None of This is True

"Hi! I'm your birthday twin."
This is the introduction of Josie Fair, a strange woman with a stranger story to tell. The important part is that Josie is still a stranger. I loved the way Jewell had this outsider insinuate her way into the life and family of the successful podcaster, Alix Summer. Alix receives all the warning signs that something is off, which is exactly what draws her to Josie in the first place and what keeps her engaged, even when her intuition tells her to run. She makes her living on interesting stories and Josie has that in… show more.

This was like eating candy, something I rarely do. Sometimes, you have to dive into a book for it's sheer plot driven action. It's not a book that will, necessarily, stretch your intellectual mind, but I was hooked. The end of each chapter put me on the edge of my seat in an utterly fun way. I haven't been consumed with a book like this in a long time.

The Trope: The Unknown Threat

Lisa Jewell is a master of psychological suspense, and I felt this was one of her best. I love true crime podcasts, so using a podcaster as a protagonist and having clips from her show in the story added a layer of reality to the fiction. 

The main character meets a woman with the same birthday as her while out celebrating. She decides to do a podcast series around the theme of birthday twins—an innocent, even fun beginning to a story that becomes anything but. For much of the book, the main character knew something… show more.

I’ve read other books by Lisa Jewell, but none as all-involving as this one. The story had me hooked from the word go, and the audiobook production quality was outstanding, with ‘Netflix Coming Soon’ trailers helping ground events in the everyday.

There are so many twists and turns that I defy anyone to claim they saw the ending coming. Jewell gets under the skin of a downtrodden wannabe whose life is a literal mess and her birthday twin–a woman who seemingly has it all. Spoiler alert (natch): she doesn’t. 

This is, in my opinion, one of the best psychological thrillers of the year.

Sure, it has the suspense and the twists and that claustrophobic feeling that grabs you by the throat and compels you to keep turning the pages. But for me, it’s the characters in this book that brought it alive.

Alix and Josie were so believable; I could imagine being there in that restaurant in London when they met for the first time and realized they were "birthday twins." I felt as if I was in Alix’s studio listening in as she recorded her podcast, and I… show more.

The premise of this story was immediately fascinating to me as someone with a background in psychology – two women find out they were born on the same day 45 years ago but in very different life circumstances. (Psychologists love twin studies!)

Alix is a podcaster, and Josie has the idea of being her next subject. The chapters alternate between the two and are also interspersed with interviews from a Netflix documentary about birthday twins. I really liked this structure as it felt quite different and was a good way to pile on the intrigue and suspense.

The themes of… show more.

I loved this book because it was impossible to predict, and I had to know how it would all unfold.

It was tightly plotted and cleverly executed. I didn't particularly like the characters, but I was intrigued by them. I read this while on holiday with my family, and I have to say, I largely ignored them until I'd finished this book.

I love Lisa's books, but this one, for me, is her best, as it really made me question the assumptions I make about people. At times, I wasn't sure who the victim was. It was a really enjoyable… show more.