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? Nevertheless, I was excited to get to the bottom of things and had a hard time stopping myself from extrapolating endlessly as the novel wore on, with theory after theory about all of the players involved.

It gives away some interesting snippets about the parts of the story you have just read and puts them in wider context, such as Alix discussing her thoughts about Josie’s revelations. Giving my highly deserved five stars to this mind numbing, complex, highly sinister, perfectly developed and executed novel! The things that Josie begins to share are QUITE shocking, and like an accident you can’t look away from, Alix cannot stop listening. It’s like listening to a concerto slowly raises its tempo and as you reach the ending, you hear the crescendo: that’s moment the earth shattering revelation squeezes your heart, you barely breathe! 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.Josie lets Alix into her life and history through the podcast and Alix, in turn, gradually lets Josie into her life too.

Lisa Jewell completely missed an opportunity with this one, but instead decided to victim blame a 13-year-old who was groomed by a 40 year old and married her abuser. When two women who share a birthday meet, a journalist becomes the subject of her own true-crime mystery. With heavy themes and creepy personalities of certain characters, None of This is True is a page-turner that made my head spin trying to outsmart Ms. Alix, whose husband, Nathan, is a binge drinker and frequently fails to come home, and Walter whose age gap has become even more noticeable to his much younger wife.Alix believes Josie has a compelling story to tell, even if she finds her unsettling and a bit intense.

As the podcast continues, some very disturbing facts begin to reveal themselves, and Alix realises that she’s made a big mistake! Though Alix believes it will be a run-of-the-mill episode on the differences between two lives that started at the same time and same place (they were even born at the same hospital), the story takes a dark turn when Josie starts sharing disturbing family secrets. I enjoyed the alternating POV of both women which includes transcriptions of the podcast and scenes from a Netflix documentary on the case. One of the characters is an alcoholic, and it felt like they were given a free pass for their bad behavior, like I was expected to sympathize with them and understand why they behaved so poorly. Their unlikely meeting turns into a podcast in which shared confidences become the motive for murder.Alix begins to doubt some parts of Josie’s revelations when she talks to people who know her and have interacted with her in the past.