While others have said this book is slow, I didn’t feel the way. Maybe it’s because I read along with the audiobook (which was very well done), but I was interested right from the beginning in the plot. Sapphyre’s storyline was particularly interesting, given her complicated relationship with her therapist, Roan Fours. I wasn’t very interested in his wife’s story arc, although she was definitely a good reflective character — only through knowing her could we see how awful Roan is. Owen’s storyline was my least favourite. It felt like Jewell wanted us to be sympathetic toward him and hate him at the same time. This, combined with his all too convenient bouts of memory loss, tried to paint him as an unreliable narrator, but it was just ineffective. I knew I could *trust* what he was saying while still having a distaste for his character, and his relevance to the plot was not strong enough to warrant everything we had to learn about his weird behaviour. Regardless of Owen, I still did like the plot and I plowed through the story. I loved Sapphyre and connected with her, so I obviously wanted to know what happened to her. It would have been a four star read for me, but the ending left me boggled. What was the point in including all these other characters when the murderer was the person she was hunting the entire time anyway? It takes all the fun out of a mystery. Three stars for Sapphyre but not for much else.

Owen Pick is a thirty-year-old man who lives with his aunt and has never had a romantic relationship. One day, he was accused of sexual assaulting and behaving inappropriately with some of his students, but he denies it and he left his job. Owen lives across the street from Cate and Roan Fours and their two teenage children. Roan is a child psychologist. On Valentine’s Day, Saffyre Maddox, one of Roan’s patients, goes missing. She was last seen alive by Owen outside of Roan and Cate’s home, making him their prime suspect. All signs point to Owen having something to do with Saffyre’s disappearance, but is he guilty?

Lisa Jewell’s books have a unique thriller layout. The main crime or incident of the thriller doesn’t happen until a few chapters into the story. The first part introduces the characters living their day to day lives. Most thrillers begin with the crime or inciting incident hooking the reader into the story. Though the main incident doesn’t happen for a few chapters, the characters all seem guilty and suspicious of something. They each seem to be hiding a dark secret. With this layout, the reader can get to know the characters before the main incident happens.

I was surprised at the ending. I was sure that all signed pointed to one character, but I didn’t guess correctly. It was a complicated ending, involving a few different parts. When I read a thriller, I prefer a clear, final ending, so this ending didn’t satisfy me.

Though I didn’t really like the ending, I enjoyed reading this twisty thriller.

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Something terrible happened to Saffyre Maddox when she was 10 years old, which has caused her to begin hurting herself. She is sent to a child psychologist named Roan. Saffyre is abruptly released from his care before she feels ready. Years after being released, she goes missing and a local man is accused of her kidnapping. At the same time, a string of sexual attacks have been occurring in the neighbourhood, leaving everyone on edge.

I really liked all three of the POVs we got chapters from. I felt bad for Cate, Roan's wife, he was a shitty husband and just made me angry. Owen, the local man accused of her disappearance, was depressing to read about... Some people say they feel bad for him, but many of the decisions he made were idiotic and infuriated me, which made me not care much for his story. Saffyre was by far my favourite POV, as it took place further in the past then the other two. I liked trying to piece her story together as I was reading. I did like how all of the stories came together in the end. I flew through this book in two days, it was very addictive and an easy read. I thought I had this story figured out about half way through. I am glad to announce that in the end I was wrong, which made me enjoy the story more.

I had a lot of fun with this one, so definitely recommend for a quick read!

INVISIBLE GIRL is another awesome entertaining thriller by Lisa Jewell. I enjoyed the intricate plot and all the twists and turns. The story had a great flow and brought everything together in the end. I like how Lisa Jewell ended the book with another wicked possibility. If you are a fan of Gone Girl or The Woman in the Window, you will enjoy this intelligent thriller. Great read!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Atria and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review. I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell from what I've read, she's a great storyteller. While this book had her typical fantastic writing, the story fell a little short for me.

While I loved the writing, the story she created and the world she built, I found the storyline boring and quite anticlimactic. This book takes us through 3 different POV's - Saffyre, Owen and Cate - who are all connected in some way or another and all contribute to the unfortunate events that conspire. This book was quite character driven, taking you through step by step of each character actions and decisions that lead us through the 'thrills and twists' of this book. This wasn't really a keep you on the edge of your seat thriller, it was more of a twisty mind game thriller, which I'm thinking aren't my favourite - but I can definitely see how others would very much enjoy this book. It's quick, enjoyable read nonetheless, it's out now so go grab your copy!

Teenager Saffyre Maddox begins to follow her former therapist, Roan, and his family. Across the street from Roan’s family lives Owen Pick whose life is falling apart after he’s accused of sexual misconduct at work. When Saffyre goes missing on their street Owen becomes the most likely suspect. Is Owen to blame or has Saffyre’s snooping uncovered secrets from other people in the neighbourhood and what has really happened to Saffyre?

Truthfully, I didn’t love this one. It wasn’t bad by any means, (I mean it’s a Lisa Jewell book so it’s never going to be terrible) but it just fell a little flat for me.

I did enjoy the alternate perspectives told over multiple chapters, but I didn’t really like any of those main characters so I found it hard to be fully engaged in the story. I did however love the character of Josh, Roan and Cate’s teenage son and felt that he was the definite highlight of the book for me. I found some parts near the end to be quite far fetched too which is a bit of a book turn off for me.

I didn’t dislike it but I’m normally a massive fan of Lisa Jewell‘s writing so I think my expectations were maybe just too high for this one.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Jewell is one of my faves and I devoured her latest psychological mystery, The Invisible Girl. Thank you to my friends @simonschusterca and @netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Lisa Jewell’s writing style always drags me in from page one and this book is no exception. It’s well written, dark, creepy and thought provoking. Told through multiple perspectives, it tackles trauma, manipulation, sexual assault and brings light to the dangerous world of incels.

With multiple perspectives, you’re sometimes left wanting to know more from certain characters and that was the case for me with Saffyre. I wanted more of her and less of Claire. But as always, Jewell does a great job at creating different voices, stories and having them come together in a way that makes sense.

This is more of a psychological mystery than a traditional thriller. I recommend it for fans of Jewell and readers who like to explore the psychology behind the monsters that can live right next door. Is it too soon to be waiting for her next book

Lisa Jewell's novels are always a great choice! This one has so many unique, quirky characters that really had me invested in the story!

The Fours family- Roan (a child psychologist), Cate, and their two teenage children,-has recently moved to a new suburban neighbourhood while their house is under repair. Across the street is 30-something Owen Pick, a socially awkward college instructor who has just been accused of sexually harassing students at a Christmas party. Sapphire Maddox is a teenage girl who is a former patient of Roan. She has become obsessed with him and his family. When she goes missing on Valentine's day, and Owen was the last to see her, the entire community is seemingly involved and secrets and connections come out as the police work to find her!

I loved this book! I was completely absorbed and could not put it down! It is a very intricate story about a community and how our behaviours can have implications on so many others. Lisa Jewell obviously took a lot of careful attention to detail to make each of the plot lines fit together so well. The characters are each very interesting, many are flawed and untrustworthy, but there are also good hearted, honest characters to root for! It is very twisty and surprising, with a strong ending!

Though dark and disturbing at times, this story also has elements of a family drama. It touches on grief, growing up and moving on. With Owen's conviction, and a string of unsolved attacks in the area, there are frequent incidents of sexual harassment. I found that the story doesn't go into any graphic detail, but the language may be triggering for some. The toxic masculinity is prominent in this story! However, there is also a strong undercurrent of feminism, and there is one particular scene near the end about what that means that I just loved!

Overall, I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell's writing and highly recommend Invisible Girl! I love her British style, clever twists, and irony that even had me laughing out loud at one point!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Jewell is the successful British author of many best-selling psychological thrillers including "Then She Was Gone", "The Family Upstairs" and "Watching You". This newest release involves a London neighbourhood that has had a series of sexual assaults. When a 17-year-old girl (Saffyre) goes missing, the local loner (a 33 year old male teacher recently charged with sexual harassment at his school by two female students) is under suspicion. In alternate chapters we follow Saffyre as she deals with past events in her life. As the investigation into her disappearance continues, many secrets are revealed about the families. Although this is not a book that will change your life or even educate you, it is a fun read that will entertain you and will appeal to fans of the genre.

Invisible Girl reminds us that those who give us the creeps can be right in our own neighborhoods.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for my eARC for review!
Lisa Jewell's latest offering is a character-centered, slow-burn thriller and quite unique.
I went into this book blindly, as Lisa Jewell is an auto-read author for me.
The story is told through three characters in slightly differing timelines - Cate, the wife of therapist and adulterer Roan; teenager Saffyre Maddox, a former patient of Roan's; and Owen Pick, a teacher who identifies as an "incel" - an involuntary celibate.
When Saffyre goes missing, each character's story strips away the layers of her fate and who is involved.
Invisible Girl has secrets to reveal right to the end.
Regardless of the slower pace of the suspense, it's a definite page-turner. Recommended!
For release on Oct. 13, 2020.

This book was very gripping and I wanted to know what was going to happen so bad that I read this in one day! Saffyre is a young woman that experiences a trauma when she is very young, and she copes with that trauma in a very unhealthy way. She starts to see a therapist, but when that therapist thinks that she is all better and no longer needs to see him anymore, she starts to spiral a bit. I really liked Saffyre's character and thought her portions of the book creepy and eerie.
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Another character is Cate, who is married to Saffyre's therapist. She is a psychotherapist and housewife, who also believes that her husband may be cheating on her. There is something about Cate and her relationship to her husband that the reader does not know, so I wanted to keep reading to find out what that was.
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And then there is Owen Pick, who is suspended from his teaching job for his inappropriateness towards some of the female students. There was something about Owen that was very creepy, which was the authors intentions! When Saffyre goes missing, we as readers immediately think of Owen, which is great writing.
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Overall a complex book that will make you want to keep reading!
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CW: self-harm and sexual assault.

Lisa Jewell does it again! I absolutely loved Invisible Girl!! (Be aware - this book has a whole lot of trigger warnings!)

This book has a strong set of interesting, flawed and very intriguing characters - each adding to the story in short, alternating chapters. We have a very sad and misunderstood 17 year old girl, a 33 year old man who has all the crap cards dealt his way, a psychologist (17 yr old is a former patient), his wife and their two teenage children.

The storyline has all the twists I crave in a thriller and definitely keeps you guessing! I thought the character development throughout was excellent and the ending was very satisfying.... I would absolutely recommend!!

Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for my review copy!

Okay, Lisa Jewell, you’ve done it again. She is the master of the last word, the planter of the big reveal, even when you think the story is over, she sneaks in one last gotcha moment that makes you rethink everything you’ve just read. She did that with my favorite novel of hers WATCHING YOU and she (may) have done it here. I have to admit, it’s satisfyingly frustrating when an author does that. Builds up a story, you reach the climax and it concludes. Or does it? You never know with Lisa Jewell, she definitely knows how to keep you on your toes!

The lives of a small town neighborhood intersect when a young women disappears. Saffyre Maddox has vanished. No one has seen her for days. The police go to her last known whereabouts, a neighborhood that has plenty of unusual suspects. Owen Pick lives on that street, a bit of a loner, who lives with his aunt and the last person to see her alive. The Fours family live across the street from Owen and coincidentally, Rowan Fours used to be Saffyre’s therapist. As the chapters alternate between past and present, you learn that Saffyre had plenty of people who wanted her to disappear.

Owen Pick is an oddball guy in his 30s who lives with his aunt and has never had sex. Women just never seemed attracted to him and he doesn’t know why. So when Owen is accused of inappropriate behaviour with some students at a school Christmas party where he teaches, Owen begins searching online for support. He finds the incel (involuntarily celibate) community and begins chatting online about the harms done to him by some young girls. Around the same time a number of sexual assaults are occurring and a young woman goes missing near his home. Owen becomes suspect number one. But don’t worry there are other people acting suspiciously and it isn’t long before the reader is questioning other characters. Does that mean that Owen is innocent? Not exactly and you’ll have to read the book to find out.

I am a fan of Lisa Jewell’s and particularly enjoyed her novel Then She was Gone and more recently The Family Upstairs so when I heard a new book was being released I had to get my hands on it.

I really enjoyed the way Jewell has tackled toxic masculinity in this story. It wasn’t a simple whodunit by any means. Most of the characters felt real to me but I can’t say I liked any of them. The pacing was a little slower than I usually would prefer but I don’t hold that against a book that offers me some exciting twists in return. Unfortunately this book fell a bit flat for me. There was no climax and while the book had a strong message about how women are perceived and treated versus how they should be considered, it wasn’t enough for me to give this one all the stars. I’m still a fan and will continue to read this author’s work thinking this one is just a blip on an otherwise clear radar.

I should note that many people have given this one high praise it just was not for me. Thank you to @atriabooks for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book publishes October 13, 2020.

I love Lisa Jewels books. She is an auto buy author for me. However, this thriller fell flat for me. The big reveal was completely disappointing and left me wondering why I even bothered reading this or even why this a book. I was completely frustrated and disappointed I finished this book.

Invsible Girl is a psychological thriller that keeps you reading through all of its twists and turns.The story is told from three persepectives,Saffyre,a seventeen year old girl, Owen , a 33 year old misfit neighbour, and Cate the wife of a child Psychologist.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Owen, Saffyre, and the Four family all have their secrets and traumas. The story is told from different but connected perspectives and they all intertwine to paint the picture the author wants you to see.

This book zero’s in on the fact that we all have our skeletons in the closet. How well do you truly know anyone? How much of yourself do you actually share with those around you? Can looks really be deceiving or are people exactly what they seem to be?

I really enjoyed this story. It was a page turner and kept me guessing to the very last page. This is only my second Lisa Jewell book but I’ll be sure to read some more.

Invisible Girl Review

I’m pretty sure that every single time I read a new Lisa Jewell book, I finish it and think, that one is DEFINITELY my favourite. This one was no different in leaving me feeling breathless. The writing is superb and fast paced. The story flows nice and fast and the chapters are a perfect length. I loved the 3 narratives, they were great choices for us to follow. If you haven’t picked this one up, you need to ASAP!

SYNOPSIS:

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.

Roan is Saffyre’s therapist, and when he ends their sessions she feels her care has been terminated before she was ready. She begins to explore his personal life - his family and his secrets. And then she goes missing. Meanwhile, Owen - the misunderstood man who lives across the street from Roan’s family - is arrested for the disappearance. Roan’s wife, Cate, is certain something isn’t right with her family, and questions her son’s and her husbands actions.
If you’re a fan of Lisa Jewell (like I am) you’ll be happy to know she’s done it again! Family secrets and family dynamics are at the core of this novel - as it dives into Owen’s, Saffyre’s and Cate’s dark and deeply personal struggles. In a similar style to her previous novels, it is told from the perspective of multiple characters and is full of suspense and mystery. It is much longer in length than previous books - all the more to enjoy as it didn’t get dull at any point and reads at a steady pace. As a caution to readers there is some content that may be sensitive to some. A page turner much enjoyed!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the review copy! I really enjoyed Lisa Jewell's newest release. I found it to be just the right amount of spooky. The mystery was complex enough that I wasn't able to predict the ending and the writing, as always, was spot on! I don't think this is my favourite Lisa Jewell book that I've read (And Then She Was Gone is still my #1) but this one was still very enjoyable.