Book Review: INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell

INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell

Atria; 10/13/20

CBTB Rating: 5/5

The Verdict: must-read psychological suspense

Queen of the just-one-more-page thriller Lisa Jewell is back with what is undoubtedly my favorite book of hers yet: INVISIBLE GIRL, available this week in the US. INVISIBLE GIRL is a perfect encapsulation of the delicious blend of dark intrigue and entertainment value that I’ve fallen in love with in Jewell’s writing. It’s a story of chance encounters, intersecting lives, and sinister secrets, all of which plays out against the seemingly innocuous backdrop of a high-end neighborhood in London. There is no one sole protagonist in Jewell’s latest novel, but rather a cast of characters whose intersecting fates provide the sinister drama central to this engrossing, unputdownable psychological thriller. Behind closed doors, everyone has something to hide, and none of Jewell’s characters are spared having their darkest secrets laid bare in INVISIBLE GIRL. Readers looking for a fresh take on domestic suspense will find Jewell’s INVISIBLE GIRL an irresistible blend of juicy drama and razor-sharp thriller writing. INVISIBLE GIRL is one of the best psychological suspense novels I’ve read this year, and a must-read for any suspense aficionado’s fall reading list. 

Plot Details: 

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone returns with an intricate thriller about a young woman’s disappearance and a group of strangers whose lives intersect in its wake.

Owen Pick’s life is falling apart. In his thirties and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct—accusations he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel forums, where he meets a charismatic and mysterious figure.

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 disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.

INVISIBLE GIRL is my favorite kind of domestic suspense novel: a story that delivers the drama, character development, and interpersonal intrigue fans of the genre expect, without falling into over-worn genre clichés. In INVISIBLE GIRL, three characters take center stage: Cate, a woman in mid-life, navigating the challenges of marriage and motherhood; Owen, a man in his early 30’s who has just lost his job as a result of sexual misconduct allegations in the workplace; and Saffyre, a teenage girl on the brink of womanhood, grappling with self-harm and an unexpected fixation on her therapist. At first glance, these characters have nothing in common—but readers will quickly discover that their fates are inextricably linked. Cate’s husband, Roan, is Saffyre’s therapist (the very same therapist with whom Saffyre has become fixated, and who she has begun following on an almost daily basis), Cate and Roan live across the street from Owen, and on one fateful night, Saffyre goes missing… and Owen is the last person to see her alive. Jewell brilliantly sets her characters on a collision course with one another, and readers will be riveted watching these characters’ lives intersect and impact one another. The driving question behind this story - what happened to Saffyre? - will keep readers furiously turning pages, while Jewell’s masterful command of intersecting narrators and timelines will keep readers constantly wrongfooted, and constantly suspicious of every single character they meet within this book’s pages.

For as much as INVISIBLE GIRL is a story centered around a disappearance, I was surprised to discover that the “missing persons” thread here often takes a backseat—this is not a traditional missing persons mystery, and Jewell takes a fresh and inventive approach to telling a story that might otherwise feel a bit familiar. Saffyre will disappear, this much readers know from the story’s outset, and by the end of the book, Saffyre’s disappearance will be explained—but these facts seem almost secondary to the story’s true focus. INVISIBLE GIRL is, to me, a psychological suspense novel more focused on character study than mystery-solving, and readers who crave thrillers that are driven by character more than plot will find INVISIBLE GIRL right up their alley. Cate, Saffyre, and Owen (as well as the story’s secondary characters, who are no less interesting than these three protagonists!) all leap off the page—but Owen in particular stood out to me as unique, both uniquely fascinating and uniquely disturbing. Is Owen our story’s protagonist or antagonist? Jewell presents Owen as a potential villain in this tale: Owen is a man who has just been let go from his job as a teacher, following accusations of sexual misconduct by students. With his life in upheaval, Owen turns to the  internet for solace, and finds comfort in the world of “incels” (“involuntary celibates”). He falls under the influence of a blogger whose website is dedicated to commiserating with men who feel slighted by the women around them, and the extent to which Owen has subscribed to these stomach-turning ideals, and perhaps acted upon them, remains one of the story’s darkest questions. Jewell explores toxic masculinity in a multitude of forms throughout INVISIBLE GIRL, whether through the horrible misogyny of the online community in which Owen finds himself or in the more subtle (but no less disturbing) ways that it plays out in even the most ordinary settings. The mystery of who Owen is, and, in fact, who all of Jewell’s characters are, once you peel back the veneer they present to the world, turns out to be inextricably linked to the mystery of what happened to Saffyre. Solving each of these mysteries works hand in hand with solving the others. Jewell masterfully balances domestic thriller and missing persons elements in this utterly engrossing work of psychological suspense.

Let’s be honest: this year has made it challenging (if not sometimes downright impossible) to fully set aside worries and preoccupations and give yourself over to enjoying a novel. There is more competing for our attention this year than ever before, and I’ve frequently found it hard to find the escape I so badly crave in books that would typically be shoe-ins for me as a reader. Thankfully, the same cannot be said for my experience reading Lisa Jewell’s INVISIBLE GIRL. For the first time in quite a while, I found myself utterly swept away while reading, and that’s all thanks to Lisa Jewell’s masterful storytelling. INVISIBLE GIRL will hook you from page one with instant-intrigue; its short chapters and alternating points of view will keep you furiously turning pages; the suspicion that the author casts on all of her characters will keep you on your toes and constantly wondering what dark secrets she will reveal about her characters next. INVISIBLE GIRL has all the makings of your next favorite “popcorn thriller,” but this “popcorn thriller” comes with a dark twist. INVISIBLE GIRL is a story that tackles dark and disturbing themes while also delivering delicious drama and intrigue that will keep you entertained, even as you are infuriated by the ways its characters mistreat, manipulate, and betray one another. If character-driven psychological thrillers are your cup of tea, add INVISIBLE GIRL to your fall reading list. You won’t be disappointed. 

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own. 

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Book Details: 

Hardcover : 368 pages

ISBN-10 : 1982137339

ISBN-13 : 978-1982137335

Publisher : Atria Books (October 13, 2020)

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