My issue? This was not suspenseful or shocking. I enjoy Lisa Jewel’s writing, so I kept reading but I didn’t find it to be thrilling and the twists were not your typical Lisa Jewell twists. Still love & will continue to read Lisa Jewel’s books. This one was just not it for me!

I requested this purely because I loved None Of This Is True. This did not disappoint. I pegged pretty quickly what was going on, although the author doesn’t necessarily try to to hide what’s happening, she just lets the readers slowly piece things together. It’s very well done. Did I know exactly what would happen before it happened? You betcha. Was this done intentionally by the author? I believe so.

The plot follows multiple families through multiple timelines, and they are all tied together, unbeknownst to the women in each of these stories. There’s plenty of shock and intrigue and manipulation (almost too much manipulation, I had to skim parts of the book because I was so angry). I was so excited to finish this book because I wanted the ending to be exactly what it was.

There are lots of main characters, and each of them has layers and secrets. Some characters are very likable, others you want to punt through a window. Jewell does a fantastic job of making you feel some type of way about each character.

I read this quickly, mostly because the writing is perfect for a mystery novel. This isn’t really a whodunnit, but she leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for readers to put together what is happening. The writing is perfect for this, and I found myself really not wanting to put this book down.

My downside is that she made one character really, really manipulative, to the point I did not want to read the dialogue, so I skimmed. I don’t feel as though I missed much though, and you’ll understand as you read.

4.25⭐️

𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚒 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜: *sigh*

The amount of characters and POVs in this book really threw me off. The plot was predictable and slow. The characters were dull and not very believable, in my opinion.

I love Lisa and have loved many of her books but I was not a fan of this one in particular.

Thanks to Atria for the gifted ARC!

I always count on Lisa Jewell for a solid thriller, and this one was quite the ride! We get inside the head of a con man, so this may not be for everyone (and I'm so glad I was able to step out of his head at the end of the book, too - whew). He's atrocious... but I love that Lisa also let us hear from the women he bounced around to in some of the chapters so we could understand his appeal from their perspective. Masterful writing, indeed! This was an addictive and binge-worthy read, was perfectly suspenseful and twisty, and an all-around great thriller.

Don’t Let Him In,” by Lisa Jewell (Atria, 368 pages, out now), does what Jewell does best — delve into the darkest corners of human behavior. Her not-a-hero, who goes by several names, is a deeply creepy charmer who uses and abuses women under the guise of love. Prepare to stay up late hoping he gets what’s coming to him. Reviewed in print and online in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on July 6, 2025.

I enjoy Lisa Jewell books and the way she writes. I don’t know what it was about this one that I found very boring. I couldn’t get into it. The characters and plot were not entertaining for me to enjoy.

⭐⭐⭐

Lisa Jewell’s Don’t Let Him In is the literary version of yelling “Girl, no!” at your book every five minutes. Nick Radcliffe is polished, persuasive, and apparently made of Teflon—because every red flag bounces right off him while the women around him melt like butter on a July sidewalk.

We’ve got Nina, a grieving widow who lets this charmer right through the front door (and basically into her life without a second thought). Her daughter Ash sniffs trouble and plays Nancy Drew, but even she takes her sweet time. Then there’s Martha, who’s basically living in a “My Husband Has a Secret Life” docuseries. Add in a few more characters and you’ve got yourself a very full, very confusing cast.

Still, like a car crash you can’t look away from, I kept reading. Jewell knows how to bait the hook. I just wish she’d given her female characters more backbone—and her readers fewer plot threads to untangle.

If you enjoy shouting advice at fictional women and feeling slightly gross by the end, this one’s for you. Just maybe don’t listen to it on audio unless you have a spreadsheet to keep track of who's who.

** Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for a comp. Opinions are my own.

Don't Let Him In is a suspenseful novel that interweaves numerous stories and timelines into one, in a very well written, easy to read manner. The main story follows Nick Radcliffe, a distinguished man that seems too good to be true, who has worked his way into Nina Swann's life via her deceased husband. In a parallel timeframe the story also follows Martha, a flower shop owner, who is growing distrustful of her husband, Al, as he disappears for days at a time. Both women have become suspicious of the men in their lives as the story unfolded, leaving me always wanting to read one more chapter to figure out how they were connected.
I would highly recommend to anyone who loves a good thriller!
Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Genuinely, I could not put this down. I ended up doing the audio version, and it was SO GOOD. All the narrators did a great job.

I was immediately hooked on this book and the story. I could not get enough - and more and more kept happening! Around half way I was unsure how half a book’s worth of content could still unfold, and let me tell you, it certainly did!! At no point did I expect what happened next, down to the last chapter.

If you love an unreliable narrator, lots of twists and turns, or are just looking for a thrilling read, this should be your next book.

It pains me to say this but I did not vibe with this story at all. There were too many characters to keep track of and I just couldn't get invested in them or the story. I almost DNF'd but kept pushing through since Lisa Jewell is an amazing author and I love her writing style. But this was not it. So sad to have not liked this book as much I hoped I would. I still plan to read other works of hers in the future. I'm hoping this was just a one time fluke.

After Ash’s dad dies, her mom starts dating Nick. He’s perfect on paper. Handsome and charming, scrupulously polite, and the owner of one of London’s trendiest wine bars. But something about him feels…off. He’ll say things about his life that don’t quite add up, and his schedule seems erratic even for someone in the restaurant industry. Ash is determined to dig deeper in order to protect her mom. And what she’s about to discover is even wilder than she thought possible.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. Just when I started thinking it was less twisty than the author’s other books, she shocked me with some rapid-fire twists at the end. This is a satisfying thriller with a bit of a revenge angle. Think Dirty John meets John Tucker Must Die. Lisa Jewell remains the queen of poolside thriller reads. Reading this is the perfect way to spend a summer day.

Lisa Jewell has perfected the art of creeping me the F* out! Don't Let Him In isn't so much a mystery as it is a study of the self-rationalization of a psychopath who juggles multiple marriages and families, stealing huge sums of money from unsuspecting women before moving on to the next target. Told from multiple POV's in two timelines, Jewell expertly shows the MC's manipulative mindset while also showing how intelligent women fall for his con time and time again. The questions that drive the suspense are how he continues to get away with it? How far is he willing to go? and how (if at all) can he be stopped? I don't know that I have hated a character more in a book and yet not been able to put the book down at the same time. There are quite a few interesting twists that really crank up the tension, but throughout I was most disturbed by being immersed in our villian's crazy thinking that he is the victim, he is the reasonable one, and he is owed whatever he takes. This thriller is one that will stick with me, whether I want it to or not.

I enjoyed this book. The writing was well done as was most of Lisa Jewells Books. It kept my attention from the beginning of the book until the end of the book. I thought how you were given the viewpoint of the MMC/ "villain" in different timelines of the book and given a look into his mindset and thought process was interesting. However, the ending of the book fell a little short to me. It was a little anticlimactic and would have hoped for a little more.

Don't Let Him In follows Nina and Martha, two middle-aged women who are in relationships with (seemingly) perfect men, Nick and Alistair. We see how charming both men are and how they've managed to integrate themselves into these women's lives. We also get a man's perspective -- who simply seems like a creep and freak. As those around Nina and Martha begin to ask questions and dig into the pasts of Nick and Alistair, unsettling secrets are discovered.

Ok….. unfortunately, this novel didn't quite reach my expectations. I really enjoyed 'None of This Is True' by Lisa Jewell, so I was excited to dive into this one, but the plot and characters never had me absolutely enthralled and on the edge of my seat.

There are SO many characters and timelines to the point where it's difficult to put the book down and revisit later (not that the book was unputdownable… it was that it was TOO putdownable and then extremely hard to pick back up where you left off). Once you get a few chapters in, there's really no mystery about what's happening and everything felt like a cliché. Maybe it's because I've read a good amount of mysteries and thrillers at this point, but since I "figured out" what was going on, I just found myself getting annoyed at the female characters' actions and responses to situations. Overall, I would recommend this book if you're a Lisa Jewell superfan, but otherwise, I would recommend some of her other books if you've never read something from her before.

I will always pick up the newest Lisa Jewell, she is one of my favorite authors. I absolutely love her writing and the way she creates the most unhinged characters. Don’t Let Him In was a very twisted domestic/psychological suspense packed with suspicious people. I did ultimately enjoy this book, but for me, because there were so many characters and timelines it did make it a little difficult to get fully invested in all of them. I typically love short chapters, but I wanted to spend more time in each vignette! The pacing started to pick up in the latter half the book and I neeeeeded to know how it all would end.

Look, Lisa Jewell is always going to deliver a page-turning thriller, and DON'T LET HIM IN is no exception. Even though it was pretty easy to make the connections between characters and time periods, the suspense carried through as Jewell slowly revealed how the women affected by a terrible man try to find the truth. I always feel Jewell's characters have strong voices, and that's true here, although I wish there had been even more focus on the women's perspectives and small but impactful pieces of the man's perspective.

Don’t Let Him In is a twisty, slow-burn domestic thriller that had me hooked from the start—even if it wasn’t my favorite Lisa Jewell, it still delivered a suspenseful and highly entertaining ride. The multi-POV, multi-timeline format took some time to come together, but once it did, the tension skyrocketed and I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Jewell excels at crafting complex, lifelike characters, and here she gives us a manipulative con man so delusional he genuinely thinks he's a good guy—his perspective was disturbingly fascinating. I loved the cat-and-mouse dynamic and the ultimate unraveling of his web of lies. While I wished for a slightly more original plot, the emotional depth (especially Ash’s grief and hesitation to trust) and satisfying ending made up for it. If you enjoy slow-burning suspense with morally grey characters and plenty of gasp-worthy twists, this one is worth your time.

Holy moly 🤯🤯🤯 that ending had me SHOOK! Lisa Jewell did it again!! This book was one wild ride, with so many twists! Not a typical thriller, more domestic thriller but again she sucks you right in and has such well developed characters. This was quite the page turner and the last 10% was intense!! Don’t miss this one!

Lisa Jewell has done it again; I have yet to read a book by this author that I did not enjoy, and this one was no exception The premise of this book captivated me, as the existence of such men has always fascinated me, though I am grateful never to have encountered one personally. This story will undoubtedly make readers reconsider their approach to dating.

When Nina Swann receives a condolence card from a man who knew her late husband, she becomes curious to meet someone connected to her husband's past. What begins as a source of comfort gradually evolves into a relationship. Nick Radcliffe appears to be the ideal man—handsome, charming, and seemingly perfect. However, Nina's adult daughter suspects he may be too good to be true. As she delves into his history, discrepancies begin to emerge.

Martha, a florist in a nearby town, has infant daughter and a devoted husband. Yet, when her husband Alistair starts traveling more frequently for work and becomes unreachable for days at a time, she starts to question what is happening. As Nina and Martha seek answers, they remain unaware that their paths are on a collision course far beyond anything they could have anticipated. If someone seems too good to be true, they likely are—a warning that should not be ignored. Do not let him in.

This book left a profound impact on me. Dark, unsettling, and full of unexpected twists, it will make readers reevaluate the trust they place in others.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

✨ DON’T LET HIM IN ✨
Rating: 5⭐️ - I LOVED It

The QUEEN of DOMESTIC thrillers is BACK with her newest novel, DON’T LET HIM IN, and while it’s getting some mixed reviews, I LOVED it!

❤️ for my LOVERS of CON ARTIST thrillers, a CAST of PSYCHO characters, bingeable stories, and stellar audiobooks!

❤️ this one had me HOOKED from page one! I started this one on my kindle and it has multiple POVs and characters so this worked out well as it helped me get oriented to the different storylines before switching to AUDIO! These women and this total psychopath!! had me gripped to the page! The storyline felt predictable and there were no major twists and turns but was still a wild ride!

💔 this MAN - OMG! Total psychopath and some of these women were totally insufferable but it all went along with the plot!

❤️ the AUDIO was spectacular just like all of Lisa’s previous books!