| Author: | Lisa Jewell |
| Isbn: | 1982179007 |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Pages: | 380 |
None of This is True is a 2023 thriller written by British author Lisa Jewell.
The book follows the story of Alix Summer, a popular podcaster, and Josie Fair, a woman with a painful and shadowed history who wants her story told.
Josie Fair and Alix Summer share more than a birthday. They're the same age, they were born in the same hospital on the same day, and now, at the age of forty-five, they share a curiosity about how their lives might have turned out differently.
Since she was a teenager, Josie has been controlled by a husband nearly thirty years her senior. After meeting Alix by chance on their shared birthday, she decides there are parts of her story that must be told. Alix, meanwhile, has hit a creative roadblock with her popular podcast and, amid frustrations with her husband's drinking, decides to take a chance on Josie's tale. The more Alix hears, however, the darker the story becomes, and the closer that darkness comes to her own doorstep.
The story is told through a combination of present-tense prose, interview transcripts, and scenes from a fictional Netflix documentary about the book's events.
Josie Fair and Alix Summer meet by chance at a local pub on their shared forty-fifth birthday. Josie has been married to a controlling husband for nearly all her life, and begins to yearn for something different while watching the social and popular Alix. Alix is a podcast host looking for a new subject, and Josie convinces her to interview her for Alix's next project.
The facts of Josie's life quickly become troubling to Alix, but she senses that her interviews with Josie might result in a career-defining story. Josie met her husband, Walter Fair, when she was just thirteen years old, lost her virginity to him at sixteen, and married him at eighteen. Erin, their elder daughter, is now in her twenties and stays at home, refusing to leave her room or eat anything except baby food. Their younger daughter, Roxy, had a violent record in school, ran away at sixteen, and has not been seen since.
Despite Alix's misgivings and Josie's growing attachment to her, Alix continues to interview her for the podcast. Josie compares Walter to Alix's husband, Nathan Summer, who is outwardly loving and charismatic but shows signs of alcoholism. Her story becomes even darker, with details about Walter grooming and having sex with Brooke Ripley, one of Roxy's high school friends, and sexually abusing his own daughter Erin.
Alix asks if she can meet Walter. Alix and Nathan invite Josie and Walter to a dinner at their home, but Nathan gets drunk and does not appear. Disappointed and humiliated, Josie argues with Walter, breaking out of her placid exterior. In the early morning of the same day, she appears back at Alix's house with blood on her clothes after a fight with Walter, who reacted angrily when she called him a pedophile and threatened to unveil his secrets.
Reluctantly, Alix lets Josie stay at her house to recover. As they continue the interviews, however, parts of Josie's stories begin to fall apart. Alix learns that Brooke disappeared around the time of the incident Josie described. Josie's presence in Alix's house also frustrates Nathan, who feels judged by Josie. Josie finally agrees to leave after a week.
Nathan disappears, and Alix realizes that he was entrapped and abducted by Josie, who thought that Alix deserved a better husband and a clean slate for her life. Desperate to find Nathan, Alix goes to Josie's house, where she discovers Walter's decomposing remains and a barely alive Erin trapped in her room. Roxy, Josie's missing daughter, also appears and tells a new side of the story. Roxy reveals that no abuse from Walter ever occurred; in fact Josie was a controlling and abusive mother who killed Brooke because of Brooke's positive relationship with Roxy.
After a nationwide manhunt, Nathan's remains are discovered in a lake that Alix had mentioned during the interviews. Josie is not caught. A heartbroken Alix uses the hours of audio interviews at her disposal to create the podcast, earning money for her family after Nathan's death and attempting to break through Josie's psychopathy. While on the run, Josie sends a final letter to Alix, claiming that killing Nathan was an accident and promising that she only wanted to help. A final scene shows Josie overhearing a conversation about the podcast and remembering the night Brooke died. Josie's recollection is that Roxy killed Brooke in a violent outburst and that she and Walter covered up the death in order to save Roxy from the consequences. She insists to herself that she has always been a good person and only wanted to help others.
The book received largely positive reviews for its pace and twists, though many reviewers noted the darkness of the book's plot and themes. A review from Publishers Weekly stated that fans of Jewell's work "will be satisfied by this pitch-black outing and its shocking climax, but readers with a lower tolerance for nastiness should turn elsewhere."[1] Likewise, Kirkus Reviews noted that the book was "hard to read but hard to look away from."[2] A review of the audiobook by The Guardian describes the book as "deftly plotted" and "gripping."[3]
The novel holds a rating of 4.1/5 stars on Goodreads, with more than 30,000 reviews.[4]