Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

I don’t know why I put this one off for so long. Well, actually, I do. It was likely because of the massive wave of hype when it first came out. And then later I was dealing with a massive case of thriller burnout. But Lately I’ve found a few thrillers that I actually enjoyed. Maybe I just need some time away. I decided it was time to give this one a try and I ended up really enjoying it.

This book is addictively readable from page one. It’s cleverly structured—part traditional narrative, part transcripts and scenes from a true crime documentary—which makes it feel dynamic and fresh. That structure also adds an extra layer of suspense, because you’re watching events unfold in “real time” while also getting glimpses into how others are later interpreting them. It keeps you just off balance enough to stay glued to the page.

But what really makes this book stand out are the characters. They’re not just vehicles to move the plot forward; they’re layered and surprisingly complex. The more you learn about them, the more the lines between victim and villain begin to blur. And Josie Fair? What a fascinating, slippery character. You’re never quite sure whether to feel sympathy, suspicion, or something in between, and that ambiguity is part of what makes the story so unsettling and effective.

I can’t go into too much detail about the character arcs without giving away major spoilers, but I’ll just say that the reveals don’t rely on cheap tricks. They’re earned. They hit harder because they feel rooted in the emotional fabric of the story. Even the “smaller” twists come with weight, and I love that Jewell doesn’t insult the reader’s intelligence. She trusts you to put pieces together, to question everyone, and to sit in the discomfort of not knowing who to believe.

And that ending? I’m still turning it over in my head. It left me with several questions. Not the frustrating kind, but the kind that make you want to go back and read it again just to see what you missed. It’s the kind of ending that sparks conversation, that makes you immediately want to ask someone else, “Okay, but what do you think happened?”

If, like me, you’ve been feeling underwhelmed by thrillers lately, this one might be just what you need to reignite the spark. It’s a tightly written, character-driven, twisty story that respects your time and your intelligence. And it manages to be creepy and thought-provoking without going over the top. So if it’s been sitting on your shelf like it had been on mine, take this as your sign: pick it up. You won’t regret it.