lisa jewell – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Thriller
Length: 384 pages
Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: August 8th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers 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.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

WHOA.

First, hats off to the audio production. I loved that this was full cast with sound effects. Really brought up the sinister vibes and creeped me out in the way you hope a thriller accomplishes.

I couldn’t believe half the things I was hearing as this story unfolded. It was twisted, a bit dark, and I was very intrigued to see the fallout. I feel like there is SO MUCH that could be unpacked here and watching the lines crisscross and blur kept me on edge.

It did feel a little slow for me towards the end when the reveals started happening. I hit this mindset where I was thinking, stop beating around the bush and just tell me. Which is probably why I’m not a huge thriller reader. But I’m definitely not mad I picked this one up, I thought it was worth the hype I’ve been seeing.

Overall audience notes:

Thriller
Language: moderate
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: Paedophilia & adult-minor relationships, child abuse, alcoholism, alcohol consumption & abuse, murder, kidnapping, stalking mentioned

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Mystery
Length: 352 pages
Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: April 25th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

‘How long have you been sitting out here?’
‘I got here yesterday.’
‘Where did you come from?’
‘I have no idea.’

East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.

Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can’t remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s brilliant new novel.

CHARACTER DRIVEN.

Dare I say…too character driven? That might be the first time I’ve said that. The longer I listened to the book the more I realized I probably would’ve DNF if I was physically reading. There was a plot, but not? I don’t know, I was a bit confused by it even if by the second half I was curious as to how everything was going to end.

Definitely a cast of unlikeable characters. That really worked for this type of read so it wasn’t a big deal. The pace is slow and has flashback chapters that build over the course of the novel. There’s dry humor mixed in with some dark topics [check trigger warnings]. I found myself creeped out and hoping for justice.

I feel like I don’t have a lot to say. It was fine? Pretty forgettable though as I have read thrillers with some of the same themes and ideas, which is probably causing my lack of words too. It’s a backlist title that you could enjoy, but also, wouldn’t be missing anything if you skipped it.

Overall audience notes:

Mystery
Language: strong
Romance: kisses to closed door scenes
Violence: physical altercations
Trigger/Content Warnings: sexual assault (on page), attempted rape (on page), drug use, murder, kidnapping, memory loss, loss of loved ones