Owen Pick’s life is falling apart.
In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.
Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.
Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.
With evocative, vivid, and unputdownable prose and plenty of disturbing twists and turns, Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author). ~taken from Goodreads
In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.
Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.
Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.
With evocative, vivid, and unputdownable prose and plenty of disturbing twists and turns, Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author). ~taken from Goodreads
Lisa Jewell has become my favorite author in recent years. I have read and loved all her thrillers. She just has a way of writing that I truly love and look forward to. Here's a quick link reference to all her novels I have reviewed:
I was so excited to be able to read and review the eARC of her latest novel, "Invisible Girl". The premise sounded interesting and original. I was thrilled to start reading. My thrill soon faded. I hate to even say it, but this was a 3 star read for me.
I felt like there was something missing. The whole story seemed a bit odd and it made me feel displaced from beginning to end. So many weird and shady characters, it all felt haphazard. I kept reading, not because I genuinely wanted to know what happened to Saffyre, but to see how all this mess could possibly come together neatly.
This is told through alternating points of views, a narrative I usually like because it allows the reader to see the mystery from all perspectives. But the way this was done was so choppy it took away from the story. I had to think hard about where we last left the character. I had to stop and think how it related to the character who's chapter I had just read. It was exhausting.
This book is filled with the "dark" side of life. Sexual assault, self harm, infidelity, prejudice, misogyny, and mental illness. I applaud Jewell for bringing all these topics into a modern novel to shed light on hard subjects.
The ending seemed rushed and although I went back to read the end twice, it still feels like something was missing. It felt like from beginning to end the line was just straight and flat. No ups and downs, no thrilling revelations or twists. I just can't call this a thriller in any way, shape or form.
Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for allowing me an advanced ecopy to read and give my honest review. Despite my 3 stars for this read, I am excited to read what Lisa Jewell puts out next!
"Invisible Girl" is due to be released here in the U.S. on Oct 13, 2020 so pre-order now!
Happy Reading!
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