Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell

Synopsis from Good Reads:

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.

Two decades of secrets, a missing husband, and a man with no memory are at the heart of this brilliant new novel, filled with the “beautiful writing, believable characters, pacey narrative, and dark secrets” (London Daily Mail) that make Lisa Jewell so beloved by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

I Found You will be available April 25, 2017.

This is only my second book by Lisa Jewell and I am once again wondering why I haven’t read more from her? Her writing is so addictive and the way she creates so much tension without a very fast pace or big twists just seems effortless.

I wasn’t really sure what I would think of having so many characters set in different locations, as well as a timeline from the past. While I am a fan of alternate timelines, I usually like them involving all the same characters and I wasn’t sure how it would play into the central story. Of course Jewell was able to weave together the characters, locations, and timelines masterfully. It does not take long at all to know how the past timeline and characters fit into the present, but there is still a bit of mystery into the players. I thought Jewell did a good job of keeping me guessing and second guessing every time I thought I had it all figured out.

I thought the characters were very well done and well-developed. I liked Alice and her kids and even her dogs, “Frank”, and Gray and Kirsty and their family. I did think that Gray seemed a little bit more of a jealous boyfriend than protective brother at times, though, and it made me a little uncomfortable. However, there was nothing to worry about on that front. I really didn’t care for Lily, the young wife who’s husband goes missing. Her behavior just really rubbed me the wrong way and I had a hard time feeling sorry for her position when she married a much older man after so little time. I found Mark, Kirsty’s admirer who Gray doesn’t trust, to be kind of intriguing and then kind of terrifying. Yet another book where Jewell’s portrayal of teenage behavior scares the crap out of me.

Overall, I really enjoyed I Found You. It’s emotional and intriguing and I could hardly put it down. I thought Jewell did an excellent job of juggling the characters and timelines. I definitely recommend this book and really look forward to reading more from this author.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars