How does Lisa Jewell write these unputtdownable book every. single. time? This is a subject I thought I had read, heard, seen before, a million times, but I still could not put it down.
It's hard to give a review without giving away spoilers, so I'll just say this- Lisa Jewell is amazing. She writes books that are so good and everyone needs to read this book!

For such wild events and people being featured, I became more and more disinterested and impatient as I read on; this story dragged on way too long. The whole book was spent waiting for the main characters to discover what the reader already knew. If there are no crazy plot twists like Jewell's last book, None of This Is True - a 5 star book! - then please at least maintain some mystery.

Some of the decisions or characterizations just would not make sense in the real world, ie. an otherwise doting mother unexpectedly talks shit about her own daughter to a male love interest she just met, or the lazy "person wouldn't call the cops even though it's 1000% the first thing a person would do in real life" writing trope to move the plot along, or to slow the plot down, there'd be multiple scenes of people taking time to meet up and relay info they could've just sent in a text or an email. There's also a huge speech reveal / exposition at the end, the biggest sign of telling and not showing.

I was frothing at the mouth to read this, but now having done so, I need a palate cleanser. Sorry!

Once again, the Queen of character - driven suspense does not disappoint. This book was maddening at times, because the charlatan at its center was so diabolical, I wanted to throw the book at the wall! But the web of deception he spun was as gripping as a train wreck. The prose was as good as it gets. This upmarket fiction novel of suspense borders on literary, but without the pomp and pretension. One of my favorite reads so far this year.

I enjoyed this book. It was a book that I wanted to keep reading to see what happened. I don’t know that I would call this a thriller or even really a suspense novel, but it was good. I liked reading through to watch the story unravel and what would happen as the characters intertwined. I do wish the ending wouldn’t have been so rushed, but overall I would recommend this book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was so atmospherically tense. I really enjoyed None of This is True, and this was just as compulsively readable, but this one was a bit easier to anticipate, without being annoyingly predictable. I love Jewell's endings and this one did not disappoint. I was honestly guessing what would happen right through the final sentences. Would be a great beach book for the summer, if you like your beach reads with a side of murder.

Delicious. Suspicious. Full of suspense, wild dishonesty and layers of complicated lies
that keep you wanting to have a cheat sheet… Of the number of horrible and selfish …
Al really is the big winner, and as hard as I worked it, I KNEW he was rotten, but
I had no idea how this would play.
This is the reason I NEVER miss a story by this Author: she leads you on her
well crafter journey~believing you know what’s happening…
She is the reason: Nobody writes such diabolical characters that you can so
thoroughly despise, before you even know why…
My thanks to Atria Books via NetGalley, for, the download copy of this] book
for review purposes.

I am a Lisa Jewell fan, but this one didn’t do it for me. I’d also say it’s not a thriller. A con man whose long con is played out over years but it just kind dragged out for me. The dual POV was a bit hard to understand for a while until you figure out who one of them is. The epilogue was good, but by then I was just ready to be done. Thanks for NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

"I’m a huge fan of Lisa Jewell’s work, and Don’t Let Him In did not disappoint! From the moment I picked it up, I was hooked. The suspense is intense. A stranger knocking on the door of a family, claiming to need help – seems simple at first, but the twists and turns that follow kept me on edge.

The characters are wonderfully complex, and Jewell does a fantastic job of making you question everyone’s motives. I found myself constantly second-guessing what I thought I knew about each person. There are moments of pure tension, especially as the true nature of the stranger is revealed.

However, there were times when the pacing slowed down a bit in the middle, but the shocking twists and final reveal made it all worth it. If you’re a fan of thrillers that dive deep into human emotions and the darker sides of relationships, Don’t Let Him In is a must-read. It left me thinking long after I finished the book.”

The novel was suspenseful and kept me guessing with its twists and turns. Every time I thought I knew what was coming, I was wrong. This book is poised to be another compelling addition to her repertoire, offering readers a thrilling exploration of family ties and the shadows cast by long-held secrets.

Wow! What an epic twisted read. Lisa Jewell is one of my go to authors, and this did not disappoint.

It took a while to get into the characters (there were a lot), but once I did, the book flew by. The storyline was so intricate and executed so well.

Thankful for an ARC of this. Highly recommend!

Lisa Jewell knows how to keep your mind working and excited for the big finale! The first few chapters feel very disconnected but as the book builds it becomes more obvious what Jewell is doing and how these characters may actually have more in common than we once thought. While this wasn't my favorite book of hers, I enjoyed the anticipation in seeing and wondering how everything ends. I would recommend this book as a slow-burn domestic thriller!

I could not put this book down!!! I have loved other books but this author, but this takes the cake. I was on my toes the entire time, and when I realized the connection, I couldn't wait to find out what happened! Another gem from Jewell. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Lisa Jewell does a brilliant job of making you feel absolutely murderous. Could not put this down even though my stomach flipped and flopped the entire time. Ugh she’s a talented writer, I hated him and his insidious ways just as much as she wanted us to. 😬🗡️

Another one of Lisa Jewell's stories that keep you intrigued from the first introduction of the characters. There were many times I wanted to throw my kindle at the character "Nick" . I love how she spun the story to the very end.

I enjoyed this novel the most of all the Lisa Jewell books I've read! Don't Let Him In kept me enthralled the entire time. I couldn't wait to see how the women figured it out and I was not disappointed by the ending!

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I requested this because Lisa Jewell is always good for a popcorn thriller, and this seemed like a decent distraction for a sick day.

This is borrowing a great deal from…is it Dirty John? The guy who scammed a bunch of vulnerable women by pretending to be rich and successful? (it gets implicitly namechecked near the end, so it’s not like this is a world where that doesn’t exist) And that’s basically the plot here. We open with Ash, whose father has just died a pretty tragic death, being pushed under a subway train in an Underground station. And about a year later, her mother starts dating this guy named Nick who claims to own a wine bar and to have worked with Paddy many years ago in a different restaurant. Ash immediately clocks that something seems off about this guy - he’s just too good to be true. But she’s had her own issues recently (we eventually learn she had a thing for her boss and it kind of wrecked her life), so no one is inclined to believe her.

In addition to hearing from Ash, we also hear from a woman named Martha, whose “perfect” husband Alistair is…well far from it. He has some big fancy job where he works with the hospitality departments in boutique hotels, and he’s always running off for some emergency or another and being not just gone but utterly unreachable for days at a time. Martha is shockingly good at convincing herself he means well, and it’s pretty sad. Like, the signs are all RIGHT THERE, staring her in the face, and she’s still able to justify why he’s behaving this way because when things are good between them, they’re really good, and somehow that balances all of the negatives. Having dated someone a bit like this, I can somewhat relate, but eventually you can’t ignore the selfishness (to be fair, my ex was a raging narcissist, not an actual sociopath!).

And finally, we have flashback chapters beginning 4 years earlier from the perspective of a guy who has a rather high opinion of himself and his worth. He has a wife he hates and a mistress he’s obsessed with and I feel like it’s not even a spoiler because if you’ve read a book before you *know* where this is going. Lisa Jewell has done this before - giving narration duties to a toxic male character - and I just don’t know how I feel about it. On the one hand, in order for the story to make sense, we kind of do need to hear from this guy at least somewhat. I’m trying to imagine how this would all play out with just the perspectives we have and I feel like it wouldn’t quite make sense - but on the other hand, if you add additional perspectives from other victims (there are certainly enough of them floating around), I think it would flesh out the narrative enough that we wouldn’t need to hear from Nick-etc. at all. We just spend SO MUCH TIME in his head, and it’s nothing new - he’s better and smarter and more handsome than anyone else who has ever existed and he deserves to be recognized for it. It’s actually criminal that other people are successful and he is not. I would have much rather just heard from the women instead.

I'm a HUGE fan of Lisa Jewell but this one just wasn't for me. I really struggled to get into it. The writing was definitely different in this one than some of her other books that I have read.

If there’s one thing that New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell excels at, it’s her ability to grip a reader from the very first page. Jewell’s forthcoming novel, Don’t Let Him In, begins in the aftermath of a murder.

When well-known restaurateur Paddy Swann is pushed onto the subway tracks at Leicester Square, his wife and kids are left reeling. Soon after Paddy’s death, his widow Nina receives a condolence letter from Nick Radliff, an old colleague of her husband. Nina has never met Nick before, but she’s intrigued by his thoughtfulness and decides to meet him for a drink.

In another part of town, a florist named Martha lives with her devoted husband, Alistair, and their baby daughter. Alistair has been traveling a lot for work, and often turns off his phone and leaves for days on end. One night Martha’s daughter runs a fever and when she can’t get ahold of Alistair, she becomes convinced that he’s having an affair which leads her to start tracking his whereabouts.

In typical Jewell style, Don’t Let Him In is narrated from multiple perspectives and shifting timelines. This is a story that will lead you to question how well you think you know someone. It’s a brilliant tale of reinvention, obsession, and secrecy in the digital age. Bravo!

Well I’m sad to report, I just couldn’t wait for this to be over. You really needed to focus because the POVs can get confusing or easy to mix up. I think there was too much going on and I struggled to finish it. I love Lisa Jewell though and would encourage you to try it for yourself!

I struggle with this book. It was slow in parts and way too many moving pieces for me. I feel the premise or idea was good but maybe too much added details for me.