Within just a few pages, I found myself already frustrated with the characters, but in a way that made me want to keep reading. The beginning of this was a bit confusing and with the multiple points of view, but it became much easier to follow as the story progressed.

The plot was unique and took some unexpected turns, even though parts of it felt predictable. Despite my frustrations with certain characters, I couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed the short chapters and the alternating perspectives, they kept the story more exciting.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is tomorrow June 24, 2025.

This is the perfect book to read if you’re in the mood to hate men! This was my first Lisa Jewell book and I can see why she is such a prominent author in this space. At times I found myself laughing at the ridiculous and outrageous things the male main character would say in his inner dialogue but more often than not I found myself genuinely creeped out by him and his behavior. The characters in this story felt so real and complicated. Ash was such a great character to propel the story forward and I very much enjoyed her journey and development throughout this book. The pacing was just right and the story was so immersive. Each chapter left me wanting to continue on to the next. While this was my first Lisa Jewell book, it will definitely not be my last.


*Many thanks for Netgalley and Atria Books for the eGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for this early digital copy of “Don’t let him in”. I want to preface this by saying I consider myself a fan of Lisa Jewell’s novels. “None of this is true” was one of my favorite audiobooks of 2023. This story did not do it for me unfortunately. It took forever to find its footing, it was not the page turner I had hoped for. It felt like reading a version of Groundhog’s day, nothing eventful occurred until way too late in the game.

Book Review 📚
______________________________________
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 368
Genre: Suspense Thrillers, Domestic
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THOUGHTS:

This was an okay read, not my favorite by Lisa Jewell, almost DNF this one!

@atriabooks @atriathrillers

BLURB:

He’s the perfect man. It’s a perfect lie.

Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…

Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.

Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.


#bookreview #bookstagram

I so desperately wanted to like this book. I love a conman plot, but this one fell flat to me. It was the same sob story over and over again and the ending felt too rushed.

It’s no doubt that Lisa Jewell has a knack for writing a story that will completely suck you in. I started Don’t Let Him In on Saturday morning and don’t think I moved until I was finished. I just couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Following the death of her father Paddy, Ash moves home to be closer to her mom. A man from Paddy’s past ends up in their lives, and it seems like Ash is the only one who hasn’t fallen under Nick’s spell. And Nick, well, he has a past of his own.

The MMC here is absolutely repulsive. Truly, think of the most vile things a man and do and he has done it. I was so mad for all of the women who came into his life and was just waiting for it all to catch up with him. I will say I was a bit let down by how long it took the stories to converge and I kept waiting for one final big twist that never came. Still, if you’re looking for an intriguing slow burn thriller definitely check out Don’t Let Him In.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a review copy.

Nina Swann and her daughter Ash are still reeling from the death of their husband and father Paddy when Nina receives a package from Nick Radcliffe. Nick used to work with Paddy and heard of his death and wanted to give Nina a lighter that used to belong to Paddy. Nina and Nick become close, but Ash is skeptical. Martha owns a flower shop with her husband Alistair, and if it wasn’t for Al’s frequent and prolonged absences, Martha would say their life is perfect. But the three women are bound to intersect and when they do, things get crazy!

Differing perspectives, back and forth in time, and all kinds of names to keep straight. I really liked this, but was confused some of the time of when and who we were. This is a book that you will need to really focus on to keep everything and everyone straight, but it’s well worth it. Lisa Jewell never disappoints and this is another good one. The chapters are shorter and the action is constant so it’s easy to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria books for provided me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Available June 24, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted copy of this novel.

I will say that I do appear to be an outlier in my review, as this book has so many high reviews on goodreads! Ultimately, this one was just ok for me. I did find the POVs to be a bit confusing at first, although I was able to figure out the pattern within the first quarter of the book. Also, I had an idea as to how everything came together pretty quickly, and ended up being right. As such, the twist/reveal at the end didn’t seem as impactful to me. I did enjoy Ainsling’s and Jane’s characters, however. In this book there are several characters you want to give a pep talk to or downright hate altogether! To me, this book was just missing something to really shock me. I may recommend it depending on the reader, or would encourage possible readers to read a variety of reviews to decide for themselves!

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It wasn’t a nail biter, but I still couldn’t put it down. The short chapters made it easy to read “just one more chapter”. The beginning of the book was a little confusing with the multiple POVs, but it didn’t take long to catch on. There was suspense and murder, but it didn’t feel like a typical thriller. Overall I found it entertaining, but don’t go into this one expecting jaw dropping, pulse pounding thriller. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this advanced reader’s copy.

3.75/5 ⭐️
Man…. The MMC made me want to suffocate myself with a pillow (which I did for my aggravated screams when the women were not taking the clues for what they were). He is the worst character but done so well!
I will admit, I did see most of the twists coming, but that didn’t take anything away from the story. The ending had me raging; I was like WHAT?! After all that? This can’t be it?! The epilogue was my absolute favorite.
I did fly through this book, I love Jewell’s writing style! Some parts felt a little repetitive or like they were dragging on but that’s also kind of the point? A never-ending loop of madness.

ARC - 4/5⭐️ Lisa Jewell is amazing at what she does. Don’t Let Him In is an exciting, page turning thriller. This was so well written, I especially loved the alternating time periods from present day to four years ago and the switch between characters. The suspense was giving what I needed it to give. I couldn’t put this down! As soon as I started to put the pieces together I was like OHHH 😮. The twists and turns and secret identities kept this book fast paced, which I really enjoyed!

Another great novel by Lisa Jewell! Highly recommend 🙌🏻 thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC 🩷

Having loved None of This is True I was ecstatic to get an ARC of Lisa Jewell’s newest novel. The first quarter was thrilling and her writing is amazing as always, but there were so many characters. By 50% in I was skimming to get to the end. I do think it is an important story to tell and it is a worthwhile read. Thank you to Netgalley for the book in exchange for a review!

What a twisty tale with a great character to hate!! The only thing that kept this from being the perfect read was that it took too long to get anywhere. It felt like the author had the idea of what she wanted to present to the reader but couldn't find a more concise way to do it. But the end result was a lot of characters, a lot of overlapping timelines, and at least for me, some continuing confusion. Thankfully I am not a writer, because I am not sure how better to have presented the story, but I wish there had been a bit less to grapple with.

After an untimely death, Nick Radcliffe sends his sincerest condolences to his late friend’s wife. Nina is touched by Nick’s kind words and intrigued by his heartfelt bid for connection. Nina’s daughter Ash isn’t quite so taken in by this smooth operator’s dazzling smile. Ash is extremely suspicious and annoyed by his presence, staying fiercely loyal to her father’s memory and resistant to this newcomers’ slick charm. Is the bile in her belly just jealousy, a rising resentment, or is Nick truly the cad she imagines he is? She is determined to dig up his past and find out.

I highly recommend this novel to fans of mystery, suspense, and thrillers.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Don’t Let Him In for my unbiased evaluation.  5 stars

This was a slow burn that felt a little too repetitive for me. I had a hard time following the story because it jumped around to various women that this conman had become involved with. I was very satisfied with the ending and think this was a good read, just not my favorite from this author.

Another great, twisty read from Jewell! I enjoyed not knowing the timeline and it slowly coming to light. The ending was especially satisfying, and maybe I wanted more lead up or backstory to support that.

I gave this two stars instead of one because at first I was like, “Okay Lisa, hit me with that crazy.” And wow, did she deliver. For about five minutes, I was locked in thinking, Whoa, this guy is unhinged. But then it just… kept… going. Chapter after chapter of wild, exhausting behavior from this human dumpster fire, until I started feeling like I needed a nap and a palate cleanser.

I took breaks. Multiple breaks. I read 4 or 5 other books just to recover before dragging myself back into this chaos spiral. Every time I reopened it, I felt like a survivor returning to the scene of the crime.

Let’s talk about the scene where he’s sniffing her scalp on a train like a human lint roller. What was that? It added literally nothing except a hopeful creep factor that just fell flat. And all the women just let him get away with everything again and again and again… I’m sorry, at a certain point, it stops being a thriller and starts feeling like a very long cautionary tale called: “Maybe You Shouldn’t Trust That Walking Red Flag.”

Now, for the real villain of this book: the rehashing. Sweet mercy, the repetition. We didn’t just hear about what happened—we heard it from the character, then from the victim, then from the victim telling another character, then from everyone telling the police in a group trauma recital. I don’t know about him, but I definitely won’t be letting another Lisa Jewell book in my Kindle ever again.

And one more thing: if you’re going to sprinkle in some “social issues,” maybe don’t do it with all the nuance of a Facebook comment section. Tossing in that little bit about gender fluidity or trans identity in a context like this? Nope. Felt cheap, tone-deaf, and unnecessary when this MENTAL DISORDER is 1-2% of the population—especially for a story that already didn’t know what it wanted to be.

Thanks to Atria Books Publicity & Marketing Departments via NetGalley for the early ARC

I’m going to be completely open and honest, the way this book is laid out was confusing to me for the first 30%. It jumps timelines and POVs and it took me a bit to figure it out.

This book is chaotic in and of itself. The plot was fun and really makes you question people’s morals. It’s scaring how easy it can be for someone to con you. The gaslighting was hard to read but necessary for the plot.

I’m 100% honest when I say I didn’t like a single one of these characters. The MMC is so dang toxic and just made me so annoyed from beginning to end. I kept questioning whether I would ever be dumb enough to be talked into these ideas like the women in this book were. Reading it just makes you think they’re dumb, but it really makes you wonder.

There were so many plot twists throughout that kept you on the edge of your seat. It’s a long book but it reads fast and kept my interest. If you’re a fan of an unreliable narrator this would be perfect for you.

This book is recommended to the thriller friends who love a crazy/chaotic plot, a lot of characters, multiple timelines, and toxic characters. Although it wasn’t my favorite of Lisa Jewel’s books, it was still entertaining to read!

Not my favorite book by Jewell. Way too many characters, took way too long for it to all come together. The characters were not developed enough for me to care about them or what happened to them, and the timeline was jumpy so I couldn't put all of the bland people together in my head in a cohesive way.

Just when I started to figure out who was who, we would get yet another woman and kids etc. thrown in. Everything about this book comes together way too late for it to feel like a good redemption/ revenge story. Even the surprising twists come much too quickly all in the very last chapter.

Lots of people have really enjoyed this book, so check out their reviews. It was just a big mess for me.

This fictional thriller delves into the mind of a dangerous serial swindler and takes you on a wild ride. He is petty, vindictive, and a con artist who leaves a trail of lies and destruction wherever he roams. No woman is safe around him. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Lisa Jewell does an excellent job of telling the story of this chameleon of a man who stalks his prey, charms women into doing what he wants, swindling them out of their life savings, and leaving a mess of debt for them to deal with after.

Three women are on a collision path that will ultimately expose his lies and masquerade for what he truly is.

This is perfect for fans of The Tinder Swindler from Netflix.