Lisa Jewell has become one of my favorite authors. I will likely read whatever she puts out; however, she’s touch and go. This ARC was a nice surprise to receive and was anxious to read. I enjoyed this book, even though it’s a plot that is often overdone ~ no good man and the naive women that fall for him. I grew a bit annoyed with the women in this book, yet it was an enjoyable read, even though it was a bit predictable. Solid 4 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley,, the author, and publisher for the advanced copy.

Don't Let Him In is the new summer thriller from Lisa Jewell.

"Nick was an old friend of Nina's recently deceased husband. He's looking to connect and begins showing up more and more at her house. Nina's daughter, Ash, thinks something is off about Nick so she starts looking into his past. Something is definitely going on.

Martha is a florist and lives with her daughter and husband, Alistair. He is often gone for business and unreachable most of the time. Martha feels like something's not right.

Nina, Martha and Ash on on a collision course with a disturbing truth...because the past won't stay buried forever."

You find out quickly exactly what kind of man Nick is. He has no problem with anything he does because all of the women want him to do it. There are some disturbing things in his past - much of which you will guess. This story is a bit of a slow burn (it drags a little) I did like the ending. First time since 2017 that her summer novel is not a BOTM pick.

Domestic thriller fans should enjoy this one.

First of all, I'm so thankful (and surprised) that I got approved for an ARC of this novel! I try to keep up with Lisa Jewell's publications, so to get an early read of this one was awesome!
With that being said, I liked this story, but it's definitely not my favorite of hers. Overall, this novel kept me reading, and the ending was good, but I want to spend some time talking about my less-than-favorite parts.
To start, I generally like the multiple-character, multiple-timeline aspects of her books, but in this case, I found several of the characters to be fairly nondescript so it was a bit hard to follow the storyline. I also feel that she laid on the hate-ability of the first person narration perspective too much (I can't say more without it being a spoiler). But overall, I felt angry, yes, but also irritated. I feel the best villain characters are those with one or two redeeming qualities, and our antagonist definitely lacked that.
Also, though I did like the ending, I would've loved the ending if there had been some sort of epilogue. Open-ended conclusions are good to an extent, but with this one, I finished it with more questions than answers and the whole thing just didn't sit QUITE right with me.
I will say, good thriller summer read if you go into with my above points in mind. Perhaps others will enjoy her plot devices and conclusion more than I did, so I will say don't let my review put you off reading this novel altogether. However, certain aspects were just not for me. Read at your own risk (haha).

Please note: This review is now posted on my GoodReads account. Thank you for letting me read!!

Don't Let Him In, Lisa Jewell's latest psychological suspense drama, is dark, unsettling, and a read guaranteed to keep you turning pages to find out how this all resolves. To say more would spoil your enjoyment of the book, and I don't want to take that away from you.

I rate it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. Good story line, interesting characters, a bit repetitive at times, but definitely worth your time.

My thanks to Atria Books for allowing me to access a DRC of the novel via NetGalley. Publication is 6/21/25. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

3.5⭐️

Thank you to @atriabooks @atriathrillers + @simon.audio for the ARC & ALC! ♡

🚪 Do you enjoy secret double lives + villains we love to hate?

This book is kaleidescopic — 3+ POVs intersect with jumping timelines, by the end putting together puzzle pieces to unveil the full picture.

I enjoyed the kaleidoscopic format and book overall. I think I just expected more because Lisa Jewell is such a household name for domestic thrillers. Most things unfolded exactly as I expected… which seems odd for a thriller?

I will say despite this, this is still very much a bingeable, train wreck type situation where you just can’t help but keep reading until you get to the end.

Beyond that, I think you should go in blind.

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||။‌‌‌‌‌|• 🎧 6 narrators! Full cast audio did a nice job. I did read this mostly on paper bc of the short chapters, jumping timelines and perspectives.

I have read most of Lisa Jewell’s books, and this one might be my new favorite. It was quite a ride. One where I knew the overall big picture of what was happening the entire time, but more and more pieces were revealed along the way that made the whole thing bigger than I could have imagined.

It’s easy to read a book like this and think “how can people (these women) not realize what this man is doing?” because it seems so obvious, yet the real world shows us all the time how manipulative people can fool even the smartest person. There is a reason I enjoy reading — because most of the time, the person in the wrong is usually held accountable in one way or another. This one was a frustrating tale at times but came to a satisfying conclusion for me.

This story is told for three different POVs, in different tenses depending on the POV, and in different timelines. I think it all worked really, really well here and was very effective in how it controlled the narrative as the book went on. I enjoyed this style a lot more than I have similar structures in the past.

Thank you to Atria Books via NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Jewell knows how to write from a villain’s perspective! Don’t Let Him In is a binge-worthy domestic suspense novel. I loved the structure and narrative style.

I didn’t find many twists to this story, and it felt somewhat straightforward and predictable. Yet, I still enjoyed the overall structure and narrative flow. I couldn’t put this down, and I was fully entertained by the impending ruin and disaster of the plot.

Read if you’re looking for a bingeable book with a villain you love to hate.

Thank you NetGalley & Atria books for the ARC of Don’t Let Him In in exchange for my honest review!

“He’s the perfect man. It’s the perfect lie.”

When I first started this book, I was CONFUSED. So many names and timelines that it took me a minute to piece everything together. It was clear the man who appears in Nina & Ash’s lives is the connecting piece to all these stories, but as things develop you realize how connected he is.

This book was fine. It kept my attention and was a quick read. I finished it while on two flights headed on vacation. Nick, or whatever his name is, is a convincing con artist and I hate how believable he was. We hear about stories like this on the news and Dateline often. I wish people weren’t so gullible to the clear manipulation of others! Is it something I would recommend? No probably not as it was not my favorite Lisa Jewell book, but it was a fun, quick read!

Ash Swann is staying with er mom, Nina, after the death of her father, Paddy. In time, Nina starts dating a new man who claims to have known Paddy years ago. Ash is sure something isn't right with Nick, and decides to look into his art to see if he is being truthful and trustworthy. The story then follows a few storylines, and alternates to a timeline of four years in the past.

I read it in a day or two because I was anxious to find out how the story would resolve. I can see how it might be a bit confusing because there is a lot going on, with many characters, timelines and characters who go by different names. But the story itself was engaging, and maddening. I hated the male character so so much.

This is a great summer read for a day at the pool or beach, or camping out in the AC because it is too hot outside, it will keep you sucked in to the end.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author.

3 startsAisling Swann has battled her own demons in the past and is trying to put it all behind her, especially as she continues to recover from her dad’s awful death, pushed in front of a train by a stranger. Her mother, too, is trying to move on and begins dating a man that Ash just doesn’t feel comfortable around. Even though Nick Radcliffe knows the right things to say and claims to have known her father, Ash just knows something isn’t right.

Meanwhile, Martha is trying to fulfill her dreams off owning multiple florist shops, with her second husband, Alistair, their baby daughter and her two sons from a previous marriage. “Al” loves Martha, she’s sure of that and he encourages her to expand her shop, Martha’s Garden, into her dream business, while Al continues to work long days and nights as a trainer in the hospitality industry. Still there never seems to be enough money to provide comfortably for their family. Al tends to disappear for days at a time with his cell phone turned off to focus on his chaotic job, but a family emergency reveals how untenable this arrangement is.

Soon, more women surface with suspicious stories of husbands, boyfriends, and neighbors, but what is really going on?

Lisa Jewell creates a world where things aren’t as they seem, much like she did in None of This is True, the only other novel of hers that I’ve read. While I enjoyed that one as a lighter read for a dark thriller, I cannot say I got the same enjoyment from Don’t Let Him In. I did stick with it and it absolutely provides food for thought and insight into the mind of a true psychopath.

However, the suspense was a bit lacking, as it was easy to see what was happening early on. The story seemed mired in the middle, which made the very good twists at the end seem more like rewards for persisting than true “a-ha” moments.

Told through shifting perspectives in two timelines -- one in the present and one starting four years in the past and moving forward – it was cumbersome to remember what was happening and whose viewpoint I was following. For fans of this genre, it is a decent selection, but not the same lasting caliber of her Jewell’s previous novel.

Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC of this book through NetGalley, which I received for my honest review. This book will be available to the public on June 24, 2025.
#DontLetHimIn #LisaJewell #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #books #bookreviews #bookstagram #bookreview #nerdventureswithbooks

Thanks to Atria books and NetGalley for the eARC. This one was meh for me. Not bad enough for 2 stars, not good enough for 4. The jumping timelines were difficult to follow as you go along the twisty path which is this book. As a woman, I struggle when women are portrayed to be so easy to fool and trick and gaslight. I would have preferred more strong female characters not ones who keep making excuses for someone elses’ behavior for it to fit their narrative.

𝗠𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3½✨⭐️
DON’T LET HIM IN
🤍𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: psychological thriller
📖 368 pages
𝗘𝗺𝗼𝗷𝗶𝘀: 😱🚂🚔🚪🤥💍🧼💐🤫👀🔪✍🏼
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: 6/24/2025

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
◽️ multiple POV & timeline
◽️ domestic thrillers
◽️ groundhogs day
◽️ multiple identities/con artists

💙𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲💙

Thank you @netgalley @atriabooks @simonaudio for the #gifted copy!

This one hooked me right from the beginning — I was completely invested in unraveling the endless twists surrounding Nick/Alistair, & the tangled web of identities. The story unfolds through multiple POVs & timelines, even jumping back 4 years at times, which made it a bit tricky to track all the characters at first. Thank goodness for my notes app! 😅 Despite that, I couldn’t wait to see how all the pieces would fit together.

Unfortunately, as the story progressed, it started to feel repetitive. Each new chapter seemed like a rehash of the same deception but with a different name, which stretched believability a bit too far for me. By the time I reached the ending, it felt over-the-top & left me with a few lingering questions that never got answered. While this one isn’t my favorite Lisa Jewell book, she remains one of my top thriller authors — & I’ll still read anything she writes!

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁: Nina Swann reconnects with Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who seems charming but raises suspicions in her daughter Ash. Ash secretly investigates Nick & uncovers disturbing secrets about his past. Meanwhile, Martha, a florist in a nearby town, grows uneasy about her husband Alistair’s frequent unexplained absences. Nina, Ash, & Martha’s lives soon intertwine as they edge closer to a chilling truth. They all learn too late the danger behind the same warning: Don’t let him in.

#DontLetHimIn #thriller #pyschologicalthriller #suspense #mystery #crime #giftedbooks #netgalley #kindle #bookaddict #whattoreadnext #botwxbs #bookcollector #booksaremylife #booksonbooks #crimewithaclaw #readdrinkandbeMary #cozycorner #audiobook

4.5/5.0

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy. It started off a bit slow and confusing, with each chapter being a different character’s POV, but once you got to know them it started picking up speed. By part three it was hard to put down. Overall, a twisty thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Lisa Jewell is an auto-buy, auto-read author for me. I will always pick up every new book she writes and I eat them all up. This one was no different in the sense that the story was gripping.. The short chapters made it quick to binge and stay engaged with the story. The switching around of perspectives was a little tricky to get a handle on right off the bat, but the short chapters helped with that and I quickly found myself pulled into this story.
A little bit too much though, if I'm being totally honest. The way Lisa is able to write a manipulating, gaslighting man is spot freaking on. So much so, that I wont be able to finish reading this one. Thrillers don't normally bother me, but the conversations that this man has with his wife ("No, i didn't say that. Why would I ever say such a thing? That just doesn't even make sense.") along with all the lies and blatant manipulation felt like scripts out of my own past. In those moments, I couldn't differentiate between the story and my own memories and as much as I want to finish this one and see it through till the end, I just can't.
That's not to say this is a bad book. Obviously, I'm stating quite the opposite. It is exceptional in the way it is written. Chilling, and sends so much anger coursing through you, the feeling is visceral.

DON’T LET HIM IN by Lisa Jewell

୨⎯ SYNOPSIS ⎯୧
A conman has left a path of destruction in the lives of multiple women, and is still going strong when we meet him. This man is charming, quick to think on his feet, and knows how to lay it on thick to get what he wants. When the daughter of his latest conquest begins to get suspicious, his web of deceit is slowly unraveled and his game is finally exposed.

୨⎯ MY TAKES ⎯୧
While this book is entertaining enough to have kept me flipping pages, I don’t think it’s a standout for Lisa Jewell. As a huge fan of hers and as someone who credits her novel, Then She Was Gone, with getting me back into reading, this one doesn’t hit the same as her others. On a readability scale, it would get five stars, because it’s easy and it’s fast-paced. You can get through this book in a couple of sittings. On a thriller scale, I’m more inclined to lower it to three stars, because it isn’t inherently “thrilling”. There is no real twist - we know who the villain is from the beginning, and he remains the villain and does villainy things. We learn more about him as we move along, but it isn’t anything that elevates this story of a conman into something greater. Unfortunately, people like him exist in real life and he has befallen many in the real world, and those stories are heartbreaking, but as a work of fiction? It doesn’t quite pack the same punch.

Overall, this book is a series of events that we follow, sometimes dipping into the past, but ultimately staying on course until the end. Nothing jumps out at you or blows your mind. I’d liken this book to Jewell’s The House We Grew Up In, since we are more or less drawing out a story with a set ending, with a few small mysteries solved throughout, but ultimately wraps up as it was always meant to.

If you want some interesting characters and a fairly fast-moving plot, I’m sure you’d enjoy this one! Just don’t go into it with a thriller reader’s mindset, because you’ll be let down on that front.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A huge thank you to Atria Books Publicity & NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review! ʚ♡ɞ

Lisa Jewell has written another fast-paced, heart-stopping story. DON’T LET HIM IN is everything that a 5-star thriller should be. Al is despicable, and I felt such anger toward his treatment of women. I was ready to beat him to death with a hairbrush! He’s a textbook case of a narcissistic and toxic man. Lisa has his behavior and speech patterns down perfectly. But it made me wonder, are we women that easy to fooI?

The plot is face-paced and smooth, and the short chapters made for quick reading. I had to force myself to slow down. Oh, what a great movie this book would make. Lisa, please keep the books coming!

DNF at 20%.
Extremely unlikeable characters, infidelity, and a boringly repetitive storyline. I tried to pause and return but I have no interest in continuing.

I’ve been deeply immersed in true crime for a long time; my obsession began with Dirty John, which pulled me down the rabbit hole of the “armchair detective” life. So, when I picked up Don't Let Him In, I felt an immediate sense of déjà vu… and for good reason. The plot mirrors the Dirty John case almost beat for beat, making many of the twists predictable for anyone familiar with the infamous podcast and its subsequent adaptations.

That said, this book still delivers in terms of sheer entertainment. The domestic drama is completely over the top: jaw-dropping and chaotic in ways that would feel too extreme if it weren’t for the fact that this sort of thing has actually happened in real life. If I hadn’t gone into it already knowing the beats of the story, I think I would have loved it a lot more.

If you’re new to the “conman enters the family and wreaks havoc” trope, or you just love stories packed with tension and toxic relationships, this will be a page-turner. But for seasoned true crime fans, the sense of déjà vu might steal some of its shock value. Either way, it’s an addictive, whirlwind read, just adjust your expectations accordingly.

I officially have a new “most hated book character”.
This story starts off a little confusing because it follows different timelines and people, but it comes together and it’s crazy. Martha owns a flower shop and her husband Al is always off dealing with his hospitality business. Nina and her daughter Ash are grieving their husband/father and trying to keep his restaurants running. An old friend of her husband’s comes into the picture and Ash starts getting suspicious. Eventually these stories intersect and it’s a wild ride!

Get out your corkboard and string or whiteboard for this one!!! Keeping track of everything going on was insane in the absolute best way. The characters were phenomenal; the storyline was so intriguing, frustrating and thankfully in the end-satisfying.

I will be recommending this one!

Thank you to Netgally, the publisher and author for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion