Invisible Girl
Invisible Girl
By: Lisa Jewell
“Invisibility was my favorite state of existence.”
This was my first Lisa Jewell book.
I’ve read that some reviewers say this one was a bit darker than her other books so I think I’ll try another one of hers.
I mostly liked this one but there was some swearing in it. (I had a physical copy and I didn’t count them up but I’d guess somewhere around 20-30 f-words about the same number of s-words, some of them coming in twos or threes from one particular character)
There are also a couple trigger warnings for self-harm and sexual abuse (nothing too graphic described).
Also, if you are having a hard time trusting your therapist, probably don’t read this book…
This was more mystery than thriller but still a page-turner. I don’t know if I was super surprised by the ending but I was invested enough in the story that I didn’t mind.
This book follows a trio of POVs:
Saffyre Maddox is the ‘invisible girl.’ Burdened with sexual abuse as a child, she sees a therapist— Roan Fours— for three years to help her stop self-harming. She lives with her only family (an uncle) and is struggling to get through life. She finds the ‘invisible’ life to be the most freeing.
“I have a dark past, and I have dark thoughts. I do dark things and I scare myself sometimes.”
Cate Fours is the wife of Roan. She is insecure, paranoid, and passive. She suspects her husband is having an affair. She is also worked up about a string of sexual assaults happening in their neighborhood and fears for her children’s safety.
“Cate faces the kitchen window where she sees her face reflected back at her, the face of an older woman who looks just like her, a woman whose life, she feels very strongly, is heading down a dark, twisty path to somewhere she doesn’t want to be.”
Owen Pick lives across the street from the Fours family. He recently lost his job for allegations of sexual misconduct that he adamantly denies. He is forced to confront the dark parts of himself that he didn’t know were there.
On Valentine’s Night Saffyre Maddox goes missing. She was last seen at the Fours’ house by Owen Pick.
Saffyre’s chapters are all from ‘Before' whereas Cate and Owen’s chapters flip from ‘Before’ (leading up to the disappearance) and ‘After’ as the police are investigating.
Jewell gives us a few suspects to wonder about and a slightly unresolved ending.
I liked Saffyre’s character for being smart and active, but none of the other ones. I don’t really like the trope of the paranoid mom who is suspicious of everyone but never wants to do anything about it. Owen is for sure creepy, but Jewell tries to redeem him. Georgia is an afterthought and Josh ends up being about as flat at the end as he was at the beginning.
Georgia may have been an afterthought but I must draw attention to her reaction here because we may have to be friends because of it:
Georgia- “Where’s Dad?”
Cate- “Gone running.”
Georgia- “Freak.”
And then, of course, two things that I learned while reading this book:
“on fleek”- done exactly right. (As in: This book review is on fleek!)
[Immediate Edit: This is how ‘in the know’ I am. I was so proud to tell my husband I learned a cool new slang term. He was like ‘yeah I’ve heard of that.’ And then tells me no one uses it anymore. Then he finds an article from 2017 that says it’s old news. So I now know I’m about 5 years behind on ‘cool’… It sounds exhausting to keep with this nonsense!]
Fatface jeans. They’re real. It’s a British clothing company started by two men and apparently named after a ski slope: “Inspired by the name of the black mountain ski run in Val d’Isère, La Face, FatFace was born.” Their website also states their mission to “bring style and positivity” but it just feels counterintuitive to name your brand Fatface. Maybe that’s just me. Also would Fatface skinny jeans be an oxymoron?
Scroll to the recommendation if you don’t want to see spoilers…
Spoiler Comments
Okay. I thought FOR SURE it was going to be Josh. The way they kept talking about how pure he was and how he was such a good kid made me feel like he wasn’t who we were led to believe.
So the ending wasn’t surprising.
And it was a bit anti-climactic… well at least for me when I’m used to reading stories about murders. No one actually gets killed in this book so that’s a bit new for me.
I was a little surprised with how far Jewell went with Owen’s character as far as his redemption. His inner struggle and revelation about his parents and then going to talk to his dad seemed a bit like a rabbit trail but I suppose it’s a good thing to see characters change in stories, to recognize things they need to work on and then actually taking the initiative to become better.
Owen’s story line also reminds us how much damage we can cause to a person’s life when we make false accusations. There is always a cost to getting it wrong and we should be careful about our prejudices.
One last comment. This one’s about Alicia. By the end we are supposed to feel bad for her because Roan is manipulative and abusive. That is true and that is wrong. But I can’t help but also still hold Alicia responsible for getting involved with him in the first place. She knew he was married and so she still bears some responsibility for the infidelity and ruining a marriage. Granted, it was probably going to be ruined regardless, but I don’t like the idea of giving her a pass. She didn’t seem to have any remorse for Cate’s experience in all of this. And Saffyre gave her a pass as well.
Spoilers Over
Recommendation
I wouldn’t necessarily call this a ‘must-read’ but it’s also not a bad book. Somewhere in between. I wish it had less profanity but if this is one of her darker books as others have suggested maybe the other ones will be different.
I might check out The Family Upstairs or Then She Was Gone next so you can keep checking back to see what I think and if I’ll keep reading Lisa Jewell books.
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