NONE OF THIS IS TRUE dives into birthday twins Alix and Josie, born 45 years ago at the same hospital. A chance meeting turns into an opportunity for Josie to be featured on Alix’s podcast and tell her life story and the changes she’s going to make. 

What Alix learns through interviewing Josie is a disturbing family dynamic, between her husband, their daughters, and a girl next door. 

I wasn’t overly invested in the characters. I couldn’t connect with them and their motivations were not intriguing. The thriller twists were more disturbing than shocking. The one at the end felt like a Hail Mary. It made sense for the narrative of the story, but I found myself shrugging my shoulders at it. 

LISA JEWELL does use an interesting format where part of it is told as a transcript from a Netflix documentary. In turn, there are paragraphs setting the scene as if you are watching someone on screen and then blurbs providing retellings of future events. 

It also includes the global pandemic as a narrative point. It fits with the timeline as the book is set from 2019 to 2022. However, I prefer books that are more timeless and don’t include real world situations like these. 

hindsight: too much fluff