On her forty-fifth birthday, Josie is able to convince her husband to go out for a celebratory birthday dinner. While she should be celebrating this milestone, Josie can’t help but feel that her life hasn’t turned out the way she hoped. She married young, had her two daughters early, and is now stock in a rut. And she might if she had stayed in that rut if she didn’t run into Alix Summer.

Alix, as it turns out, is Josie’s birthday twin. Both women were born not just on the same date but the same year and in the same hospital. But that’s where their similarities end. Unlike Josie, Alix is a successful podcaster who rose to fame for producing a podcast focusing on successful businesswomen who overcame impossible odds. She married later and now has two small children. Her life sounds perfect, but Alix is bored with her podcast and longs for something different.

Josie turns out to be the perfect guinea pig. She’s more than willing to talk to Alix and, as it turns out, has a lot to share. As the two women go deeper into the podcast, Alix begins to suspect that Josie is not everything she appears to be and yet Alix doesn’t want to rush to conclusions. But with some many things not adding up, Alix is forced to decide, does she believe Josie or is everything a lie?

If it were not for work and other adult responsibilities, I am sure I would have finished None of This Is True in one sitting. While it as a slow start, it continually gains momentum until you just can’t stop reading the last 100 pages. Ms. Jewell crafts a complicated plot where the reader is not sure what to believe. The reader, along with Alix, attempts to decide if Josie is telling the truth or not but even until the very last page, they are left questioning what actually happened and what didn’t.

And this is the major strength of the novel. While some might find this frustrating, I found it smart on Ms. Jewell’s part. How often do we hear about someone or something in our everyday lives that leaves us unsure of what the truth is? We don’t always know the truth and Ms. Jewell plays with the idea in this thriller. While some things are eventually proven to be lies or truths, others are much grayer and I applaud Ms. Jewell for that.

5 out of 5 stars