Hello everyone and welcome to *finally* a brand new edition of Lil Red’s Book Club. Between the craziness of life and my new job, it was difficult to find time to read and I preferred to spend my limited downtime watching Degrassi lol. Then, my sister texted me asking if I wanted to borrow a book that she considered to be unputdownable. It is called None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. I must say, my sister was spot on because I couldn’t put it down if you paid me and my hunger for reading has come back a thousandfold. Before we begin our discussion in a spoiler free setting, I will be placing a big fat trigger warning on None Of This Is True for abuse in all forms, murder, and highly disturbing content. Now, let’s get to it:

On the day you were born, countless other children were being born on the same day in the same hospital as you. Have you ever met any of those birthday twins before? This is where our story begins. On the day of Josie Fair’s forty-fifth birthday, she decides she would like to do something different to celebrate. She suggests to her way older husband, Walter, a dinner out at a posh bar – a place they would never step foot in before. As they enjoy their meal, another birthday girl is having a large gathering with friends. She is named Alix Summer, a famous podcaster who is also turning forty-five.

Josie is instantly drawn to glamorous Alix and visits the ladies room at the same time as her, sparking the introduction as “birthday twins”. Upon returning home from dinner, Josie can’t stop thinking about Alix and does a deep dive for her online. She listens to all of her podcasts, scours social media, and fantasizes about the wonderful life Alix lives with her handsome husband, beautiful children, and luxurious home. This is in stark contrast to Josie’s life with a geriatric husband, adult children who want nothing to do with her, and a shabby flat. Josie wants to do something different for her forty-fifth birthday and she decides that Alix is the one to help her. Alix is going to make a podcast about Josie’s life.

Thanks to social media, Josie knows just where to track down Alix and make it seem like another chance encounter. She plans their “bump in” for when she takes her dog on a walk, right by the school that Alix’s children attend. From there, Josie and Alix meet the following day. Josie pitches her idea to Alix about a podcast that talks about women who are in the process of breaking free from an unhappy life. The star being none other than Josie herself. Alix is strangely captivated by Josie and her odd disposition and, with her previous podcast series just wrapping up, she figures “why not?”.

The birthday twins begin meeting up regularly to record episodes in Alix’s swanky recording studio. But, to get a sense of where Josie is at now, they must start at the beginning. Josie’s entire life has been riddled with hardship, a sense of not belonging, and situations that would break the coldest of hearts. Alix can’t get enough – so much so that she is blinded to anything off about Josie. Strange comments are brushed off, missing items throughout the home are chalked up to the kids misplacing them, and a general sense of unease gets pushed to the side.

As Josie and Alix delve deeper into the podcast, plot holes develop through the other people in Josie’s life that Alix interviews. They paint Josie as unstable. As someone who lives in her own world and tells her “truth” liberally. Josie officially becomes the “unreliable narrator” to her own life story. Was Josie’s life truly a series of unfortunate events? Were some of these events calculated and crafted by Josie herself? Or maybe, just maybe is she covering up for someone? Read None Of This Is True to find out!

I absolutely LOVED this book, devoured it in three days, and have not stopped thinking about it since. There was so much that I enjoyed about it, especially how it shifted between the narration of the book to the text of the eventual Netflix documentary made from the podcast. The tale went back and forth with Josie, Alix, and other people being interviewed and it really kept you on your toes. With each new interview came new information that you had to analyze and decide for yourself who was really telling the truth with each situation being discussed. None Of This Is True was a true psychological thriller from start to finish.

I have never read about a character quite like Josie Fair before. Even though I absolutely hated her, I couldn’t get enough of reading about her. Her brusque, irrational behavior was beautifully complimented by Alix. Alix was kind, soft, empathetic and the perfect person to craft the podcast. Through their interactions, Alix was still able to paint Josie as a sympathetic character despite everything that happened in the course of recording the podcast. This made the book even more thought provoking. Yes, you were trying to come to your own conclusion but it also made you question who in the cast of characters is deserving of sympathy.

None Of This Is True covered really heavy subjects and was quite difficult to read at times. However, if you choose to read it, prepare for your mind to be absolutely blown. Mine sure was. I am going to rate None Of This Is True with an eight out of ten stars and kind of want to read it again knowing what I know now. Highly recommend!

What are you currently reading? What should I read next? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah