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A review by carolinerd
Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I love a Lisa Jewell thriller. I always devour her books in no time at all and this was no exception. It was very hard to put down.
The plot revolves around the disappearance of a young woman after a spate of sexual assaults in the Hampstead area. The story is told from the point of view of three main characters. Saffyre is 17 years old, traumatized by something awful that happened to her when she was 10. She self-harms, undergoes counselling and becomes obsessed with her therapist. Owen is a 33 year old loner who has never had a girlfriend. He gets accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour and suspended from his teaching job. Then there is Cate, a mother of two teenage kids, whose marriage has been through a crisis due to her suspicions about her husband's behaviour. As usual with a Lisa Jewell novel, we gradually discover how these people are connected and the storylines come together in an intriguing way.
You can expect the usual mix of unhinged, messed-up characters, damaged teenagers, adulterous adults, baddies who seem almost a bit too bad to be believable and people with dark secrets hiding behind a mask of middle class respectability. It also delves into the murky world of toxic masculinity and the 'incel' community, which is pretty disturbing.
A compelling read with lots of neat twists, but I felt the ending could have been stronger.
The plot revolves around the disappearance of a young woman after a spate of sexual assaults in the Hampstead area. The story is told from the point of view of three main characters. Saffyre is 17 years old, traumatized by something awful that happened to her when she was 10. She self-harms, undergoes counselling and becomes obsessed with her therapist. Owen is a 33 year old loner who has never had a girlfriend. He gets accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour and suspended from his teaching job. Then there is Cate, a mother of two teenage kids, whose marriage has been through a crisis due to her suspicions about her husband's behaviour. As usual with a Lisa Jewell novel, we gradually discover how these people are connected and the storylines come together in an intriguing way.
You can expect the usual mix of unhinged, messed-up characters, damaged teenagers, adulterous adults, baddies who seem almost a bit too bad to be believable and people with dark secrets hiding behind a mask of middle class respectability. It also delves into the murky world of toxic masculinity and the 'incel' community, which is pretty disturbing.
A compelling read with lots of neat twists, but I felt the ending could have been stronger.