Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Thank you, Darling, I say and this time the word doesn’t hurt because this time I mean it. She is my darling. My darling who would do anything for me. Absolutely anything.”

Oh my GOD, Lisa!! 🤯 I absolutely loved this book and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. What a ride. How can one character be so repulsive and manipulative, how can they make your skin crawl so much?! Lisa has perfected one of those guys in this book, and it had me completely mesmerised. This one will keep you up at night, without a doubt. I’m so thrilled to be sharing my review for Don’t Let Him In!

About the book

He’s the perfect man.

He says he loves you.

You think he might even be made for you.

Before long he’s moved into your house – and into your heart.

And then he leaves for days at a time. You don’t know where he’s gone or who he’s with.

And you realise – if you looked back – you’d say to yourself:

DON’T LET HIM IN.

The beginning

You simply cannot read one chapter of this book at a time. In fact, I dare you to stop after one chapter. Nope. You can’t do it, can you?! I read massive chunks of this book at a time and managed to finish it in a weekend. And I haven’t done that in a LONG time. Anyway, let’s rewind a bit, back to the start of this book. The pull I felt from that first chapter and, if I’m honest, every single chapter that followed was something so glorious that I wasn’t sure it would last. But I had that same feeling with every single chapter I read, which completely blew me away. The characters in this book were instantly formed in my mind, their situation really striking a chord. The book begins with Ash and her family sat around a table after her father’s funeral, and a delivery of flowers from a florist. This interaction may seem normal, insignificant at first, but this first meeting would be the start of everything. There’s a deep sadness at the start, and the author really captures that heartache and loss, how the months pass without this happy, carefree man in their lives. But oh, how things change…

“But it works in my favour. Clearly it does. They are my puppets now in so many ways, and I am their master.”

There are multiple POVs, each one so perfectly written and explored. And it’s here where we meet Nick Radcliffe. Oh, Nick. You’re handsome. You’re a lovely man. You make Ash’s mother, Nina, happy, even though it’s only been a year since her Paddy passed away. You can share that grief, because you also lost your wife (didn’t you?). But you’re also too good to be true. You’re a liar. You’re a cheater. You’re a fraudster. You’re a swindler. And, to be quite frank, you’re a bit of a psychopath. Nick lives multiple lives. He’s Jonathan, he’s Al, he’s Damian, he’s Nick. And when it clicked what he was doing, I got chills. This guy was one of the shadiest characters I’ve ever come across, and what makes him even worse is that he knows his looks and his charisma will make women fall at his feet. And when it happens, that’s when he’ll strike. He’ll woo them, make them fall in love with him, and he’ll take their money, their pride, their dignity. Nick is the man with many lives, many names. And things are about to get a whole lot worse… and completely spiral out of control.

The middle

Lisa’s writing is, quite simply, astounding. The way she gets under your skin, the way she grips you with each sentence, the way she forces you to keep reading just one more chapter is just everything I love in a book. She writes every kind of character so wonderfully, and with each chapter, I became more and more addicted to their lives. Ash gets the feeling something isn’t quite right with Nick (and rightly so.) I loved her character so much, how she adores her mother and loves to see how happy she is when Nick’s around, but she also won’t stand to see him take advantage of her. She notices the little things and she acts on them, bringing in help in the form of her dad’s ex partner to try and shed some light on this weird, nightmarish situation. The layers of Nick’s deceit get deeper and deeper and deeper. And then when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. We live his different lives. We see his lies play out in real time, as well as four years into the past. I could see how all these versions of this man linked together, and it was pretty sickening, the lengths he was going to in order to get the life he wanted. Without caring how many lives he ruined in the process.

“The world, she now knows, is not what it seems. Nobody is what they seem. Everything is an illusion.”

I loved how the book slowly turned darker and darker, and I couldn’t believe what I was reading at times! We see Nick start to make some mistakes that would soon be fatal for his sorry little life, and I got great satisfaction in seeing these women have the realisation that things weren’t right. That they finally begin to see him for who he is. Ash continued to be such a strong character throughout all this, and I was so excited to see the lengths she would go to bring him down once she had all the facts. She trusted her gut feeling about this man, and he was going to pay for everything he’d done. There are confrontations, there is brutal murder and a gruesome discovery. With every chapter at this point, the pacing gets faster and more intense. Lisa has just nailed that urgency and keeps that desire to read on so consistent. The organisation of the timelines, the past and the present, and the switch in POV continued to amaze me. It all worked so seamlessly together and I couldn’t get enough of it. I had a feeling that things were about to get even more intense.

The end

The surprises, the twists, the feeling of dread at times all combined to make me feel nauseous and uncertain about where things would go. Ash gets frighteningly close to learning everything about Nick’s real life. And the women in his other lives become so close to uncovering the truth about him. About Ash and Nina. About what he’s done to countless other women over the years. How these characters walked along the knife edge of all that was SO intense, and one by one, they each learn that final clue to make it all click. It was masterful and so brilliantly written. God, the bond between Ash and her mother was so beautiful that I couldn’t cope. Granted, there were times when it wasn’t easy for them. There were secrets. They weren’t perfect. But that mother-daughter bond ran so deep and was explored so wonderfully. I really think Lisa’s characters are some of the most stand-out characters in all the many, many books I’ve read. I had to take a few deep breaths before I read this ending. I knew it was going to pack a punch, and I was right. It was all I could think about!

“There is it. All of it. She’s got him.”

The ending truly captivated me. I caught myself holding my breath at times! Hearing about the vast impact Nick’s actions had on so many people both fascinated and terrified me. And what makes it even worse is knowing that this kind of man doesn’t just exist in fiction. That there are people like this operating right now in real life. I loved how Lisa touched upon Nick’s childhood, the things he did. It built up such a horrific picture of how he’d changed over the years, how this manipulative, repulsive side of him developed. And those very final chapters, man. They were so dramatic, chilling and dark, and left me thinking and thinking and thinking. I love a great epilogue too, and this one was perfect. My final deep exhale after closing this book felt so satisfying. This is a psychological thriller done right. It doesn’t get much better than this, really! I loved every single word of it. If you love a book that really consumes you, that completely takes over your life, this is the one. I have so many of Lisa’s books to catch up on, and I am so bloody excited to dive into the next after this!

Overall thoughts

Don’t Let Him In is one of the most absorbing and chilling books I’ve ever read, but it’s also one of the most shocking and eye-opening. If you weren’t already wary of toxic, manipulative men, you will be after reading this, and then some. Ash is grieving after losing her dad, Paddy – a happy, fun, larger than life character who will forever leave a hole in her life. But when stranger, Nick Radcliffe, appears, claiming he was a friend of her fathers and sweeping her mother off her feet, Ash starts to get suspicious. Was this lovely, handsome, generous man really who he says he is? Believe me, you are not ready for what happens in this book. The layers upon layers of lies, one man’s many, many horrific secrets. Lisa flawlessly explores ‘love-bombing’, manipulation, narcissism and toxicity in a relationship and really perfects that balance between Mr Nice Guy and real, true psychopathic behaviour. What a bloody incredible book. Honestly one of the best I’ve read!

Thank you SO much to Lisa Jewell and Century Books for my precious signed proof and special themed box! My favourite ever book package I’ve received 😍 You can grab your own copy of Don’t Let Him In right now over on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Lisa over on Instagram and X for more updates!

Looking for book reviews?

If you’re in need of reviews for your own book, do get in touch to get on my submissions list! All the information you need is on my book reviews page. If you enjoyed this review and would like to support my blog, you can buy me a coffee 😊