The Instagram page of Penguin India has quite a few posts of celebrities and readers talking about ‘None of This is True’ by Lisa Jewell. And everybody raves about it. It’s Jewell’s most recent release. I had previously read ‘And Then She Was Gone’ and it quite literally yanked me out of my reading slump. So, I wanted to read her other books too, but not back-to-back as reading thrillers in a row can get tedious. Having finished None of This is True I have a strong urge to buy more of her works and read them. Jewell has a knack for telling gripping stories and crafting characters that you will come to care about.

None of This is True is about two women—Alix and Josie—who share the same birthday. They are the birthday twins. They meet by chance at a restaurant where Josie takes a strange fascination with Alix who is a podcaster. She interviews women from all walks of life about the hardships they faced and how they overcame them to become who they are. Josie persuades Alix to feature her in her new series. She tells Alix that she is on the cusp of great changes in her life. Alix agrees and they start the interview process. Alix decides to call the podcast ‘Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin’ which is what Josie says to Alix when she first meets her.

However, there is something unsettling about Josie. Her story is strange and complicated. She comes across as both the victim and hero, and you have an inkling that it couldn’t be so. Everybody else—her mother, her husband, and her two daughters—seems problematic. As Josie tells Alix her story you discover she has been hiding some secrets that could threaten her family. Josie also starts interfering in Alix’s life as she develops an unhealthy obsession with Alix and that’s when things take a sinister turn. But things were already set in motion when Alix and Josie first met, or even long before that.

The book alternates between the main plot which is the story as it happens and the transcripts of the podcast. This lends it a dark vibe because you get the feeling that things aren’t as black and white as Josie is making them out to be, that she is perhaps crafting a narrative that best suits her. The other characters you meet like her husband Walter, her daughter Erin, and Alix’s husband Nathan are also shifty. Walter is almost thirty years older than Josie. Erin spends all her time gaming and never comes out of her room. Alix’s husband has an alcohol problem. There’s a lot going on that just keeps you turning the pages.

[Spoiler alert] The book doesn’t have a happy ending. In many ways, you don’t get a sense of closure. This works to the book’s advantage though because readers will find themselves thinking about it long after they are done with it. To supplement your reading experience, Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin is an actual podcast, available on Apple and Spotify. I listened to it and it gave me the creeps. But I loved the concept. It elevated my reading experience. The publishers definitely knew what they were doing. I can see myself buying every book Jewell has written so far, perhaps without even reading the blurb. I have a feeling I won’t be able to stop myself from binging on them.

None of This is True

Lisa Jewell

Published: 2023

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Pages: 390, paperback