A review by emilymazzara
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This book held such promise but did not live up to the hype for me. While the premise was so intriguing, I found the characters to be kind of flat, even Josie. At around the half way point, everything started to feel really tedious. Nothing much in the story itself was progressing and the promise of more from the small post-events “clips” were only keeping my attention for so long. 
The exploration into the lengths people will go to convince themselves what they’ve done is right could have been really interesting, but the lack of even one character we could trust the opinion of made the theme a hard sell for me. I would have loved if Alex pushed more or Josie’s mom let more slip. I needed something to hold onto in the middle of the crazy to ground the reasoning behind it all. 
It was when Alex fully admitted to knowing Josie was trying to control her and did JACK ALL about it that the book really went from a 3 star to a 2 star for me. By the end I couldn’t abide her obsession with the podcast not ending crossed with her disregard for the safety of her family. 
I’m sad I didn’t like this more. 
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