Reviews with content warning for Rape - Invisible Girl

3.5 stars (which seems to be my average rating for anything these days).

This is a weird one. I really enjoyed the book. Gripping from the start, really enjoyed the characters (which is more than I can say about the last Jewell novel I read – The Night She Disappeared) and the ending wasn't easy to guess. But like every other Jewell novel I have read, we have massive plot holes, or as Jewell calls them in her acknowledgements: bloopers.

Authors, we've got to get it together a bit more these days. Churning out a book every year is amazing, but not at the expense of quality and plot holes. There is one huge question and method as to how to discover this mystery and it could have prevented all of this from happening. If Jewell had tied that together I would have been much much more convinced.

That being said, I liked the flow of this novel. Although the dual POV and the switching up of narration POV was confusing at times, I got into the rhythm. Although Owen Pick was questionable at best, I did enjoy his chapters and reading about his weird and twisted insight into the world. He has this baby-faced evilness about him which I don't think I've read about before in a book.

I wish we got to go a little more into the psyche of Cate and Roan, and maybe even Georgia, but I enjoyed being in their home as they went about their day. Overall, it was a gripping mystery that is worth a read even for the entertainment of trying to figure out whodunnit.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
World-building: 6.5/10
Pace: 7/10
Writing: 7/10
Diversity: 6/10
Ending: 5/10
Enjoyment: 8/10

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chapters_and_pages's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really thought this was going to be a five star read for me, but unfortunately it just fell a little short.

Invisible Girl follows three perspectives. Owen, a man who has just been accused of sexual misconduct by his female students and stumbles into the dark world of incel forums. Cate, a physiotherapist who lives across from Owen with her psychologist husband, Roan, and their two teenage children. And Saffyre, a teenage and former patient of Roan’s, who suddenly goes missing on Owen and Cate’s street.

I really enjoy Lisa Jewell’s books, they are fast paced, and I often find myself unable to put them down. I wasn’t a fan of how Saffyre’s first chapter was written, it felt a little too much like something a child would do to begin a story, however after this chapter, I didn’t have any more problems with the writing.

In terms of characters, I think I probably found Owen the most interesting. Cate and Saffyre were fairly similar to characters I’ve read a hundred times over, however Owen’s incel storyline isn’t anything I’ve seen in books before and I found that it really added a unique element to a story that may have otherwise been told plenty of times before.

The main thing that really brought this book down to four stars for me was the ending. It felt very rushed, underwhelming and unrealistic. Between Saffyre’s whereabouts, the revelation of the identity of the man attacking women and Owen’s rehabilitation, it just didn’t seem the most realistic ending, and left me feeling a little disappointed.

I did, however, like Owen’s ending, despite the fact that it was fairly unrealistic. After being wrongly charged with the kidnapping of a teenage girl, to see Owen realise the path he was going down and take the necessary steps to better himself and his attitude towards women, getting his job back, and entering a new relationship was a really nice ending for him, especially as rehabilitation for incels is fairly uncommon in media.

Also, the identity of the attacker fell a little flat for me. I won’t say anything specific but I think it would’ve had a bigger impact if it had been someone else.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading my next Lisa Jewell book.

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