Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell

A young bride, a lonely single mother, and an amnesiac man of dubious origin lie at the heart of New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell’s next suspenseful drama that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Paula Hawkins.

In a windswept British seaside town, single mom Alice Lake finds a man sitting on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, and no idea how he got there. Against her better judgment, she invites him inside.

Meanwhile, in a suburb of London, twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

Twenty-three years earlier, Gray and Kirsty are teenagers on a summer holiday with their parents. Their annual trip to the quaint seaside town is passing by uneventfully, until an enigmatic young man starts paying extra attention to Kirsty. Something about him makes Gray uncomfortable—and it’s not just that he’s playing the role of protective older brother.

Kindle Edition, 352 pages

Expected publication: April 25th 2017 by Atria Books (first published June 30th 2016) 

Genre: Fiction/Mystery/Thriller

Kristine's Thoughts:

** I received an advanced readers copy from Atria Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank You!**

I Found You tells the present story of a young bride, a single mom and a man who can't remember who he is. It also tells the story of two teenage siblings from twenty three years earlier. Each story is uniquely its own but intertwined and connected in ways that slowly divulge themselves to the reader as the story goes on.

What I liked most about this book were the characters which was good because this book was very character driven. They were quirky, flawed and not picture perfect. There wasn't a single character that didn't have an annoying or irritating personality trait and I loved that. It made it a lot easier to relate to them. I have to say that I think I enjoyed each character's story equally but Alice, the single mom, was probably my favourite character.

I found this book very slow moving but at the same time I couldn't tear myself away. I wanted to know what happened and I wanted to figure out the mystery. Was the man with no memory the young brides missing husband? If not, what happened to him? How do the siblings fit into it and what was the connection between all of the stories? Although it wasn't fast paced it gave me enough to keep me turning the pages and it had me finishing it rather quickly.

There was no big "aha" moment for me or shocking twist. I pretty much had it figured out before it was brought to light on the pages. If I'm being completely honest, it was a little anti-climatic in the end. Due to the fact that I was enjoying the different characters I didn't mind that fact as much as I would normally would.

Even though the mystery wasn't overly exciting and a little far fetched, the characters make I Found You a book worth reading. Lisa Jewell is not a new author to me. This is the second book of hers that I have read and it won't be the last. Although I didn't enjoy this one as much as The House We Grew Up In, it proved to me that she is an author that needs to go in my regular rotation.

 



About the Author

Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & Design studying Fashion Illustration and Communication.

She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA. She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.

She has since written a further nine novels, as is currently at work on her eleventh.

She now lives in an innermost part of north London with her husband Jascha, an IT consultant, her daughters, Amelie and Evie and her silver tabbies, Jack and Milly.

Connect with Lisa

Website/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads