Lisa Jewell has created a chilling villain who preys on vulnerable women. This story has a fast-moving narrative of the lives of three women connected to a truly evil, but ever so charming, man.

When a successful restaurateur Paddy Swann dies after being pushed in front of a train his widow Nina and daughter Ash receive and unexpected condolence note from Nick Radcliffe. Nina is not the first woman to be seduced by Nick.

This multilayered story explores themes of grief, manipulation, and the allure of a good-looking stranger that allows for revelations that genuinely surprise and disturb.

While the personalities of the women in the story shine, it is Nick, the diabolically, wicked male character that makes this book a true page turner.

Ash Swann has been struggling since her father died in a tragic accident a year ago. When a handsome, charismatic man named Nick Radcliffe shows up claiming to be an old friend of her father’s, Ash is dismayed when her mother Nina is too easily charmed by the dashing stranger. Nick is just a little *too* perfect, and Ash is determined to find out what’s really behind his suave façade. Meanwhile, a few towns away is a florist named Martha whose husband Alistair is becoming more absent and evasive by the day, and soon she’s looking for answers of her own.

Lisa Jewell is a master in the thriller/mystery/suspense genre, and I’d put this one squarely in the psychological suspense category. The plot simmers along instead of boils, perfectly paced with a relentless current of dread that runs just below the surface. It starts out with a pretty tangled web of characters, and I couldn’t put this book down until I’d unraveled every last thread and figured out how they all fit together. Although I did guess many of the twists before they were revealed (occupational hazard of a thriller lover!), that didn’t decrease my enjoyment one iota. This book is so well written that I actually couldn’t wait to see if I was right, and I loved the twisty, turny ride to get there!

You may be wondering how otherwise intelligent women fall for this type of person, but our MMC is a master class in love bombing, gaslighting, and manipulating, and he knows exactly how to get what he wants. If you were fascinated by the real life documentary about Dirty John, you’re going to love Don’t Let Him In!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me an advance copy of this book.

Oh man I LOVED this one!! SO Creepy and could not put it down! It was just the right bit of spine-tingly "off" for the entire book. Lisa Jewell's writing just keeps you turning page after page. I liked the short chapters and the interweaving timelines all coming to present day. Highly reco!!

This is a story about a complete delusional and depraved conman F boy/ sneaky manipulative manchild and the various women caught up in his lies of deceit. This is a twisted slow burn read with short chapters and lots of suspense.

I always love Lisa Jewell's writing. She's one of my favorite thriller authors. This one was a bit hard to follow at first, as it shifts time lines and perspectives and can be confusing to keep names straight at times. But once I got my footing a little more, I enjoyed it. It did begin to feel repetitive at times, but I think thriller lovers of mystery who don't mind a slow unraveling and various POVs will like it!

Lisa provides such a believable point of view from a disturbed person. Though I'm not usually a fan of third person point of view, Lisa did a great job with it and using it to create suspense with multiple view points and gaps for readers. I am not usually a suspense fan, but the characters are deep and intimate. Highly suggest if you are into suspense!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Simon and Schuster for an advanced digital copy of Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell.

I love Lisa Jewell and have been reading everything I can get by her for years. (While I have to admit her last Marvel crime novel was not my cup of tea.) Don't Let Him In was amazing and did not disappoint! I am a true crime buff as well and this read like a real life thriller! The characters were well developed and thought out, some relatable and some despisable! I couldn't get enough, fast enough. I love a fast paced page-turner! It kept me guessing and surprised without going all around the world to do it. I can't wait to share it with our local town book club! This will be my summer recommended read for family and friends! Solid 4 stars!

Thank you to Atria for the free early electronic copy. All opinions are my own.
4.5 Stars (come on Goodreads, give options here!)
This is a summer domestic suspense/thriller you're going to want to read. Every domestic suspense doesn't have to be about murder. Until it is...

One Man, multiple women, and many lives are heading into the inevitable crash. Ash, the adult daughter of Nina is grieving hard for the senseless death of her father. Nina, however, is perking up at the attentions of a new man that's now making his way into their lives. Nick, the new guy, doesn't feel right to Ash. Her mom, too happy. What starts as a way to verify Nick's attentions opens a can of suspicion and revelations no one is expecting.

Going back and forth between timelines and women, Jewell deftly weaves a creepy tale of a psychopath and master of manipulation. While some are under the spell, others fight back. And, as fantastical as this tale seems, we read news that verifies its continued practice today.

I read this one but I think the audiobook would be a great choice as well.

Non spoiler review:
Wow!! I absolutely devoured this book. As a Lisa Jewell lover, I had high hopes for this book and it did NOT let me down.
Nick shows up out of the blue in Nina Swann's life one year after the tragic murder of her husband, Paddy. Nick is seemingly the perfect man but Nina's daughter, Ash, doesn't agree. In several POVs, the story of a con man in told. From multiple wives and abandoned children to a predator and a liar, Nick weaves his way into home after home under the goal of one thing; money. Will he be caught or does he complete one last and final con?
This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I did create a timeline with ladies names and aliases of Nick to keep them straight, which was very helpful. Although he was a bad guy, it was so interesting to see how he worked his way through the situations he found himself in.
This wasn't my first Lisa Jewell novel and it will not be my last but it just may be my new favorite!

Nina Swann is grieving from the unexpected death of her husband Paddy when she receives a package from an old “acquaintance “ of Paddy’s. The package is from Nick Radcliffe and is a lighter Paddy supposedly used and left at Nick’s place of business. Nina has an adult daughter Ash who is very suspicious of Nick - he seems too good to be true and something just feels very off about him. Nick and Nina start seeing each other and the closer they get the more Ash feels something is up so she starts looking into Nick’s past. We also meet Martha, a sweet woman with children and who runs a flower shop. She is married to Alistair, who she loves deeply. Lately though, Alistair has been disappearing more often and goes days without any contact. He always seems to have an excuse to explain the lack of communication and his need for being away. Somehow all of these characters will intersect when Ash gathers more information. I don’t want to give away the plot, although most of it becomes very obvious. There are a lot of characters in the book and most are developed well - the main ones anyway, the lesser characters don’t get much time wise. The plot moved along well and I was very interested to see how all the characters paths would resolve. I was not disappointed in the ending - I thought it was a good way to tie up all the loose ends of the plot. I give the book 4.5 stars which I’ll round up to 5. Lisa Jewell has written another winner.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 24, 2025.

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell is a book that starts with a lot of promise but, unfortunately, didn’t quite deliver for me. Right from the opening pages, the short chapters reeled me in, and the sense of confusion and suspense immediately drew my attention. I appreciate a good mystery, and this book certainly delivers that in spades—though, as the story progresses, it becomes a bit of a double-edged sword.

While the intrigue is there at the start, the pacing slows down, and I found the plot getting a bit repetitive. With multiple timelines and perspectives from different women, it sometimes felt like I was reading the same version of the same story over and over again. By the time I hit the 65% mark, the book finally picked up some steam, but by then, my interest had already started to wane. Unfortunately, none of the twists or turns felt particularly surprising, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that the book had overstayed its welcome.

As much as I wanted to push through, I’ll admit that if this hadn’t been an ARC, I may not have finished it. The experience felt like a constant tug of war between being entertained and, frankly, being very bored. Another thing that stood out was the use of different font sizes to separate narratives—it was a bit distracting, and I think a clearer method could have been used to differentiate between characters.

This book definitely feels different from Lisa Jewell’s other works, and I’m personally not sure it’s for me. Still, there are aspects that some readers will enjoy, especially if you’re a fan of complex, multi-layered suspense stories. Unfortunately, it just didn’t hit the mark for me. I still love Lisa Jewell and am thankful for a chance to read early with NetGalley & Atria Publishing.

Lisa Jewell is a go-to author for me. I’ve been a fan of Jewell’s books for a very long time, and this book doesn’t disappoint! This is not really a thriller, more of a twisted web of a story that all comes together in the second half of the book. Recommended.

If you remember the movie Heartbreakers from the early 2000s and enjoyed it then immediately add this book to your TBR. If you don’t know the movie, still add this to your TBR AND find the movie. Instead of women running a con on rich men, this book focuses on a man running a con on unsuspecting middle class women. This book immediately sucked me in and had me flipping the pages. And just when I thought there was going to be a slow, boring middle, Lisa drops in the drama. My only negative is there are A LOT of characters and I definitely had moments of not remembering characters when they reappeared in the story, even late in the book. BUT Lisa expertly tied them all together by the end of the book. No loose ends to be found. 4.5 stars.

You have to pay attention when reading Lisa Jewell's books because the clues can be cleverly interspersed into the story. This latest release is no different! There is something about Nick, but you cannot quite decide what it is. Ash feels he is too good to be true, but that could also be her grief speaking and her protectiveness over her mother, Nina. Then, we learn of other women's similar stories. So, so good! Engaging read and perfect for summer

I was consumed by this book, trying to untangle the web of lies and deceit, and piece together the timeline of a madman. I love Lisa Jewel’s style of writing. She always manages to make her characters so real and relatable. I will always recommend her books and can’t wait to tell everyone to read this one too!

Thank you netgalley for the arc of “dont let him in” in exchange for my honest review. Lisa Jewell is currently one of my must read authors. I look forward to anything she outs out. Her writing style is captivating and her ability to keep you interested and engaged in the characters and plot is phenomenal. Dont let him in is the story of a conman nick, alistar, simon? Who knows who he is. This conman plays the long game. He gets woman to fall in love with, marry him and have his children but nothing is ever enough for him. He always eventually robs them and leaves them holding a bag of debt. When you mess with enough people eventually your past will come back to haunt you. Has he finally met his match in Ash who spends the book investigating Nick? Who will come out triumphant? Five stars a must read this summer.

DON’T LET HIM IN.

I am SO lucky to have gotten my hands on Lisa Jewell’s newest book early…you guys have SO much to look forward to!!!

I was hooked like 15% in, trying to connect the timelines and the characters at play. As the pieces fell into place I just couldn’t put the book down. As we meet Nick Radcliffe, and his many other personas, his true character is slowly revealed until it reaches a final climax. Ash is just out to protect her mom, Nina, who is the current eye of Nick’s affection. Determined to protect her mom, Ash goes full detective mode and ends up discovering far more than she had expected…and it’s GOOD.

The timelines and multitude of characters can be a bit confusing at first, but do not stray the course it is like that for a reason!!!! Out later this June—ENJOY!

Lisa Jewell is an auto read author for me, her thrillers have been fast paced and really engaging. In the latest, a young woman named Ash is weary after her mother, Nina, starts seeing an acquaintance of her father's, Nick, a year or so after her father's death. Meanwhile, further away from Ash and Nina, a woman named Martha is starting to worry her husband, Alistair, is traveling for work more and disappearing for longer periods of time. The red flags are truly flying for the men around Ash, Nina, and Martha. This one starts off slow as we get to know the main characters involved in this story. While I feel like I understood where this book was going, I did enjoy learning all the secrets and reveals as the book progressed. The suspense steadily builds and I was wondering when everything would come to a head. The second half of the book definitely picked up the pace and I found myself turning the pages to figure out how it was all going to end. The short chapters definitely helped as well! The different POVs were done really well and I felt like each POV had a distinct voice which added to the atmosphere of the book. Overall, I thought this was a good read and a suspenseful book. I kept wanted to know what was happening next and of course, I wanted to see how this con man story played out. I would recommend to fans of thrillers, especially books with slower builds.

Solid 4.5 Star Read.

From the very beginning, this book had me hooked. I found myself annotating so much while reading to keep track of who was who and who was with what guy to keep things straight, but it all came together. Three women, All connected through one man. There were so many twists, turns, jaw dropping surprises. There was some boss woman energy that I ate up and a vile, narcissistic man that I absolutely despised. I really enjoyed the writing style and the short chapters. It definitely made those "one more chapter" moments happen more often and I am not mad about it. Will be recommending to everyone I know upon release.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 🌟

Lisa Jewell is really so good at creative, messy thrillers and I am always happy to go along for the ride.

While I loved "None of This Is True" from last year, this one didn't quite hit the same. It took awhile to get going, there were too many characters, and some of the story beats got repetitive - I found it pretty tiresome watching these women get fooled over and over and OVER again.

I did really enjoy the second half of the book, and I loved to hate Nick's point of view chapters (Lisa Jewell has a talent for making characters who are just SO gross, it's amazing), and the ending was perfectly satisfying.

Not bad at all, and a very fun summer read. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced digital copy of this highly anticipated novel.

When Paddy Swann dies in a horrific accident, his family is devastated. One day, his wife Nina receives a note in the mail from someone who is an old acquaintance of her deceased husband, along with an old trinket belonging to him. When she arranges to meet the man who sent the letter, she is immediately taken by this handsome stranger, Nick Radcliffe, whose captivating personality and joyful smile make her feel like living again. When Nina eventually brings her new friend home, her adult daughter becomes suspicious of this too good to be true man who has charmed his way into her life, and she makes a plan to find out all she can about him.

Martha is a local florist with a successful business and perfect home life. Her loving and devoted husband, Alistair is an amazing father to their infant daughter and adoring stepfather to her two older children. Everything is perfect until Alistair starts disappearing for days on end. Although he always seems to have a valid excuse for where he’s been, Martha gets a feeling in her gut that something is not quite right, and she starts looking for answers.

Lisa Jewell has become an auto-read author for me, so I have been looking forward to this upcoming release, and I was not disappointed. The vibe for this one felt as though the reader was immersed in an episode of a true-crime drama TV show. Told from alternating points of view as well as an ever changing timeline, something was always going on and more and more pieces were being added to the puzzle. Although there were no shocking revelations, it was still suspenseful in its own way. While the reader may have understood what the villain in this story was doing at all times, it was still astounding just how much he was able to get away with, particularly over victims who were intelligent and successful people. The author did an amazing job creating a character that was so utterly detestable, but yet was also interesting enough to keep you fully invested in what was going to happen to him.

Short chapters made this a binge-able, fast paced read. While not a traditional thriller, it was more of a psychological, chaotic mind twister that will leave you questioning what is wrong with people that they are able to do the crazy things they do. Lisa Jewell has delivered again. Don’t Let Him In is a well crafted, character driven ride through the dark side of the human mind.