Lisa Jewell's writing keeps getting better and better. She did an excellent job with Invisible Girl. I went into it blind, not even bothering to read the description. I was immediately hooked from the first page. Each character was so well-written, and I thought Jewell particularly shined when writing from Saffyre's POV. Writing from the POV of a teenage girl is so difficult, and frequently their voices seem inauthentic to me. But Jewell nailed it. Saffyre was a wonderful character and so layered and nuanced.

Owen's character broke my heart, even when he was simultaneously frustrating me. I liked the evolution of his character. It was easy to visualize his particular kind of loneliness due to Jewell's excellent job at bringing him to life.

To me, each of Jewell's books is stronger than the one before, and this is no exception. I can't wait to see what she writes next!

I've been reading Lisa Jewell since the '90s and I always enjoy her characters and sense of setting. This book had a few missteps (some of the motivations of the man who dabbled in incel chat were glossed over) but all in all, I enjoyed the book. Saffyre was a fun character and I wish we had got to see more of her uncle who raised her. The character of the therapist was chilling yet realistic--so many men think they are "good guys" but are true villains.

Something terrible happened to Saffyre Maddox when she was 10 years old and she has never told anyone. 3 years of therapy with Roan Fours and she still has a fierce hold on her secret.

The story is told from alternating points of view -- Saffyre, Cate Fours (Roan's wife), and Owen Pick who lives across the street from the Fours family in an affluent area of London. This story has sexual abuse, adultery, scandal, and even touches on some dark net subculture terrorism...and somehow the author brings together so many seemingly random pieces with Saffyre emerging like a butterfly from a coccoon!

It was a bit of a slow start for me, and I almost quit reading it altogether after the chapter where Owen Pick's creepy character is fully developed...in fact there were a lot of creepy men and weak female characters in this book, that I might not normally mind, but in times of COVID I am having a hard time with "unsettling" books and unlikable characters.

However, I am so glad I persevered, and very little *spoiler alert* it doesn't get too much weirder for Owen, so keep reading. I thought it was more like a mystery or drama unfolding rather than a thriller, but I loved all the pieces and how Lisa Jewell unraveled the mess.

This was my first Lisa Jewell book, and I'm always happy to find a new-to-me author with a big backlist of titles to check out!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

Lisa Jewell's latest psychological thriller is a fast-paced novel full of family secrets, and misunderstandings. Like her previous novels, Invisible Girl is told from different points of view to give you just enough insight into what is happening, This novel is so hard to summarize because there are so many characters that seem unconnected, but of course they are. And when they all converge on Valentine's evening, a 17 year old girl goes missing.
Is Owen Pick, the 33 year old virgin responsible, as everyone believes?
Or, could it be related to the violent assaults happening to women on the streets near the abduction?
This novel has so many twists and turns, it will keep you up all night trying to connect the pieces. Another winner form an amazing author.

Lisa Jewell once again proves what a great storyteller she is with Invisible Girl. I was easily drawn into the lives of the Fours family and their odd neighbor Owen Pick. Women are being molested in the street by a person wearing a dark hoodie. The police bring in Owen despite his protests of innocence. The suspense builds as misdirections occurs. Who is the real culprit? A great mystery that deserves a five star rating.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Atria Books through NetGalley.The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#Invisible Girl #NetGalley

Another fantastic novel by Lisa Jewell. The Fours are coincidentally a family of four, who recently move to a new neighborhood. While they settle into a new routine, sexual attacks continue to occur close to their new house.
Their obvious suspect is the creepy neighborhood across the street, but when an old patient of Mr. Four reappears in their life, it takes them on a whole new chase.

Hard to put down and satisfying until the end.
Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary advance reader copy of this book in return for review based upon my honest opinion.

This author is one of my favourite authors, I really enjoy her books. That being said, this wasn’t my favourite book of hers, I just felt it wasn’t quite as good as her books usually are. This book is told in the voice of three main characters, Owen, Cate and Saffyre as we follow the story of a quiet neighbourhood where there is a series of assaults taking place, culminating in the disappearance of Saffyre. There were lots of twists and turns, and I enjoyed the way the story unfolded and the ending was great.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell and this was an absolute thrill and a page-turner from start to finish. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up right away. Just clear your schedule!

Invisible Girl has all the things that make for a good mystery, while also being well written and full of interesting characters. In her usual style, Jewell has several characters narrate alternating characters.

Saffyre Maddox is a teenager who has had a rough run in her young life – a history of loss and abuse and struggling to reveal the truth even to her therapist, Roan Four. When Roan decides to terminate her sessions, saying that she has made enough progress, she slowly begins to unravel and eventually ends up missing.
As we alternate between narrators, we soon learn that Roan is not as wholesome and perfect as he tries to appear. His wife, Cate, suspects he had an affair, which he denies and his two teenage children seem to suffer from the typical self-absorption of privileged teens.

Across the street from the apartment the Fours family is temporarily renting, Owen Pick lives in his Aunt’s apartment in an unkempt building. Pick is an odd, socially, awkward loner who is accused of involvement in Saffyre’s disappearance.

The one thing about Jewell’s novels, is that things always end up working out in the end. Rarely is anyone mortally wounded and maybe that is part of what I enjoy about these books – that the characters are flawed humans, but are rarely evil.

My Thoughts
I’m a fan of Lisa Jewell and I plan to read all of her books at some point. There is just something about her stories that draw me in and I think each new book gets better and better! So, I was excited to get approved for an ARC of her new novel on NetGalley. Here are my pros and cons for Invisible Girl:

Pros

1. Like some of Jewell’s other novels, this story is told from multiple points of view – Owen, Saffyre, and Cate. What makes this format interesting in this particular story is that the different POVs serve to highlight prejudices people have, and how different people can witness the exact same thing but interpret it entirely differently.
2. This is a slow burn novel, but the pacing was actually ideal. Not a lot was really happening in the story for quite a while. We, as readers, are observing the lives of three people for the first half of the novel. We are learning about their habits, their families, their issues, their needs, their faults, and their thoughts. All of this foundational information is very important and the pacing really picks up when their lives’ are forced to intersect. I actually took a note while reading this book that even the chapters start to change as the story picks up speed. The book starts with longer, lingering chapters, but as the story progresses the chapters get shorter and more abrupt as they switch quickly from POV to POV. It almost felt like the first half of the book was the slow climb on a rollercoaster to the top of the first fall! The tension in the story was definitely building to a crescendo!
3. Owen Pick is an inexperienced, pitiable, misunderstood, and wretched character. He is quite complex and I thought he was very well-written. You will get frustrated by him and feel a bit sorry for him in equal measure. His backstory is heartbreaking.
4. Saffyre is also a well-written character with a lot of complex issues. I got pretty frustrated with some of her actions and decisions, but her backstory helped me to understand more about what she does and why she does it.
5. All of our POVs suffer from the same thing – they all want to be seen, understood, loved, and valued. It was interesting to watch how each of them uniquely tried to satisfy that need.
6. I thought this story had some good lessons. First, be careful what kind of things you get involved with, particularly on the internet. Second, don’t pretend to be something you aren’t just to “fit in”. Third, it probably isn’t smart to get so drunk that you blackout or lose your memory about things you may or may not have done, particularly if you have been previously accused of improper conduct. Fourth, be careful about jumping to conclusions or making rash judgments about people just because they are different from you.
7. This book includes some scenes of sexual abuse, but Jewell always handles those situations delicately and I appreciate that. I’ve stated previously that I think it is an art to write about violence and psychologically traumatic experiences without being gratuitous or graphic. Jewell always handles these scenes well.
8. The ending has a tiny little twist – if you blink you’ll miss it! Overall, the ending was very satisfying.

Cons
None.

Summary
I really like Lisa Jewell’s books. She writes contemporary stories that are compelling and captivating… and this book is no exception! I definitely recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a free eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I generally enjoy books by Lisa Jewell and this was no exception. I loved how the story played out, how each event linked to another. And I was happy that the ending wasn't what I expected. It had a "happy" ending of sorts and you don't always get that with her novels.

Well written characters and plotted story. Definitely recommend for anyone who likes thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a fast-paced book about a community with secrets. Sexual assaults begin happening around town, and chaos ensues as everyone tries to figure out who’s behind them. How much do we really know our neighbors, or even our loved ones? Excellent!

I love Lisa Jewell, and this didn’t disappoint. Not my favorite of her recent thrillers as I had a bit of trouble with the “incel” storyline. Still - never a waste of time to read her work.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel for my honest review.

I am new to Lisa Jewell as this is only my second of her books. I am glad to have been introduced to her through Netgalley so I can go back and add her complete library to my already ridiculous TBR list.

This book confused me a little at first because there were so many points of view and I didn't know how these would all come together into a cohesive story. They did though and at one point I was convinced I knew the obvious end. I was wrong so that was great! I like to be surprised.

Great character development and story had me reading through this quickly to find out what had happened and what was going to happen. Highly recommend for all the thriller and mystery lovers out there!

I finished this book a few weeks ago, but decided to sit with it for a while before writing a review. Invisible Girl is about the Fours family, their creepy neighbor Owen, and a teenage girl named Saffyre who was once a patient of the dad, Roan Fours. Listen. This book is very readable. There's a couple of times you'll think you've figured out what's happening, only to be surprised by the twist. That's fun. What isn't at all necessary in the world we live in today is writing a sympathetic incel character. Poor misunderstood incels, Owen isn't that bad! They are actually quite wonderful people if you'll only give them a chance! Whatever. There's no reason to try so hard to humanize the incel and mra crowd and although it is just one subplot of many, it really turned me off this whole book.

“My superpower was invisibility.”

Invisible Girl is a dark mystery/psychological thriller/domestic drama/character study about the masks people wear and what happens when their true selves are exposed.

A young girl, trying to cope with a childhood trauma, goes missing without a trace. The man who tried helping her is not who he seems to be. The family she has become obsessed with and the creepy neighbor across the street wrongly accused of a crime are all linked to her disappearance. All of their lives are linked together in ways that go beyond the norm, by a crime that will change all of their lives permanently.

Cate, married to Roan, plays the role of the devoted wife with her head in the sand.

Saffyre is a 17-year-old girl in high school playing the role of a strong student and popular girl.

Owen hiding his incel (involuntary celibate) tendencies from the world is trying to play the role of a normal man. I didn’t know much about incels before reading this and found this storyline to be fascinating in a very creepy way.

The narrative alternates between Cate, Saffyre, and Owen. I enjoyed Saffyre’s chapters the most. It was hard to read about what she has experienced, but at the same time, her character was the one I felt the most sympathy for. These characters are lonely and suffering in states of despair. Past traumas leave them wounded and searching for connections. All share the desire to truly be seen.

As always, Lisa Jewell crafts her stories and characters in a way that enthralls me. Jewell’s characterization is the strength of Invisible Girl. The dark and twisted mystery also doesn't hurt! The emotions of these characters resonate off the pages: everything from their fear to their hatred to their desire to be loved shines through. I read this in just over a day; I could not put it down!

Of course, being me, I had to have a few issues with this book! Parts of the plot were a little muddled, but all threads came together in the end. I didn’t buy one character’s transformation; it happened a little too quickly and easily. I also found the ending to be a bit predictable, but I loved the last little final twist! Of course, none of these issues really mattered in the end as they did not detract from my enjoyment of this book. Overall, Invisible Girl is another captivating read by Jewell!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Jewell does not disappoint with her latest book.
Owen Pick is a bit strange. He is a geography teacher- still single, living in his aunt’s apartment since he was 18.
Across the street is the Fours family. Mom, Cate is a part time physiotherapist. Dad, Roan, is a child psychologist and had some difficult cases over the years- including Saffyre Maddox.
Saffyre has a very troubled past that she never quite uncovered with Roan in their years of sessions. She has a slight obsession with Roan and rough home life. When Saffyre goes missing - authorities go to Owen Pick- the last person to see her.
Lots of twists and turns to find out the truth...

The moral of this book seems to be- don't go looking for monsters as they may be closer than you think. This book seems rather timely in an age where everyone judges each other on the internet, posting nonsense and jumping to rash conclusions about things they really know nothing about. For those that have learned how to play the game, they fit in, for others, they are labeled creepy, weird, and get pushed farther inside their own thoughts thus making them even creepier and weirder. Overall, an interesting book.

When 17-year old Saffyre Maddox disappears police quickly gone in one suspect, Owen Pick. He fits the full-size 33-year old bachelor who was recently accused of misconduct by two of his college students. He's a loner and a little weird and was probably the last person to see Saffyre that Valentine's Day. His neighbors across the street believe the police have their man, and Care Four is relieved. After all, Saffyre was a former patient of her husband, a child psychologist. This is a slow-burning thriller with layers of history and plenty of suspicion cast around. The Invisible Girl is equal parts an exploration of a family and a marriage, police procedural, and exposition of the incel movement. Definitely a unique combination, but it works. Themes of child sexual abuse and sexual assault may be unappealing to some readers.

Lisa Jewell’s novels follow the property developer’s mantra - Location, Location, Location. For Invisible Girl it is one of my favourite neighbourhoods in London, Hampstead, near Belsize Park, where some three decades ago I had the good fortune to be spending spring break visiting a friend. Most appropriately, she was sharing a flat with a psychoanalyst. Alternating sections are told by Cate, mother of two teenagers and wife of Roan Fours, a 50ish child psychologist; Owen Pick, a 30 something college lecturer who has never had a date, who lives opposite the Fours family; and Saffyre Maddox, a mixed-race fifteen-year-old who had been treated by Roan for self-harm. The first two characters’ stories are told in free indirect third person; Saffyre speaks in first person. The differing POVs confuse the reader because Saffyre is on a different timeline, with about a six-week lag.

Saffyfre seems fixated on her former therapist and shadows (stalks would be to strong) Roan, convinced he is having an affair with one of his colleagues, a younger woman named Alicia. Saffyre has taken to sleeping rough in the derelict garden outside the house where Owen lives. She befriends Josh Fours, as well as an urban fox. And on Valentine’s night, she is reported missing and the principal suspect is Owen Pick. He has just been sacked from the college for getting drunk at an end of term disco where he is supposed to have: ‘Splattered the girls with the sweat from [his] forehead. They all attest that it was a deliberate action and that you did it more than once when asked by the girls to stop.’ (We are not told how Owen was supposed to have done it – I can’t imagine.)

Worse, Owen found his way to an ‘Incel’ site online. This group actually exists and has been responsible for multiple murders. The term is supposed to mean ‘involuntarily celibate’ (they mean ‘abstinent’ but few people these days know that ‘celibate’ means ‘unmarried’ - Latin coelbs is a bachelor). In the old days I couldn’t imagine men who would advertise their lack of amatory success online, much less want to murder women they blame for this condition. Why don’t they seek professional assistance instead? Not only does Owen post some ‘rants’ online; he meets a shifty character named Bryn who gives him ‘roofies’ which Owen hides in the usual place, the back of the sock drawer. When Saffyre is reported missing and what is supposed to be blood found on the outer wall of the house Owen lives in, along with her mobile phone cover in the garden. Owen is arrested and charged with abducting Saffyre.

Whilst Owen is in jail being interrogated relentlessly by detectives, Saffyre (on an earlier timeline) befriends Roan’s son Josh and enlists him in a quest to find an attempted rapist who seems to be preying on girls in the area, and whom she thinks may be the same person who molested her sexually when she was ten. Meanwhile Cate vacillates between suspecting Roan and apparently being convinced her suspicions are unfounded. So, we have three questions Lisa Jewell has posed for us. Who is the mysterious person attacking women? What is going on with Cate and Roan’s marriage? And what happened to Saffyre and is Owen responsible?

As we expect of Lisa Jewell, the denouement answers all these questions neatly, tying the different plot lines into a tidy package containing a satisfying conclusion. But I must confess a major reservation. Most of us keen readers, and sometimes writers ourselves, of crime fiction think we are criminal law experts. I am very often appalled in novels at how often characters are arrested on the flimsiest of grounds, and such is the case with Own’s being arrested and charged with abducting (and presumably murdering) Saffyre. Though she’s missing from her uncle’s home, the police have no evidence of a crime. Though they tell Own it was her blood on the wall, we are told nothing about DNA evidence and as I believe results in Britain can take weeks, what grounds did they have for arresting Owen? His solicitor very remiss on that, as well as with other ‘evidence’ that proves nothing. I began to wonder if the police are reading my reviews. With Then She Was Gone I criticised the cops for being extraordinarily lax in their search for Ellie; they seem to have learned their lesson and this time they descend on Owen like the chorus of Furies in Aeschylus.

But despite some scepticism with the police procedures, I found Invisible Girl a most engaging combination of setting, characterisation, and plot that readers of Lisa Jewell will enjoy.

This review is up on Goodreads as well as at Billkupersmith.blog/1107. I will add a review on Amazon.com when the book is actually published.