Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell is a psychological mystery novel. It depicts how the society has preconceived notions about people who lead a certain lifestyle, and is quick enough to judge and blame them for anything untoward happenings. And while it is busy pointing fingers and assigning blame, the truly notorious continue to do ill right under the noses of everyone else.

The plot is exciting but weak and slow to my liking.

Even though the story contains animals with furs, I think they are smartly used to signify the human characters in the plot who wear the symbolic fur to disguise their real selves and act all kind and decent when their intentions are anything but.

This is my first Lisa Jewell read. I definitely plan to read more of her works in the future.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: Recommended.

If you enjoy thrillers you will like this. This novel is full of twisting plot lines and dark suspense when the past meets the present. Enjoy!

A taut, compelling thriller that kept me turning the pages. Recommended! Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC

Another enjoyable thriller from Lisa Jewell!

Despite the fact that this story has no real 'twists' to the plot, Lisa Jewell manages to craft an enjoyable story that slowly unravels before the reader's eyes. I really enjoyed the commentary on the assumptions we make about other people and even ourselves and how that can distort our own reality.

If you enjoy stories about small communities and the secrets that tie neighbours together, and tear them apart, then this is a story for you.

Teenager Saffyre goes missing and there are several suspects , and we construct what has happened through the narratives of several characters.

Although this is a well written mystery with a few good twists, I didn't enjoy this novel as much as Jewell's others and I struggled to like or engage with the characters.

Gosh this book gets better and better as it goes on. I’ve been a fan of Lisa Jewell since Ralph’s Party and I honestly don’t think I’ve not enjoyed any of her books.

This one is a bit more of a slow burner to get started, but it’s fabulous. The ending is very satisfactory, the good people are good and the bad people - mostly - get their comeuppance.

The main characters are strong and this is a story about hope and doing the right thing, about friendship and facing the truth. It will make you think, but it’s a great story at the same time. Highly recommend.

Such an addictive, easy to read thriller. Lots of suspects surround Saffyre. She has had a tough life and one days goes missing. There are three or four possible suspects- could someone have had a role in her disappearance? Couldn't put this down. Loved the main character and wanted to find out what happened to her.

Great little book from Lisa Jewell as expected to be honest, but it took ages to warm to most of the characters to be honest, I thought it was fairly paced with some good twists and turns which you’d expect from Lisa, a good storyline and I enjoyed it a lot, excited for her next one!

Lisa Jewell is the queen of domestic noir, dark twisted family dramas with intriguing characters and cleverly interwoven plotlines and Invisible Girl is no exception.

Set in leafy Hampstead, the Fours family have temporarily moved to a flat whilst their house is being renovated. Roan is a child psychologist married to Cate a physiotherapist and their two teenage children, On the surface the Fours appear to be an ordinary family, but dig a little deeper and you start to discover that it’s not only their family home suffering from subsidence!

Opposite the Fours, lives Owen Pick, a strange man, one you would probably cross the street to avoid, living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, working at a local college as a teacher until he gets suspended for sexual misconduct. He is lonely, angry and potentially dangerous.

The other main character is this tale is young Saffyre Maddox, a troubled teenager who has spent most of her life in therapy under Roan Fours and is struggling to cope when their sessions end.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints and the reader begins to see what really does go on behind closed doors. When Saffyre disappears from outside the Fours apartment and Owen Pick is the last person to see her alive, the story begins to unfold, dragging everyone with it.

Throughout the story each character became more suspicious and guilty of something, although I wasn’t able to work out what or why until the end. Invisible Girl is more character led than her previous books and I really enjoyed getting to know them all and discovering their secrets.

My first time reading a book from the author Lisa Jewell and have to say it won’t be the last, it gripped me from the first page to the very last

Before this I had read 2 Lisa Jewell books, 1 which disappointed me and another which I loved so I was undecided on my opinion of her books but I really loved this book.

I had so many theories and kept jumping back and forth as more information was revealed, and while I got some parts right I was still way off on a lot.

I honestly loved this.

Saffyre Maddox had a troubled childhood after a traumatic incident. She ends up seeing a therapist for a few years, and after she’s signed off, she keeps an eye on him and follows him. Then she goes missing.

I thought this story would be full of suspense and twists and turns, but it really lacked this. I found it very disjointed as it flitted from character to character and different timeframes.

Initially, I didn’t like any of the characters. By the end, I’d warmed to some of them.
I thought Owen’s character was well done and there was a lot of development.
It shows how the media portrayal can have a massive impact on a person’s life and potentially ruin it.

All the characters are connected but the story didn’t flow for me at all.

The ending was fine but a bit predictable.

It was an easy read but I was disappointed as I’d expected a really gripping page turner.

2.5 stars rounded to 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a copy for review.

A really gripping story, with so many twists and turns. The characters seem to change as the story develops and you’re never quite sure until the end which version of them they are (if that makes sense!).

Lisa Jewell does it again. The entire plot was flawless, packed with interesting, creepy and questionable characters that I found myself racing through the pages to see what would happen next. This book was dark, intense and full of twists.

Our main characters are a housewife, her husband and their kids who seem to have the perfect life (yeah, right!). A 33 year old man feeling unjustly persecuted by society, beginning to identify with the 'incel' community and a lonely, misunderstood teenager with emotional problems named Saffyre. All their lives converge when Saffyre disappears which leads to a page-turning mystery.

I was hooked from the first page of this novel. The story unfolds in a way that grips your attention and keeps you constantly thinking about it. A great read that keeps the suspense high until the last page.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Lisa Jewell is one of my favourite authors and yet I struggled to read Invisible Girl. I struggled to get interested in it at first and at about 25% I nearly gave up. But I can’t give up on a book by a favourite author, so I carried on.

The book description is what made me want to read it:

I struggled because it is slow-going, the narrative jumps around between Saffyre, Owen and Cate (the long suffering wife of Roan, a child psychologist) and also between the present and the past tenses. I was never really sure where the story was going.

The blurb tells you the the bare bones of the plot. It’s a mystery revolving around secrets – what was the terrible thing that happened to Saffyre, what are the characters hiding, why does everybody shun Owen and are they all unreliable narrators? I was never really sure and didn’t trust any of them. It certainly doesn’t hold back on some of the most unsavoury aspects of life – sexual harassment, abuse, self-harm, in-celibates, on-line forums and so on. It’s the slow pace that made it drag for me and lessened any sense of tension about what was going to happen. All is explained by the end – apart, that is, from one final thread that is left hanging.

Lisa Jewell’s Acknowledgements are interesting, in that she explains how she writes. Until she has finished a book she writes it is ‘just me and my (three) typing fingers and my weird imaginary world.’ She doesn’t do research because it puts her off her stride and she doesn’t like editorial input when she is writing. But when she has finished then, as she describes it, all these magical people appear and fix her imaginary world. Of course, then she thanks all those people, her editors, sales and marketing and publicity teams.

Her methods have worked enormously well in all the other books of hers that I’ve read and I’ve been enthralled, mystified and captivated by them – but just not this one, I’m sorry to say.

My thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for my copy and I wish I could have been more engaged and enthusiastic about this book.

In this book, none of the characters are what they seem. There are a number of unreliable narrators in this book.
In my opinion, there was some lazy characterisation. The author used some typical stereotypes which I didn’t like.
This was not my favourite Lisa Jewell book but it was still a good read.

A great story full of suspense and drama which had me guessing all the time, I enjoyed the characters and the intrigue and think this was another brilliant read from Lisa and I look forward to the next one.

My thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book in return for my honest opinion.

I've enjoyed every book I've read by Lisa Jewell. and love her ability to create realistic, flawed but intriguing characters. Although I didn't love this one as much as The House We Grew Up In or The Family Upstairs, once Owen's story got going I was hooked to the end. I liked how the different characters' lives intertwined and the way the ending was wrapped up.

4 stars! Another brilliant book from Lisa Jewell! As always the characters are excellent and I enjoyed the varying POV.

Another excellent read from Lisa Jewell.
I would highly recommend to family and friends.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC, in exchange for an honest review.