Lisa Jewell

POPULAR Swiss Cottage crime writer Lisa Jewell’s tense psychological thriller about a serial con artist has a warning in the title: Don’t Let Him In.

It’s the story of a man who will often lie and change his name to befriend and exploit women’s trust and affection in order to manipulate them into providing him with money, access to their homes and ultimately their dignity.

He has been scamming women for 30 years and even pretends that his mum has dementia and he must go off and help her when really he’s meeting another woman.

The book highlights how intelligent and capable people can easily be deceived by a charismatic and manipulative individual.

Speaking to Review, Lisa said she was inspired by the many cases of women, both real and dramatised, who had suffered. “These are men who have been lying all their lives,” she said. “But there is a lack of insight into their minds. Why do they do this? They go from woman to woman and you wonder wouldn’t it be easier for them to just get a job?”

Lisa, who said she herself had experienced coercive control in the past, describes her conman as really good with women. He knows what they want and what to say to them. “He’s benefitting from the fact that so many men are bad at relation­ships,” she says. “All he has to do is be kind, supportive and caring.”

The conman here is romantic and attentive. “We know about this kind of man but what I wanted to do is to get inside his head,” she says.

This is her 23rd book, which she says she wrote in two places – “at my computer or out walking my dog around Camden, Hampstead Heath and places like Primrose Hill”.

The book begins with a popular Soho restaurateur, Paddy Swann, 54, on his way home who is suddenly pushed onto the tube tracks under a moving train. The killer turns out to be mentally ill with paranoid schizophrenia.

A year later Paddy’s heartbroken widow Nina, 51, their daughter Ash, 26, and son, Arlo,17, are still desperately trying to cope with their terrible loss.

Then a sympathy letter arrives at their home from a chap called Nick Radcliffe. He says he worked with Paddy in a Mayfair restaurant. Nick describes Paddy as not just a brilliant chef but also one of the nicest people he had ever worked with.

Nick claims to own an eatery and also says he works as a restaurant and lifestyle adviser. He’s invited to the Swanns’ home to meet the family. He’s a handsome charmer and daughter Ash can’t help comparing him to her dad. “Nick is six foot two. Dad was small. Only five foot eight. But dad had charisma.” Nick has a full head of thick white hair. “Dad’s was thinning and had just started to turn grey.” Nick brings a bottle of champagne and Nina begins to like him. It’s not long before he moves in with her.

Ash asks Nina if she’s all right about Nick, who is apparently having financial problems with his wine bar. Nina admits that Nick makes her feel good – “like there may be a part two”.

In a nearby town lives Martha, a florist, who becomes suspicious when her husband, Alistair, is continually being called away for work: “Some­times he’s at home all the time, at other times they call him in at the last minute and he’s away for days.”

Back at the Swanns’, Nick is making himself at home in a relationship with widow Nina. But Ash has done some digging and is starting to suspect that this charmer is not who claims to be. She becomes convinced that Nick, who stares deeply into her eyes, is “lying with passion” and “self belief”.

This gripping story cleverly untangles the mystery of the conniving con artist and rattles towards a dramatic conclusion.

• Don’t Let Him In. By Lisa Jewell. Penguin/ Random House, £20