Invisible Girl: A Novel

Lisa Jewell

Oct 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“I absolutely loved Invisible Girl—Lisa Jewell has a way of combining furiously twisty, utterly gripping plots with wonderfully rich characterization—she has such compassion for her characters, and we feel we know them utterly… A triumph!” —Lucy Foley, New York Times bestselling author

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.

Young Saffyre Maddox spent three years under the care of renowned child psychologist Roan Fours. When Dr. Fours decides their sessions should end, Saffyre feels abandoned. She begins looking for ways to connect with him, from waiting outside his office to walking through his neighborhood late at night. She soon learns more than she ever wanted to about Roan and his deceptively perfect family life. On a chilly Valentine’s night, Saffyre will disappear, taking any secrets she has learned with her.

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.

Owen lives across the street from the Fours family. The Fours have a bad feeling about their neighbor; Owen is a bit creepy and suspect and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night. Could Owen be responsible? What happened to the beautiful missing Saffyre, and does her disappearance truly connect them all?

Evocative, vivid, and unputdownable, Lisa Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author).

Ratings and reviews

Lisa Jewell has been on a bit of a roll lately with her compulsively readable thrillers, and her latest release, Invisible Girl, will undoubtedly appeal to her growing fan base. The action in this novel swirls around one pivotal Valentine’s evening in which a young woman disappears. Told from three different viewpoints, the reader is given perspectives from those connected to the events. Cate, matriarch of a family who is temporarily housed in the neighborhood, emerges as a central figure. It is through her thoughts that details are processed and theories begin to coalesce. She is unsure why her husband and son seem so closely tied to what is occurring in the neighborhood—and she even though she dreads what she might discover, she is compelled to investigate. A second voice is that of a young professor recently suspended for misconduct, and now accused of being responsible for the missing girl and other sexual assaults in the area. Bitter and resentful about his treatment by women and with a hazy recollection of his actions, he is a likely suspect. Owen’s awkwardness and alienation serve to bolster the case against him, and his imprudent actions only draw him deeper into suspicion. Saffyre is a first-person narrator, the missing teen whose recollections round out the story by providing background information and important clues about the converging connections between the characters in the novel. The author does a good job with pacing and the painstaking release of details, maintaining a consistent and steady build in tension. She does a particularly good job with the character of Owen, a man that manages to be both pitiful and pitiable. Jewell’s book addresses themes of accusation and assumption, of deceptive appearances and evil hiding in plain sight. Her female characters carry scars both literal and figurative from toxic interactions with men, whether intentional or not. Invisible Girl is a quick and engrossing read, a nice example of an author still hitting her stride. Thanks to the author, Atria (Simon & Schuster) and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

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About the author

Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK, on Instagram @LisaJewellUK, and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.