Booksology Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell is the latest from one of my go-to authors. I enjoy her consistently twisty novels which often take the form of domestic noir, centred around family or relationships-gone-sour. In fact I gave her 2023 and novels None of This is True and The Night She Disappeared 4.5 stars which is a rarity in my hard-arse rating world. I realise I could go back and update my post (perhaps I still will*) but if I’d read this before I wrote my ‘Favourite new releases of 2025‘ post a week or so ago, this would have also made the list. Alas I missed getting it for review and only downloaded an electronic copy when desperate for new reading fodder during the Christmas-New Year haze.
Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell Published by Penguin Books UK on 24/06/2025 Source: Purchased Genres: Thriller / Suspense ISBN: 1804940275 Pages: 384 Goodreads
Nick Radcliffe is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. He’s just what Nina Swann needed in her life after her husband’s unexpected death. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…
Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.
Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.
I was about to publish my review when I realised that I’d given away something that isn’t mentioned in the blurb above. It’s kinda obvious but given the publisher hasn’t referenced it I’ve done a rewrite… le-sigh.
This unfolds from a number of points of view with Jewell cleverly not revealing when each takes place. I loved our main narrator, Ash (whose mother’s the subject of Nick’s attention), Nina herself (though she isn’t one of our narrators) and Martha, a florist whose husband keeps disappearing without explanation. There’s also a prologue of sorts that sets up a backstory to keep us guessing the motivation behind the main events unfolding here, with Nick pursuing Nina because (in his mind) he was once slighted by her now-deceased husband.
Nick is a player, but he plays the long game… I loved the way Jewell unravels his story and I particularly loved the way Nina’s 26yr old daughter unpicks that past. Ash sees through Nick immediately, worried her mother’s moving on so soon after her father’s death. She’s conscious though, that she needs real evidence before she confronts her mother with her suspicions. It seems obvious that Nick is trying to take advantage of Nina and the restaurant empire created by her husband, but we learn however Nick is capable of more than just wheedling money out of a hard working and successful woman.
We’re also in Nick’s head so get some insight into the game he plays and pleasure he derives from it.
Over my lifetime I have developed the unique ability to see and understand within a second exactly what sort of man a woman is looking for and to offer it to her. After that it is up to the woman to set her boundaries, because if I am giving a woman what she wants, then she has to give me what I need. 35% through novel
So there are deeper themes here, about what people will do for love and security and what they’ll settle for accepting. Here also Ash has cause to reflect on her perceptions of her parents, so there’s the question of how well we know ourselves and those we love.
There was something infinitely satisfying in the way this plays out. There’s a final twist or two when we learn even more about Nick, his narcissism and sense of entitlement, and what he’s been prepared to do to maintain his lifestyle. This is yet another excellent read from the British author that I highly recommend.
*Faves of 2025 post updated!
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