About the Book:
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).
“It’s him. My heart starts pounding beneath my ribs, pumping blood through my body so hard and fast that I can feel the cut on my leg begin to throb. I pull back, into the shadows, and wait for the man to pass. He turns the corner, and I see his body language change as he sees the woman ahead. I recognize the shape of him, the angles of his body, and I know exactly what he is planning to do. I move from my hiding place in the shadows. I stride out, toward the man, toward danger, my actions my own but my fate left wide-open.”
What an opener! ‘Invisible Girl’ is another fabulous Lisa Jewell thriller. No one delves quite as deep into the intricacies of marriage and domestic life like this author.
As always, Jewell caught me off-guard with the casual way she weaves discontent into the fabric of her story. Three families are at the center of this absorbing story and other than being neighbors, they could not possibly have less in common. Cate is the hovering and protective mother of two teenagers and wife to therapist Roan. She is itching to get back to work but wants to be home for her children, who are both on the edge of young adulthood. She seems to have the perfect marriage, but are her suspicions about her husband grounded in reality or are they unfounded? The author skillfully leads the reader down a surprising path as Cate’s imagination seems to be playing tricks on her.
Owen is the creepy neighbor who doesn’t fit in and just cannot relate on a normal level with women. Rather than make him a caricature, the author takes her time to develop his character so that the reader really cares about Owen, or at least can sympathize a little with his sad lot in life.
Saffyre is the troubled young girl who is the title character. She is determined to track down the person responsible for the recent sexual assaults in her neighborhood. This memorable cast of characters makes for an incredibly engrossing page-turner that once again caught me off guard in the end. ‘Invisible Girl’ is trademark Lisa Jewell, and the conclusion was incredibly satisfying!
“Nothing is perfect. Even this house, she thinks, her eyes casting about the clean lines of it, is not perfect. Even now, she sees, in this newly plastered and painted room, that there is a large crack running from the point where the corners meet. And the builders only left yesterday. Nothing can ever be perfect. And that’s fine.”
I received a copy of this book from Atria Books in return for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive compensation at no cost to you.
Giveaway:
Enter to win a hardback copy of INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell!!
