None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

EXCERPT: All around her the news is breaking like a slow, shocking tsunami. The awfulness of it is too big for Alix to fully process. Her sisters message her constantly. They should be WhatsApping now about their upcoming holiday. They should be sharing pictures of new dresses bought and asking for reading recommendations, asking if the villa has hairdryers, making reservations for dinner as it’s impossible to seat that many people in a restaurant without advance planning. Alix should be trying on swimwear in the mirror in her room that has a rear view and wondering if she could still get away with a bikini at forty-five and then thinking that God, yes, of course she could and if she couldn’t now, then when could she? And she would suck in her stomach and turn this way and that and think, not bad, not bad at all for a middle-aged mother of two.
That’s what she should be doing now.
Instead, she is trapped in a Gothic, tick-tocking, slow-burn nightmare.

ABOUT ‘NONE OF THIS IS TRUE’: The paths of two women — Alix Summer and Josie Fair — cross when they are out celebrating their birthdays in the same restaurant.

Big coincidence: they are birthday twins; not only this — they were born in the same hospital.

Alix is a journalist and podcaster. 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. She proposes this to Josie, and they start sharing their stories in Alix’s recording studio.

But 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.

Soon Alix starts to worry that Josie will never leave.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that her family is in more danger than she ever thought possible …

MY THOUGHTS: I’m speechless. I can’t stop thinking about this book, about Alix and Josie and their families, and I don’t know what I can write that will convey just how mind-bendingly good this book is.

I was completely sucked into None of This is True. Reading it was like being on one of those fairground rides that toss you first one way, then another and back again. What was true? Who was I to believe? Was Josie the manipulator or the manipulated? And that ending – it’s delicious and cast a pall of uncertainty over everything I thought I knew. It also leaves the door open for Josie to come back . . . and that’s a chilling thought.

I was absorbed, entertained and thrilled. Ms Jewell deserves all five stars and more.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#NoneofThisisTrue @WaitomoDistrictLibrary