Review: "It Could Have Been Her," Lisa Jewell

By Liz Soares
 

Lisa Jewell has combined darkness and light to create a perfect thriller.

 

The light is Jane Trevally, aged 55, who lives with her four dogs in Rosebery Hall, Dorset. The once-grand manse is falling down around her, and is filled with awful memories—Jane’s parents drank themselves to death and she had a miserable childhood.  But Jane is stuck, unable to move on.

 

Then an adorable Westie shows up on her property. Jane would be happy to add the pup to her pack, but feels she must at least try to find its owner. She learns the dog had been staying with a young woman in a neighbor’s Airbnb rental. She tracks his home to a mysterious corner of Hampstead Heath in London.

 

When she arrives at the house in the Vale of Heath, Jane has a flashback. She met a man in a bar in her 20s and he brought her back to this place, where he lived with his wife and two children. She felt anxious about the situation, and quickly left. She’s always felt that she escaped some kind of dire fate.

 

The story of the house and the people who live there is the dark side of It Could Have Been Her. In flashbacks, the man who answers the door to Jane and takes back Hugo, the Westie, tells his tale. Stuart is a gentle man who wants to drift through life. He was living in a squat (albeit a well-organized one) when he met Jessamine in a pub. He soon becomes involved with her highly dysfunctional life with her daughter, Daisy, and mother, Annie, in that sinister house in the Vale of Heath.

 

The family’s life slowly spins out of control, as told in alternating chapters with Jane’s investigation. She wants to know how Hugo ended up in Dorset, and what happened to the young woman he was with. She wants to know more about the people who live in the house. Had evil things really happened there, as she once suspected?

 

Oh, yes. And there’s even a clown involved.

 

Jane begins to fancy herself a private eye. She married two rich men—one a viscount. She was an excellent stepmother to their children and donated most of her divorce money to an animal shelter in Spain (where she volunteered for years), but other than that she’s never held a “real” job. Jane is feeling like she might have found a purpose in life.

 

She stays in her second husband’s London flat while he is in the States, and thinks maybe she would like to return to the city.

 

Jane is not a lonely “dog lady.” Apparently, she’s quite a looker and keeps up appearances with expensive haircuts and Botox treatments. She has a good relationship with her stepchildren, especially the loveable, flamboyant Dexter, whom she enlists in her investigation.

 

Readers met Jane in Jewell’s previous nail-biter, Don’t Let Him In. She was an old girlfriend of murder victim Paddy Swann and helped his daughter solve his case. I thought she was an interesting secondary character. I’m so glad Jewell has given her a chance to shine. And from the way Jane and Dexter were talking, there could be more cases on tap. Fingers crossed!

Review: "Don't Let Him In," Lisa Jewell

By Liz Soares

Ash is devastated by the loss of her personable, successful father, Paddy Swann. But things get worse when her mother falls for a former colleague of Paddy’s, Nick Radcliffe. Nick writes a letter to Nina Swann after he hears about Paddy’s death, and they correspond for awhile. When they meet, they hit it off. Nick is handsome, generous and full of ideas for expanding Paddy’s small restaurant chain. But Ash is suspicious. She contacts Paddy’s long-ago girlfriend, Jane, and together they begin an investigation.

Just who is Nick Radcliffe? The story unfolds in chapters narrated by alternating voices: Ash, an unnamed man, and a woman named Martha. She runs a successful flower shop in a village near Ash and Nina’s home in Kent. Martha is head over heels in love with her new husband, Alistair, but his strange behavior and frequent absences worry her. She begins an investigation of her own…

Jewell is in fine form in her latest psychological thriller. Ash is a fragile but likable character who is struggling to find herself as an adult. Martha, a mother of three who has built a fine life for herself, engenders compassion as she makes a succession of bad choices. Nick is a hateful, yet fascinating, character. The story’s setting in scenic coastal Kent lends a cozy vibe that contrasts nicely with the intensity of the plot.

Readers will definitely echo “don’t let him in,” as they furiously turn the pages to learn the depth of Nick’s depravity. A near-perfect, gut-wrenching thriller!

Review: "None of This Is True," Lisa Jewell

By Liz Soares

Lisa Jewell is one of my top favorite writers of psychological thrillers, and her latest one is a humdinger. But I have to admit, at one point, things got so bad for our protagonist, I almost put it down.

Sheer faith saw me through to the end of the novel.

It’s not like Alix Summer is a true heroine. She’s a successful podcaster with a hubby who sells pricey commercial real estate. She can follow her bliss while he brings home the bacon. They have two lovely children, and an exquisite home in the north of London. Did I mention she’s beautiful?

Dowdy, glum Josie Fair has booked a table in a posh restaurant to celebrate her 45th birthday when Alix and her entourage waltz in. Alix is celebrating her birthday, too, but in a much flashier way.

Josie waylays Alix in the restroom and tells the podcaster she’s her “birthday twin.” Indeed, both women are the same age and were born in the same hospital.

Alix thinks nothing of the encounter, but Josie sees it as a chance to escape her stifling life.

The podcaster always focuses on women who have successfully escaped uncomfortable or dangerous situations. What if, Josie tells Alix, she were to tell the story of someone who’s about to set herself free?

Alix is intrigued. The denim-clad Josie works part-time as a seamstress in a tailor shop. She lives only a few minutes from Alix, but in a small apartment on a congested street. She’s been with her husband, Walter, since she was 15—and he’s nearly 30 years older than her. One daughter is a recluse and she’s estranged from the other.

Josie slowly but surely infiltrates Alix’s life. Alix dismisses her discomfort because she thinks the podcast is going to be a great success. She waits too long to take action, and tragedy results.

Narratives from both Alix and Josie are interspersed with excerpts from the podcast and—yes!—the subsequent Netflix documentary. It’s called “Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin! A Netflix Original Series.”

It’s all horribly delicious, and, despite the odds, ends on a satisfying note. Just ignore that squirmy feeling you get with that mental image of Josie wearing Alix’s $200 pj’s. Trust me (and Lisa Jewell): That too shall pass.