It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell: A thriller that proves why she remains the genre’s best storyteller

A missing teenager, a mysterious house, and a woman forced to confront the darkest corners of her past collide in It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell, a gripping and emotionally rich thriller that reminds me exactly why she remains my favorite author working in the genre today. Releasing June 23, 2026, this latest novel begins with a seemingly simple mystery involving a lost dog before spiraling into something far more layered, unsettling, and deeply personal.

Thriller novels often follow familiar patterns. There’s a reason readers keep coming back to them. Like a favorite comfort food, the genre offers recognizable tropes, satisfying twists, and reliable entertainment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Not every book needs to reinvent literature, and sometimes readers simply want an engaging story that delivers exactly what it promises.

But Lisa Jewell has never been that kind of writer.

While her books certainly provide suspense and surprises, they consistently dig deeper than the average thriller. Her stories are driven as much by character as by plot, and she has a remarkable talent for leading readers somewhere they never expected to go. It Could Have Been Her continues that tradition.

The novel follows Jane Trevally, a woman living alone on a country estate with her beloved dogs. When a small white terrier appears without the teenage girl who had been caring for him, Jane volunteers to return the dog to its registered owner in London. What begins as a simple act of kindness becomes something much more complicated when she arrives at Thornwood, a decaying house connected to traumatic events from her own past.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is Jane herself. She is one of the most convincing protagonists Jewell has ever created—layered, complicated, and refreshingly mature. Jane maintains friendly relationships with her ex-husbands and their children, and she even brings her adult stepson along when she travels to London to track down the dog’s owner. There is something wonderfully refreshing about a character whose life contains history without being consumed by bitterness.

I especially loved the way Jewell portrays Jane’s relationships. She remains close to her stepchildren despite never having children of her own, and while she openly acknowledges feeling relieved she didn’t become a parent herself, her affection for the family she helped build feels entirely genuine. She even meets one ex-husband for a friendly dinner while in London. The only real wrinkle comes when that ex asks her not to mention that he’s loaned her his townhouse while his current wife is out of the country. Even that feels less like drama and more like the kind of awkward complication that naturally arises in long, messy adult lives.

Jane’s openness is perhaps her most appealing characteristic. So many thriller protagonists rely on secrecy, deception, and frustratingly poor decisions to keep a story moving. Jane does the opposite. She tells people what she’s doing. She shares information. She communicates honestly. She doesn’t play games.

---

---

In many ways, she embodies a confidence and self-assurance that many women spend decades trying to develop. There’s a sense that Jane has reached a point in life where she no longer feels obligated to perform for anyone, and that authenticity makes her enormously appealing as a protagonist.

Jewell also accomplishes something that few thriller writers manage successfully: she makes the amateur investigation believable.

One of my least favorite thriller tropes is the protagonist who ignores law enforcement entirely and decides to solve a dangerous mystery alone. Often these characters behave so irrationally that I spend more time questioning their judgment than enjoying the story. Here, however, Jane’s involvement feels justified. Jewell gives her compelling personal reasons to continue digging, and the narrative never asks readers to accept obviously foolish behavior simply because the plot requires it. The result is a mystery that remains engaging rather than frustrating.

The emotional core of Jane’s story is tied to her home, the sprawling family manor she inherited after losing her entire family by the age of twenty. She knows the property has become a burden. She has poured too much money into it, and she understands that selling it would probably be the practical choice. Yet the house represents the last tangible connection to the family she lost. That tension gives Jane’s personal story real weight and helps ground the novel’s larger mysteries in something deeply human.

One aspect of the book surprised me: It Could Have Been Her is apparently a follow-up to Jewell’s 2024 novel Don’t Let Him In. Somehow I missed that release, which came as a shock because I thought I’d read every one of her books.

Fortunately, this novel functions well as a standalone for the vast majority of its runtime. Readers new to Jane’s story should have little trouble following the plot. However, the book occasionally references events and characters from the earlier novel, particularly when Jane considers contacting a security professional who assisted her during the previous mystery. These moments were my one significant criticism of the novel.

The references are brief and largely unnecessary to the current story, but they repeatedly reminded me that Jane had a history I hadn’t experienced firsthand. Every time one appeared, it pulled me out of the narrative. In my view, a truly standalone sequel should be written as though previous installments don’t exist. Existing fans can still recognize connections, while new readers never feel like they’re arriving late to the party. Here, those reminders never become confusing, but they do create small interruptions in an otherwise immersive reading experience. Even so, that criticism is relatively minor compared to everything the novel does well.

As always, Jewell combines suspense with emotional depth, delivering a mystery that is as interested in its characters as it is in its twists. The secrets surrounding Thornwood are compelling, but it is Jane herself who makes the novel memorable. Her honesty, complexity, and hard-earned confidence elevate what could have been a conventional thriller into something far more satisfying.

It Could Have Been Her is another excellent entry in Lisa Jewell’s catalog and further evidence that she continues to operate on a different level than most thriller writers. If you’re looking for a suspense novel that offers genuine character development alongside its mysteries, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Have you read Lisa Jewell before? Are you planning to pick up It Could Have Been Her? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

It Could Have Been Her releases June 23, 2026. An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• Netflix thriller sparked by Lisa Jewell books (USA Today)
• From rom-com to gritty thrillers… Lisa Jewell’s dramatic shift saved her writing career (Express)
• Lisa Jewell’s None of This Is True ranked among best books for twists before Netflix release (Parade)
• Novelist Lisa Jewell: I thought my daughter was dying (The Times)

Now available in print and on Kindle!

Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.