Explore thought-provoking None of This Is True book club questions (without spoilers!) here. This gripping book cover holds within it bestselling author Lisa Jewell‘s open-ended thriller narrative that has readers talking.
You’ll foster insightful discussions with these questions and you’ll get free printable book club questions to use as a book club resource at your in-person meeting. Let’s get literary!
Quick None of This Is True Summary With Themes
In the domestic suspense novel None of This Is True, Josie Fair meets her “birthday twin,” Alix Summer, a podcaster of women’s stories, at a local pub on their 45th birthdays. Alix is a wealthier woman, married to Nathan (who works in real estate and is battling alcohol addiction), and she is the mother of two younger children, Eliza and Leon.
Josie lives a very different life in a small apartment. She is a seamstress who married Walter, an abusive man, when she was 18 and he was 43 (a few years after they met). They have two grown daughters, Erin, a gamer who locks herself in her bedroom and eats only baby food, and Roxy, a runaway.
Josie is planning a fresh start and pitches her story for Alix’s podcast, to which Alix agrees. But things become tense as Josie’s disturbing life story is slowly revealed, and Josie begins infiltrating Alix’s life. Alix also learns of Roxy’s first girlfriend, Brooke Ripley’s, disappearance.
From there, the women’s secrets and lives intertwine in dangerous ways, and not everyone makes it out alive.
None of This Is True is a great book club book that delivers a unique premise in the realm of “unreliable narrators” and fiction “true crime” in thrillers, as well as an ending that provokes further thought and discussion about such themes as manipulation and deception, and secrets and hidden truths.
Reading Tip: Given the podcast storyline in this novel, None of This Is True works especially well in audiobook format.
None of This Is True Book Club Questions (Without Spoilers)
Discuss the significance of the title None of This Is True.
Discuss the format in which you read this book, particularly as it contains multimedia elements of a podcast and Netflix documentary.
Did you like the combination of a traditional psychological thriller with elements of true crime?
Did the switching of time from past to present work for you?
Lisa Jewell has said that the initial premise of this book was “a stalker novel.” Did the final product feel like a stalker novel to you?
Why do you think the book opened with the scene of “the man” getting into the car?
What is the significance of Josie and Alix being birthday twins?
What is the significance of Josie and Alix being age 45 when the story takes place?
What does Josie’s love of denim represent?
Compare and contrast Josie and Alix.
Compare and contrast Walter and Nathan.
Compare and contrast Erin and Roxy.
How did you feel about the age difference between Josie and Walter?
Discuss the role of Nathan’s addiction in the plot.
What did you think was wrong with Erin before more details were revealed?
Where did you think Roxy was?
Early on, the reader learns that multiple people died. Who did you think died (before it was revealed)?
What role does Josie’s mother, Pat, play in the narrative?
Thriller books are often judged by their plot twists. Did the plot twists here surprise you?
Discuss Josie in her role as a mother.
Define each main character as either a victim or a villain.
Discuss Josie’s need for control over her life and the narrative she presents of it.
Discuss the role of gaslighting.
What do you think is the true story?
What do you think may happen next in the lives of the characters?
Printable PDF Reading Guide of the Discussion Questions
FREE BONUS
Subscribe to The Literary Lifestyle’s email newsletter. You’ll get an exclusive, printable PDF book club guide of book club discussion questions for any book.
Book Club Books to Read Next
If you loved these None of This Is True book club questions, discuss these books at your next meeting:
- Verity Discussion Questions
- First Lie Wins Discussion Questions
- The Guest List Discussion Questions
- The Last Thing He Told Me Discussion Questions
remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules
