Why this book?
You must know that my favorite genre is mysteries and thriller. I am and have always been a huge Agatha Christie fan since I was a child. When I was a teenager, my dream was to write like her and publish novels just like her.
This year, I discovered Lisa Jewell, and oh my! I loved every bit of word she wrote. The first book I read written by her was “Then She was Gone”. I still remember taking the book with me to bed thinking: “Oh, well! I will read a chapter or two, and I’ll go to sleep.”
Foolish of me! I was awake the whole night, gobbling down every word from that book with such hunger that I hadn’t felt since I was a teenager reading Agatha Christie. Yes, I finished that book in one night, not once did I dose or my eyes pleaded for me to lay down and get rest. I enjoyed that book from the first word to the last one.
The second book I read written by her was “The Family Upstairs.” Ok, this time, I split up the reading into two days. However, I must admit I had a huge temptation of reading it non-stop but I already knew from previous experience how addictive it could become.
Those are the type of reads I consider enjoying, happy reading!
Going back to Invisible Girl, this is the latest book published by Lisa Jewell this year, first published in August of 2020.
Book Introduction
November was meant to be a romantic month with lots of romance reading but I couldn’t wait anymore to read this one.
| Author | Lisa Jewell (London, England; 19 July 1968) |
| First Published Date | 4th of August of 2020 |
| Stars in Good Reads | 3.93 |
| Genre | Mystery, Fiction, Thriller |
| Reading hours (according to my kindle) | 5 hours approx. |
Book Back Cover
“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..”
Pre-read
Before reading the book, and only reading the back cover, the impression I had was that Saffyre Maddox was the invisible girl, and it would be her death or her disappearance to solve.
I hadn’t given much thought to why Invisible Girl, I was just hungry to start and read the book! 😝
My Thoughts
Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you love a psychological thriller you’ll love this book, it will snatch away your responsible side (you won’t be worried about that dirty toilet you were planning to clean, about cooking, etc.) and make you its slave until you finish it.
As every book written by the same author, I enjoyed reading every bit of the book. The part I enjoyed the most is how she is able to describe the same person with different points of view.
Before reading Owen’s part, I thought he was some creepy neighbour but when I kept on reading from his point of view, I liked him very much. I felt his anguish, to defend himself, whatever they were saying about him were not true at all. All the things he said and done on the Internet was just a momentarily thing. We all do those types of thing but you know, context is fundamental. You can’t judge anyone without context. I am not sure about the author’s intentions but I could feel what Owen’s chapters.
Squeezing my mind a little bit, I personally think that even with context, peoples’ minds are molded (with their own background) in such a way that they already make up their minds with certain types of people. What do you think?
- What I liked the most: I’ll be totally honest here, I loved just EVERYTHING about the book. I tried hard to think about anything I didn’t like about it but I can’t find anything. Every character is there for a reason, I love how each point of view from the different characters are reasonable in their own way. The constant intriguing feeling from the start is the hunger which made me read the book almost non-stop. There are three suspects (for the reader) who could be guilty of the invisible girl’s disappearance. I enjoyed how it ended, Saffyre safe and sound at her uncle’s home with her kitten Angelo. And the final ending! Totally shocking! About Roan!
- What I liked the least: Nothing. I loved this book.
Characters
- Cate Fours: She is a loving mother and a dedicated wife. When you start knowing more about her, you get the feeling that she is the typical (stereotype) housewife (ad-hoc physiotherapist), jealous, unsecured, waiting for her husband with the dinner cooked. I love this character because she somehow is the one that represents the points of view that people typically have of other people. For example, she is the one who thinks Owen is creepy and calls the police, she is suspicious about her husband having an affair but sweeps that thought away because she trusts her husband and she wants to be a good wife. She is the point of view that gives you the typically stereotyped impression of the other characters in the book. According to her point of view, Owen is creepy, an adult living with his aunt; Roan, her husband hides something but she is not sure what, there is something wrong with him; she has two lovely children; she is more worried about her son, Josh.
- Saffyre Maddox: She is the invisible girl. Actually, I don’t have much to say about her. Although she is invisible and she claims her superpower is invisibility, she is a complex character. All her actions and her life are driven by something horrible that happened to her when she was ten-years-old. When she was introduced I could only feel sadness. I felt like everyone she loved had died, even a teacher she had. However, at the end of the story, I learned how much she was loved by her uncle and her grandfather. She is the heart of this story, the development of the story begins because of her actions, she is the driver causing all the consequences in the plot. I loved how she describes love.
- Owen Pick: Perhaps, the character I most empathized with. It’s true that in a rage he discovers the horrible world ruled by people called incels. The incel society is toxic masculinity driven society questioning women’s rights. That is not the part I empathized with because when he discovers the true intentions of incels, he decides not to be part of it anymore. He wanted justice for what happened to him because of his inadequate behavior at the Christmas party. But it is true that the author gives us a hint that Owen is a different person when he is drunk. Whenever I was reading his chapters, I was convinced that he didn’t do it although all his previous actions clearly made him the principal suspect.
- Roan Fours: Terrible person. The author gives you enough hints to make him one of the suspects.
- Josh Fours: He loves his mother, he is brave enough to confront his father, he is a good friend and he helps Saffyre. Cate’s chapters give us hints about Josh that he may be one of the suspects.
Tell Me
What do you think about it? Have you read it? Did you enjoy it?
The featured image of this post was taken by myself. All rights reserved.
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