Saffyre Maddox has had a complicated life. Still only a teenager, she lost her parents early in life, went through trauma, and started to cut herself around her ankles when she was still young. She spent 3 years going to see child psychologist Roan Fours, and it helped. Now she is an A-student, getting ready for university, and living a good life with her uncle. Or she was, before she went missing.
Roan and his wife Cate have two teenaged kids and a house under construction. Having moved to a rental in a different part of town, Cate wants her family to have a different perspective for a while. Living in Hampstead is lovely, but they are across the street from an older apartment building and a lot that has been scheduled for reconstruction for years and has become more than a little rundown in the meantime. Cate didn’t think anything of it when they moved, but Georgia finds herself with a creepy feeling when she comes and goes. She thinks maybe it’s the 30ish-year-old man who lives in one of the apartments across the way.
That man who lives across the street, Owen Pick, is having some problems at work. He teaches teenagers how to code, and he feels like the teenaged girls are making fun of him. He’s not confident around women, and when he is accused of sexual misconduct at the school, he finds himself online talking to a new friend who identifies as an “incel,” an involuntary celibate. He blames women for his inability to have a relationship, and he points Owen in the direction of forums where he can talk to other like-minded men.
A series of sexual assaults in the neighborhood makes Cate even more nervous about Georgia and her friends being out in the neighborhood without an adult. And Cate worries about her son Josh’s demeanor. He’s not a kid any longer, but he still has a sweetness, an innocence about him. She and Roan went through a rough patch the previous year, and she worries that their struggles affected Josh. But it’s not until Saffyre goes missing that Cate finds herself willing to face the darkness that might be under her own roof.
Lisa Jewell’s newest thriller Invisible Girl is a tangled web of lies and secrets, of family relationships gone wrong and chosen relationships bringing healing. The intricacy of the plotting is impeccable, and the pacing is perfection. Invisible Girl is a smart thriller with strong characters and a compelling story.
I absolutely loved this book. I thought that the story worked well, that the plot was compelling and the story logic was flawless. But mostly, I loved the young women in this story. They were self-aware and avoided stupid choices. They weren’t perfect, but they tried to be true to themselves. I particularly loved the ending to this one. I’m not going to say why, but I found it so fulfilling, bringing everything together in a really lovely way. If you’re a thriller fan, you’ll definitely want to put this one on your list!
Egalleys for Invisible Girl were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
