject of her own true-crime mystery. Shortly after, they bump into each other again outside of the school that Alix's children currently attend, and Josie's attended years ago. Josie also wants to be the only one to set the narrative. She doesn’t want Alix talking to anyone but her. Not her mother, not Walter, not Brooke or her daughters.In Erin’s Netflix interview, she says that Josie was jealous of Brooke’s relationship with Roxy. When Roxy ran away, Brooke told Josie that Roxy was running away from her and didn’t love her. Then, according to Erin, there were noises, of a struggle and violence. BUT (as it’s pointed out in comments) this story could have been fed to Erin (who is rather naive and impressionable) by Brooke. I read this in day which I am deliberately not doing any more, because this was such a captivating read and a great book overall. Alix and Josie bump into each other for the first time in the bathroom of a local pub, coincidentally on the day they were both turning 45. They were birthday twins! I just knew I was going to love it and per usual, I was right. Not only did I love it, I freaking loved it. This will definitely be on my Favorites of the Year list. Is this why Josie killed both her husband and Alix’s husband? To give them both a clean break? In her twisted mind, she thought she was doing Alix a favor.
If Pat is telling the truth about being involved with Walter before Josie, then Walter did have a more age-appropriate relationship with Pat. If none of this is true, why am I reading this? Why am I wasting my time, Jewel? You think you can just pull the wool over my eyes? I think Walter and Josie were both involved. Josie’s mother says that Walter and Josie are “both as bad as each other.” (I guess I was right about this.) At the end of a particularly sinister and AMAZING horror movie, I always have that moment where I'm GRATEFUL to leave the theater, blink in the sunlight, and feel part of the less ominous real world. This book took me to that same sort of deep, scary place...and while I did manage to enjoy most of the ride? When Nathan again goes out to meet friends, Josie follows him and overhears him complain about his “houseguest from hell.” Josie asks a co-worker to show up at the pub and try to lure Nathan to a hotel.We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE will make you second guess everything. i was absolutely obsessed with the two female MCs. this story was so addicting, i finished it in 24 hours because i simply couldn’t wait to figure out the truth. this book is full of unreliable narrators and characters who all have their secrets and hidden agendas and it’s so interesting to dive into everyone’s psyche. As the words leave her mouth, Josie feels the gnawing sense of grief that she has experienced for most of her life rush through her. She’s never found anything to pin the feeling to before; she never knew what it meant. But now she knows what it means. Alix’s head spins. Tequila slammers at midnight. Too much. Nathan is pouring himself a Scotch and the smell of it makes Alix’s head spin even faster. The house is quiet. Sometimes, when they have a high-energy babysitter, the children will still be up when they get home, restless and annoyingly awake. Sometimes the TV will be on full blast. But not tonight. The softly spoken, fifty-something babysitter left half an hour ago and the house is tidy, the dishwasher hums, the cat is pawing its way meaningfully across the long sofa toward Alix, already purring before Alix’s hand has even found her fur. Lisa Jewell has been around the scene for a while now: this is her ELEVENTH thriller after making the transition from romance novels. Even Jewell herself has said her thrillers follow a general trend: now and then timelines, unlikable characters, at LEAST one teenage POV...and there's often a big 'didn't know they were related' reveal. This formula has suited her well, and I've never doubted her ability to write a compelling narrative. Whether I agreed with the way it played out or not, despite occasional uneven pacing, I'm a Jewell fan through and through and also feel like I have a good sense of what to expect when I grab one of her books.
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