SE: That idea of secrets is a huge theme in this book and has been in your other books as well. Is that something you intentionally write about, or does it just find its way into your work? This story follows two women, Alix Summers, a popular podcaster, and Josie Fair, an unassuming woman, whose profession is so inconsequential, I can't recall it. That woman,” she calls out to Nathan, pulling one of the cat’s claws out of her trousers. “The one who kept staring. She came into the toilet. Turns out it’s her forty-fifth birthday today too. That’s why she was staring.” Was Josie’s plan to confess to Alix about covering up Brooke’s murder (she does present this idea to Walter, but he rejects the idea. Is this why she kills him? Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

Interestingly, I do, and it’s fellow author and good friend, Louise Candlish. We were both flabbergasted when we made the discovery, it seemed extraordinary to us that we’d both come into the world on the same day and ended up doing the same job in the same very small orbit. Louise is a woman I feel a very strong bond with, although we don’t see each other much, I absolutely get her, and she makes total sense to me. So the impetus for using birthday twins as an opening into the novel definitely did not spring from my own experience. Instead it seemed an ideal opportunity to show how divergent women’s lives can be in spite of similar beginnings. Lisa Jewel is one of my favorite authors. Hers are not the typical thrillers as she is able to develop interesting characters and tell unique stories far beyond the typical who did it and psycho killer tropes. This book is no exception. This is a very unique story told very cleverly through different perspectives and, in part, through an in-story podcast format.

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When I first heard about this, I could hardly believe it. A story that follows two women turning forty-five, and I am turning forty-five this year. It can't be coincidence... Alix and Josie bump into each other for the first time in the bathroom of a local pub, coincidentally on the day they were both turning 45. They were birthday twins!

Although she wants to help her, Alix fears that this case may be far more involved than any she's explored in her podcast thus far. Will Josie's desperation to escape her situation lead her to say just about ANYTHING to get out, once and for all? And just how much of this 'true crime' tale is, well, TRUE?Both Josie and Alix are haunted by their pasts and driven by their desires for change. How do their personal histories shape their actions and decisions? How does the pursuit of transformation impact their interactions with each other? Josie tells Alix that she is on the brink of making some very drastic changes and she'd like Alix to document the process. Over the years, she has penned a total of nineteen novels, with a recent focus on gripping psychological thrillers such as Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs, and The Night She Disappeared – all acclaimed selections of the Richard & Judy Book Club. This story had me gripped throughout but I feel the ending let the book down a little. It was too contrived, and I failed to appreciate what drove this woman to do the things she did. I also enjoy more analysis when taking on difficult subjects and wanted a better ending for Roxy and Erin. The story behind Walter was left vague for me and didn’t conclude on the various aspects of his life and actions. Did he marry a much younger girl or was he guilty of ‘grooming’ her??. I settled on the former in the absence of any more detail. Even that was weird though.

However, for the plot as a whole this was excellent and whilst not entirely surprising, it was unpredictable which maintained the tension in the story. To have disliked some of the characters so much means Lisa Jewell did her job well. The suspense was palatable, the sense of danger and thrill was accretive and penetrating. The themes were well chosen. The underlying messages are great although some could have been fleshed out more, and the writing style just works a treat for me.I have to say that if I had covered up a murder five years ago, the very LAST thing I’d want to do would be to go on a podcast to talk about breaking free from my past. Unless I either wanted to confess or to be notorious. What is your take on the ending of None of This is True? By the end, Alix calls Josie evil. I think what she did to Nathan and Erin was definitely evil. What do you think? Is Josie a victim or a villain? If this book didn’t victim blame a thirteen-year-old girl, it would have been a four-star read. A teen is incapable (and inculpable) of holding any power over a creepy middle-aged man. Toward the end of the novel, we get more perspectives on Josie as a character and the truth of what she did --- from her children, her mother, Katelyn, and others. With these increased points of view, how do you now see Josie?