Invisible Girl

Score: 3/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Atria Books for gifting me a review copy of Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell.

Kate and Roan Fours are temporarily renting a flat in a posh area of north London, with their two teenage children. Owen Rudd lives with his aunt across the street. He’s 33, has never had a girlfriend, and lost his job after being accused of inappropriate behavior towards students at the technical college he worked at. Saffyre Maddox is a troubled 17-year-old who lives with her stepfather. Roan Fours is her psychologist, and she’s become somewhat obsessed with him.

We learn more about the goings-on and secrets that each of the characters has, as the story progresses, and gradually their lives intertwine more and more.

I really enjoyed The Family Upstairs, by the same author, so I jumped at the chance to read this one. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I just found myself quite bored for whole stretches at a time. I also disliked all of the characters so much that I cringed every time any of them did or said anything. And I get that sometimes you love to hate a character, but this wasn’t that. They were all just fairly disgusting. The only one who was remotely interesting was Saffyre Maddox, but I wanted more depth from her character.

While the convergence of lives and stories held a lot of promise, it felt forced to me and I wished it had been executed in a subtler, less-predictable way.

However, the book was compelling enough that I finished it, and wanted to see how it turned out, so it still got three stars from me. I will say that everyone I’ve spoken to really enjoyed it, so I think I’m in the minority for thinking it was only ok.

Heads up that there are the themes of mental illness, sexual assault, cheating, and parental death just to name a few potential triggers.

Synopsis:

Kate Fours, her husband Roan, and their two teenage children are living temporarily in a flat in one of the finest streets in Hampstead, north London. When her daughter comes home terrified after being followed down the street by a strange man, all Kate’s instincts tell her that she knows exactly who it was. But is she correct? Then someone else she knows is violently assaulted just around the corner from her flat, and Kate begins to think she must act on her suspicions before it's too late.

Owen Rudd lives with his aunt in Hampstead. He is thirty-three and has never had a girlfriend. Having been suspended from his job as a teacher at a technical college, he finds himself questioning his position in life. Looking for answers, he stumbles upon an online world full of lonely men, just like him. And then he meets William who has never had a girlfriend either. But William has a solution, a solution that is as tempting as Owen knows it is horribly wrong.

Saffyre Maddox is seventeen and lives in a 10th floor flat with her stepfather and her stepbrother. She is a troubled child, currently being treated by a child psychologist called Roan Fours. She’s been a patient of Roan’s for nearly two years, and has become close to him in that time. Dependent on him, almost. And she knows things about him. Things that he wouldn’t want anyone else to know. Especially his wife.

The lives of three very different people are about to collide in a shocking and unimaginable way.