A review by minimicropup
I Found You by Lisa Jewell

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Intricate. Admiring. Unreserved. 
 
We follow a cast of characters, mainly focused on a Ukrainian who moved to the UK after marrying their spouse, a single parent raising three kids in a small cottage, a person at a loss for memories drawn to the beach, and a protective teenage sibling on vacation with their family. 
🇬🇧 Set over the summer in the fictional seaside vacation town of Ridinghouse Bay, UK in the 1990s and current times (2010s). 
 
🎙️ Excellent narration. The narrator brings the story to life and it wasn’t difficult to discern all the characters. 
 
🐺🐕 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags: 
👌 Much of the suspense comes from figuring out the connection between the different times and characters. Impressively, it wasn't confusing, even with audio alone. It flowed well and connected in a natural and fascinating way to me. 

👍 This is definitely more of a character driven story, so if you hate them all or don’t care, it could be a slog. I loved it because they mysteries are subtle, evenly paced, and never boring - at any given time I was doubtful about a person while also feeling sympathetic toward them and that was refined as the story progressed. For example, wondering if someone was a reluctant hero or fugitive on the run. 
 
👌 Brilliantly descriptive, but not overly detailed writing with realistic dialogue and multifaceted characters that are all well developed. They are unique (not tropey) but also recognizable. 
 
🤷‍♀️ Amateur sleuthing is good, not overly contrived. Except at the end it started to get a bit restless for me. It took little turn where characters decided not to involve the police, there was some convenient journalism, and it’s not bad, it just broke the suspense and story for me a little bit.
 
😨 So for the most part I was thinking there was a juicy story here - did someone have a double life? Are they a jerk or really a sweetie? Lots of predictions along the way but the story took an unexpected turn at one point (to me). Without saying how or why, it led to a descriptive, disturbing attempted rape scene. Def check content warnings it was a tough read (or listen) but not gratuitous. 
 
Mood Reading Match Up: 
  • Contemporary fiction about uncovering the mystery of a character’s past due to amnesia/memory loss 
  • Mysterious stranger with a past romance 
  • Missing person, true crime energy with amateur sleuthing 
  • Seaside summer vibes 
 
Content Heads-Up: Physical abuse. Adult/minor relationship. Obsession. Kidnapping, confinement. Sexual content (consentual). Sexual assault, attempted rape (on page, descriptive). Murder. Death of a parent, death of a child. Amnesia, dissociative fugue, memory loss. Medical (heart attack). 
 
Format: Scribd Audio 
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