In unrelated to book (but related to the suspense category) news, I finally watched the first episode of Gypsy yesterday. For anyone who hasn’t heard of the show it’s a Netflix original starring Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup (yum!). I’d seen the promos but didn’t realize that its a psychological thriller. So, yesterday when I was on the dreadmill I tuned in.
The first episode set up slowly, but I’m kind of excited to see where this one goes. It follows a therapist, Jean Holloway, who is unsatisfied with her own perfect life (hot husband, daughter, big suburban house, great job, yadda yadda yadda), and starts weirdly inserting herself in her patients lives. That’s all I’ll say for now, but check it out if you’re into the genre.
Today I’m reviewing I Found You by Lisa Jewell. I read her book, The Girls in the Garden last year and both books were incredibly well written, but slightly tamer in the suspense category. I like to call Lisa Jewell’s style of writing as subtle. Its not that shocking things don’t happen, but they are a natural part of the story and are more your everyday variety. The nightmares that lurk in many of our pasts. Without further ado…
From the Publisher:
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.
My Review:
I Found You was probably one of the best books I’ve read this year. I probably say that a lot. But I was very impressed with the intricate plot. At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to three narratives with very different stories. One is a naive new bride, another a man with a past but no memories and the third is who I saw as the main narrator, Alice.
I was drawn most to Alice’s story. I just identified with her the most. She is a single mom with three kids at home, trying her best at life and making ends meet. She looks out her window one day and sees a man sitting on the beach. And he doesn’t leave. And he still doesn’t leave, so she approaches him and offers to help.
The story that unfolds is a rich tale of love, loss, some menace and mistakes we’ve all made or could have made in our lives. Did I mention it also takes place in a small beach town? The kind were there are year long residents but every summer there are a ton of “summer people” who flood in. So, it was almost like a satisfying suspense/beach read.
I definitely recommend this one to people who have a hole in their lives since Big Little Lies ended on HBO, or just fans of the genre.
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