None of This is True by Lisa Jewell and Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), 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 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.

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 realize 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?

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Wow! What did I just read?

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell takes the psychological thriller sub-genre to a whole new level, putting this novel on my top 5 for 2023 and possibly even #1. The title says it all, so you can imagine the crazy, jaw-dropping journey the story takes you on – one where you primarily hear Josie’s truth but then find out other people’s truth until you’re not sure which way is up anymore.

I did a read/listen, and I’m going to say something I never imagined myself saying – and those of you who have followed my reviews for years will know what a monumental statement what I’m about to say is. You MUST listen to the audiobook version – even if you do a read/listen like I did. It just adds so much more to the novel, especially with the podcast and Netflix documentary scenes interspersed with the 1st person narration by Alix, the podcaster (mostly), and Josie. The narrators, and there is a whole cast of them, are the perfect choices. I could easily believe that they were the characters, and they acted the story out beautifully.

The characters are developed brilliantly, with subtle layer after subtle layer revealing itself at just the right moment, along with the breadcrumb trail of hints that lead the reader through the story at a rapid pace. I just loved everything about this story! Did I come away knowing what the truth is? I think so, but I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that I still have plenty of doubt about that.

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed The Night Swim, returns to search for a popular influencer who disappears after visiting a suspected serial killer.

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his release date approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? And why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel Krall’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems to only exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail—identical to a tattoo Rachel had seen on Bailey’s hand—the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krall herself. Suddenly the target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.

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Dark Corners (Rachel Krall #2) by Megan Goldin is a dark and edgy thriller that encompasses the world of influencers and the story’s podcast foundation. I just loved the relatability of the influencer world and getting a peek behind the curtain. Though I guess I am already a bit behind the curtain with my bookstagram account as it tends to be a microcosm of the bigger influencer world.

I did a part read/part listen, and I just loved the narrators of the audio version – Samantha Desz and January LaVoy. Since the story kept referring to Rachel Krall’s voice as silky and sultry, it was essential to have a narrator with that type of voice, and I think they found just the right one. And I especially enjoyed the podcasts interjected at points in the story as they give a more personal perspective than the narration, which is in the first person in Rachel and sometimes the bad guy’s POV.

I also enjoy Rachel as an MC. She has an air of confidence that I gravitate towards, and she keeps her cool even in the most tenuous of situations. I also enjoyed that she got a love interest in this story. It humanized her, and I thought that was needed.

Lastly, Dark Corners is the second book in the series, but any reader can easily read it as a stand-alone. You know who did it early on, but there are a bunch of twists and turns in other aspects of the story that keep the suspense high and the pages turning quickly. I loved how focused and fast-paced this story read. That’s how I love my thrillers, and this one didn’t disappoint!