Don’t let him in By Lisa Jewell

🎧 Read by Richard Armitage, Joanne Froggatt, Tamaryn Payne, Gemma Whelan, Louise Brealy, & Patience Tomlinson

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars.

I had high hopes for Don’t Let Him In—Lisa Jewell’s reputation for gripping storytelling is well earned. However, while I appreciated the talent behind the narration, I struggled with the audiobook’s structure, especially the constant shifts and time jumps, which made the story harder to track and ultimately reduced my enjoyment.

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🔄 The Main Issue: Time Shifts & Frequent Perspective Changes

• The book frequently jumps between different time periods and viewpoints, and in audiobook form, those transitions felt harder to follow.
• At times, I found myself re-orienting—trying to remember who I was listening to and when the scene was taking place.
• Instead of building suspense smoothly, the pacing constantly felt interrupted by the need to recalibrate.

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🎙️ Narration Performance (Strong, Just Not Enough to Fix the Structure)

One positive I can’t ignore: the cast is excellent, and the performances are clearly a standout.

• The multiple narrators helped differentiate characters.
• Richard Armitage and the ensemble do a good job delivering the emotional tone of the story.
• Each voice generally felt distinct enough to prevent total confusion.

That said, even with great narration, the formatting of the transitions (as experienced through audio) still created friction for me.

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📌 What Would Have Helped

For me, the story would have landed more effectively if:

• the time jumps were signposted a bit more clearly,
• or the transitions felt slightly smoother and less frequent.

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✅ Who Might Still Enjoy It

• Fans of Lisa Jewell who enjoy complex timelines and multiple perspectives may still find this rewarding.
• Listeners who prefer twisty, layered narratives—even when they require attention—may click with this better than I did.

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⭐️ Final Verdict

3/5 stars.
While the narration cast is undeniably talented, the constant shifts and time jumps made the plot harder to follow, and that distraction pulled me out of the story often enough to reduce my overall enjoyment. However, the TWIST at the end was WILLLLLLLLDDDDD!

Available free on Libby!

Listen time: Approx 12 hours

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio