AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “I absolutely loved Invisible Girl—Lisa Jewell has a way of combining furiously twisty, utterly gripping plots with wonderfully rich characterization—she has such compassion for her characters, and we feel we know them utterly… A triumph!” —Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone returns with … bestselling author
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone returns with an intricate thriller about a young woman’s disappearance and a group of strangers whose lives intersect in its wake.
Young Saffyre Maddox spent three years under the care of renowned child psychologist Roan Fours. When Dr. Fours decides their sessions should end, Saffyre feels abandoned. She begins looking for ways to connect with him, from waiting outside his office to walking through his neighborhood late at night. She soon learns more than she ever wanted to about Roan and his deceptively perfect family life. On a chilly Valentine’s night, Saffyre will disappear, taking any secrets she has learned with her.
Owen Pick’s life is falling apart. In his thirties and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct—accusations he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel forums, where he meets a charismatic and mysterious figure.
Owen lives across the street from the Fours family. The Fours have a bad feeling about their neighbor; Owen is a bit creepy and suspect and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night. Could Owen be responsible? What happened to the beautiful missing Saffyre, and does her disappearance truly connect them all?
Evocative, vivid, and unputdownable, Lisa Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author).
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This weekend I finished Lisa Jewell’s gripping Invisible Girl and it was such a joy not to be able to put a book down. Her best yet.
Invisible Girl is the latest book by Lisa Jewell due out in October 2020. I received an early copy through NetGalley and was excited to read it because I’ve already read and reviewed five of the author’s earlier books. I enjoy her writing style and tone very much, and this book is another strong winner.
Cate is married with two teenage children. She lives in a charming English suburb. She knows something is off in her family but uncertain where to start. Owen lives across the street, and he’s had several run-ins with the family as well as other neighbors. He’s accused of inappropriate sexual advances toward several girls, but he claims he’s innocent. Saffyre, another teenage girl, goes missing. We hear the voices of these three people, as well as get to know their families and friends. Somehow they are connected, and it takes a while to sort out all the background. When you do, it’s quite intriguing.
Jewell frequently tackles the emotional growth and abuse of teenage girls in her novels. Often, it’s a secret that’s been buried or a desire that shouldn’t be explored. Counseling comes into play, relationships are usually murky, and the tone waffles between suspenseful and somber. It works well for her, and as readers, we quickly become accustomed to her approach to developing strong characters with lots to hide. It’s not about unreliable narrators as much as it is slowly dropping all the details so we can feel the momentum in the story.
In this one, we are meant to see both sides of a story. No character is purely dark or light; they have shades of gray and the potential to do both good and bad things. Owen has no memories of the bad things he’s done, and it’s often due to his drinking. How much of it is real? It’s hard to tell, even in the very last pages of the book. We hear the truth of what happened, but a bit is left up to a reader’s imagination. I like the potential for something unknown, but I also like closure, which we do get for many of the story-lines.
I think this is one of the author’s stronger tales, but I do caution those who struggle with either abuse or sexually inappropriate behavior for teenage girls to go in knowing it will have some emotional scenes. Always tasteful and genuine, they motivate readers to recognize that there are people in this world who are very troubled. The entire incel theme was shocking to me, and I hope those types are sufficiently punished in reality. In the end I recommend this book and give it 4.5 stars. Great tale to devour over a weekend.
I loved it. Every damn word.
A twisted and twisty book that kept me turning the pages well into the night.
Lisa Jewell has become an author I will buy without even reading the blurb on her books first. She continuously crafts entertaining stories with interesting and unique characters that you don’t always encounter with other books. Plus, the mysteries and twists are always done in a way that flow seamlessly from beginning to end.
I was super excited to see this new Lisa Jewell book was coming out and the premise was unusual. That totally piqued my interest.
The story is told from 3 different POVs. From Owen Pick, the unusual neighbor that everyone thinks is just a “little off”; from Cate Four, the mother and wife of Roan that is skeptical of everyone and questions everything after being wronged by her husband in the past; and from Saffyre Maddox, the 17 year old girl who is at the center of the whole story and connects all the characters together.
I have to say, the beginning of the story lagged for me. I wanted to know more and wanted to see where the story was going to go, but it wasn’t pulling me in like I expected. Maybe it was from having 3 POVs and not getting comfortable with where the story was going to go? I understand we were getting the background of the characters, but I didn’t have a feeling of even liking the characters too much. But once we got to the second half, I was more invested and definitely had characters I favored and was rooting for.
Since the second half made up for the first half for me, I would give it 3.5 stars. It’s not my favorite of Ms Jewell’s, but it built up in a way that made you want to read more and invest more time, even if you didn’t care all that much about the characters at first. You HAD to know what was going to happen and how all the characters were going to connect with their stories in the end. The build up and connection of all the characters was done well and that’s what made the story work for me in the end.
I absolutely loved Invisible Girl — Lisa Jewell has a way of combining furiously twisty, utterly gripping plots with wonderfully rich characterisation — she has such compassion for her characters and we feel we know them utterly. To anyone who claims crime fiction is plot at the expense of character, I prescribe Lisa Jewell. A triumph!
Compelling and surprisingly moving — Lisa Jewell never lets you down.
Another masterpiece from a novelist whose grip on human nature in its flawed entirety never slips. Invisible Girl is gripping, disturbing and acutely observant; Jewell is an extremely special writer.
A breathtakingly brilliant novel by an author at the absolute top of her game.
Lisa Jewell is the kind of writer you read twice — once as a breathless reader to see how the story unfolds, and then again to see how she makes it look so easy.
Lisa Jewell’s latest book had me guessing until the end! Last fall I enjoyed reading her creepy The Family Upstairs, so it only seemed fitting that I read Invisible Girl this year. I’d be okay if it became an annual fall tradition!
Invisible Girl is full of deliciously unreliable characters masquerading as people who have their lives together. Jewell doesn’t shy away from the seedy, dark underbelly of toxic masculinity, but she also had me questioning everything, unsure if things were as they seemed. They very rarely are.
While this is more of a psychological mystery than a thriller, I still couldn’t stop turning pages. I read the second half in a few hours, unable to set it down. It’s hard to review without giving any spoilers away, but I LOVED that almost every character was unreliable.
Jewell always manages to create characters and settings that readers can step right into. It doesn’t take long to settle into the story. She also teases the reader with just the right amount of information to keep us reading. How does she do that??
There were a few minor things at the very end that felt like they tied up too conveniently, but I was okay with that. Another good one from Lisa Jewell, easily placing her in the must-read-author category for me.
Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the advanced reader’s copy!
She isn’t afraid of plunging an icy blade into her readers’ hearts whilst examining the cruel realities of the world.
A masterclass in character… A wonderful slow-burn gripper — I loved it.
Invisible Girl is full of tension and domestic drama in a posh London neighborhood. Many women in the are have experienced a string of recent sexual assaults. 17 year old Saffyre goes missing on Valentine’s Night leaving some of the community members wondering if her disappearance is linked to the other assaults. Police arrest Owen Pick for the disappearance, a 33 year old incel who was recently dismissed from his teaching position for inappropriate behaviors toward students.
Not everyone is convinced that Owen is the man responsible for Saffyre’s disappearance though.
Each character is flawed and holds many secrets. I was fully invested in the story and couldn’t put it down. Full of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.
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As our girl Aretha Franklin once said, “Who’s zooming’ who?”
This is the fascinating story of a sad, misunderstood 17 year old, an angsty misunderstood 33 year old virgin on forced leave from work who has no idea why everything he says lands wrong, and a family with secrets and more issues than a newsstand.
All collide together spectacularly in the Lisa Jewell-iest of ways.
I loved it.
Thank you to Lisa Jewell, Atria Books and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
While this story was a bit all over the place, I enjoy stories that have the tiniest links. I believe that this story was fractured and distorted all over the place because that is what the characters were, fractured and distorted. We never quite knew who the characters truly were.
This story kept me on the edge of my seat, so in my mind that is a solid 4 star rating.
Too much sick and twisted for me.
Well-crafted novel – compelling characters and a story you won’t put down.
I do like this writer, but this particular story really impressed me. The story itself is not mind-blowing – but the way Jewell navigates it keeps you hooked. The characters are all identifiable, the scenario realistic and the final wrap-up satisfying. A really good read.