| Title | : | I Found You |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1501154591 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781501154591 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 |
| Publication | : | First published June 30, 2016 |
'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'
East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.
Surrey: 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.
Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's brilliant new novel.
I Found You Reviews
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Lisa Jewell is a fairly new-to-me author; I've only read one of her other books as they are just making their way into the US publication system. While I enjoyed reading
The Girls in the Garden, I don't think it holds a candle to how intriguing, suspenseful, and complex of a story
I Found You is. The entire plot from every angle was compelling and I could hardly put it down as I just had to find out what would happen next. The plot was broken up into multiple POVs from past and present; as you come toward the end of the novel you begin discovering that some of the voices overlap and lead to various exciting twists. The characterization, alongside the general increase in suspense and plot quality shows the tremendous amount of growth she seemingly achieves between each book; this is one of the most important qualities I search for when adding to my must read author database.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this story. Is it a mystery? Yes. Does it touch on some pretty dark topics? Also Yes. But does it somehow maintain a light and breezy feel amongst it's characters? Yes! This is where my reviewing gets tricky; I'm not entirely sure where to place this book. The pacing is definitely on the slow burner side, at least near the beginning; I seem to be leaning heavily toward books right now that deeply explore it's characters in lieu of heavy action moving the plot forward. I found myself lost in the detailed backstories of these damaged folks; I can't think of a single voice in the book that hadn't suffered some sort of trauma leading to their being who they were in the present tense. Alongside the characters, my attention was completely rapt in the ever-changing voices; I kept wondering which parts I had figured out correctly and which I hadn't pieced together just so. Turns out I had it about 50/50; I was satisfied in the sense of working out some of the pieces but delighted that the book wasn't fully predictable.
The most difficult piece to categorize is this whimsical feel that the book holds; the content is very serious and there are even some scenes containing disturbing violence. How did Jewell manage to keep this book from feeling so heavy and dark? Is it the dry humor infused into the narrative from feisty characters like Alice and Lily? Could it be the lack of action, yet instead more focus on character development? Do British authors just naturally sound more polite and well-spoken? ;) I guess I'll never know for sure, but if you are a reader who would like to branch out into something a little darker without losing a literary feel, I would highly recommend picking up
Lisa Jewell's
I Found You. I enjoyed this one so much that I feel I may have to order her next book off of Book Depository as I simply can't wait for it to make it's way over to the states.
*Many thanks to Lisa at Atria Books for providing my copy; it was a delight to share my honest thoughts here on the blog. -
My reviews can also be seen at:
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Wow! I loved this book. A fantastic psychological suspense novel.
Two decades of secrets.
A young bride with a missing husband. A lonely single mother and a man with no memory of who he is or where he came from. You may think you have it all figured out...but the truth may surprise you.
I was definitely surprised.
In the British Seaside...
Alice lives in a tiny house with her children and the stray animals that she's picked up over the years. Alice has a thing for strays...and now a stray man is sitting on a bench near her home. Part of her wants to know why he's just sitting there in the rain. As the day goes by she sees he's still there, still getting drenched by the rain. She knows she should probably stay out of it. Alice has had trouble in the past with some of the decisions she's made. But the more time that passes the more she wants to know why he's there. What is his story?
After speaking with him she finds out that he has no idea of who he is, where he is from, or how he got to there. He has no wallet, identification, or any other possessions. He doesn't even have a jacket to keep him dry.
'How long have you been sitting out here?'
'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'
Alice invites him in...
Meanwhile in a London suburb...
Newly married and new to the country, twenty-one year old Lily Monrose is anxiously waiting for her husband to arrive home from work. As dinner gets cold, Lily wonders where on earth her he could be. She finally decides to call the police but they tell her she needs to wait, that he hasn't been gone that long. But he's never late. She can usually predict to the minute the moment he will walk in the door. When she finally gets the police to take her seriously they tell her something that shocks her to her core...
Her husband doesn't exist.
Twenty-three years before....
Gray and Kirsty are teenagers on their annual summer vacation with their parents when they meet a young man who starts to show an interest in Kirsty. Kirsty is young and her brother Gray feels something is off about this guy. He can't quite put his finger on it but something about him makes Gray uncomfortable. However, his sister likes this young man and even their parents think Gray is overreacting.
Is Gray being too over-protective of his sister?
So many secrets....
I really enjoyed this book!
Lisa Jewell does a fantastic job of developing unforgettable characters....whether they had two legs or four legs. The animals were almost as entertaining as the humans. All so well written! I loved the personalities of the humans and the dogs.
I'm always impressed when an author can pull me so far into a story...I was fully invested in this novel and these characters, whether I loved or hated them, they all felt quite believable.
Although there were a few violent scenes, I didn't feel like the author went overboard in her descriptions of the acts but still gave enough detail to make me hold my breath in anticipation of what was going to happen next.
Drawn in from the first page, this was a very enjoyable story with unique and intriguing characters, and a great plot. I loved it!
This may have been my first Lisa Jewell read but you can bet it won't be my last.
Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and Lisa Jewell for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review. -
Incredibly slow-moving and rife with oddball characters,
I Found You explores what can happen when rash decisions are made in the name of love.
Lisa Jewell’s strength definitely lies in her ability to deliver character-driven novels. This story, along with the few others of hers I’ve read, rely heavily on the development of her characters and in turn, as a reader, my enjoyment hinges almost solely on whether I connect with them and find their actions believable in some capacity. I have to admit there was a HUGE part of me that felt completely disconnected from this story and what I’m deeming a strange cast of characters.
There's a common thread running through each and every one of these oddballs . . . desperation and the need to be loved. What else could make Alice, a single mother of three, who happens to have a rash of bad relationships under her belt already and is by all accounts a complete and utter mess, drag a man she finds on the beach, with no memory of who he even is, into her life? Does it get any worse than considering the ‘L-word’ after only five days? Insta-love, anyone? That need for attention led to some really questionable decisions and actions . . . and not just by Alice. Don’t even get me started on Lily or Gray. There were so many things that just felt off, even for this strange bunch. How many fugue states can one person really experience?
Lisa Jewell attempts to mask the truth for as long as possible and keep the reader on their toes in anticipation of the ‘big reveal’ by flip-flopping between the present and one fateful summer back in 1993. There’s a reason the man with no memories, dubbed ‘Frank’ by Alice and her kids, landed on this stretch of beach along the Yorkshire coast, but don’t hold your breath. What happened, in both the past and the present, is a little out there and a tad lackluster, considering it was fueled strictly by illogical decisions and here I go with this word again . . . desperation. I just wasn't convinced any rational person would've landed in any of their situations. Here's the PSA for the day . . . call the police!
This definitely wasn’t my favorite Lisa Jewell by any stretch of the imagination. While I can see the appeal to some readers, the suspense of it all was a little flat for my tastes. If you want to experience her true writing prowess, I suggest checking out my favorite,
The Girls in the Garden.
*Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. -
Be sure to visit
Bantering Books to read all my latest reviews.
Hmm . . . I'm searching for the right word to describe how I feel about
I Found You. And I think I'm going to go with . . . "underwhelmed." Yeah, that feels right.
But I think I'm going to also add the word, "surprisingly," in front of it.
I'm surprisingly underwhelmed. There -- that's perfect.
I've read so many rave reviews for Lisa Jewell's novels, and I've been looking forward to finally, one day, being able to read one of her books. In fact, I Found You has been loaded up on my Kindle, ready to go for quite awhile now. For a myriad of reasons, however, I just haven't ever clicked it open. But my finger has finally tapped its gorgeous cover, and I can now say that I've read my first Jewell thriller.
And I liked it. But I only, surprisingly, just liked it.
Here's the thing -- I seriously struggle with thrillers where the forward movement of the plot relies heavily on the characters making not-very-smart, illogical decisions. Call it a pet peeve, if you will. But I kind of feel like it's an easy way out for authors to write characters who consistently make wrong choices and then use the wrong choices as the driving force of the plot. I've read many intelligent, tightly written thrillers. I know that a thrilling story with smart characters can be told.
So when I'm reading along and constantly finding myself thinking things such as, "Wait! There's no way a parent would do that" or "That decision just doesn't make sense AT ALL," then that means the story is problematic for me.
Sigh. I don't like problems.
I Found You is centered around three separate story lines, told in alternating chapters:
We first meet Alice, a single mother of three children, who finds a random man sitting on the beach outside of her home and offers him a place to stay after she discovers he has no memory of who he is and how he came to the beach.
Next, we are introduced to Lily, who is a very young newlywed from Russia. She has only known her husband and been living in England for a few weeks before her husband mysteriously disappears.
And then we have Gray and Kirsty, a teenage brother and sister whose tragic story, told in the past, occurs while traveling with their family way back in 1993.
Okay -- this is where the problems and illogical decisions begin.
First of all, I find it so incredibly hard to believe that Alice, a mother, would bring a strange man into her home and put her children at risk. The man could be a murderer, a con man, or a rapist. Or all three! Wouldn't most moms do the complete opposite of what Alice did -- and instead call the police?
But as a way to justify Alice's actions, Jewell establishes early on that Alice has made some pretty awful parenting decisions in the past. This justification, however, only serves to make Alice's actions even more unbelievable. I mean, at 41 years of age, I think she would've learned her lesson from her past mistakes.
Plus, Alice's two older children even tell her that they are uncomfortable with the man living there and want him gone, and she STILL continues to allow him to stay. It's unbelievable.
Secondly, Lily marries a foreigner after only knowing him a few weeks, and then leaves her family and country behind to live in England. She knows nothing of her husband's past or his family or his life. NOTHING. Again -- illogical and not very smart. I will admit that some slack and credibility may be given due to Lily being only 21 years-old. But still.
And lastly, the tragic trouble that Gray and Kirsty find themselves in is the direct result of their parents making horribly bad decisions and not protecting them. It's very sad . . . and also, very unbelievable that their parents would behave the way that they do in the novel.
Furthermore, the overall story is a bit humdrum for my taste. It lacks any powerful moments of heart-stopping tension. The big twist, too, is not very surprising and fairly easy to figure out.
So . . . all of this adds up to me, struggling with I Found You and believing it to be just another average, standard, run-of-the-mill thriller.
With all that being said, however, a part of me still liked the book. It's not terrible, by any means. It's a quick, enjoyable read that, even with its flaws, still compelled me to turn the pages. It's one that I would recommend -- but only if you're looking for a lighter thriller and willing to turn a blind eye in regard to the logicality of the actions of the characters.
And just so you know, I'm not giving up on Jewell either. I will most certainly give another one of her novels a try. Her writing style makes for a very easy, pleasing read . . . and sometimes, easy and pleasing is exactly what I need.
Here's to hoping the next one lands more on the side of love, rather than like.
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2.5✨
SURPRISINGLY MEDICORE
Lisa Jewell is fairly new to me , though I have heard a lot about her , this is the first book that I have read written by her and I was quite disappointed because I guess I was expecting too much from this book , but I guess I will give Lisa Jewell another chance !
what I liked ?
• simple and easy writing
• descriptive :- I like when a author creates an atmosphere for readers to enjoy , and this book provides a beautiful setting of a small town with its past and secrets , big house and people living their and the t its vivid description it's creates an aura which compelled me to complete it ( coz there was nothing else to enjoy)
• alternating pov :- I like books with alternating pov because every chapter ends on a suspensive note and reader is compelled to think , ik some people find it confusing and irritating but I quite enjoy it. Although there were major flaws in all the pov but I was still rooting for things to work out!
what I disliked ?
• slow paced :- although the book started with a fairly good start and a promising plot but my interest began to die down in the middle and by the end I was like " meh"
• predictable :- it's like if you are 2/3 by the book you can easily guess the remaining 1/3 , the suspense was pretty flat for my taste .
• character :- I have read that Lisa Jewell books are character driven if that's the case I didn't connected with any of the character , all their actions were based on their stupid and illogical decisions taken in past .
I guess I will give her another chance ! Any suggestions which book i should read next by her?
Recommended for people who like slow paced , drama with a hint of suspense this book is for them! -
I Found You by Lisa Jewel is a 2017 Atria Books publication.
Tantalizing, Compelling, and very suspenseful.
Three seemingly unrelated people see their lives converge in the most horrific an unimaginable way.
Alice is a harried single mom in her forties trying to keep her head on straight after committing a few horrendous parenting mistakes.
When she sees a man out on the cold, damp, windy beach, she feels sorry for him and brings him an old coat to wear. In the process, she discovers the man has amnesia, and despite the possible dangers, she is determined to help him.
Lily has only been married a few weeks when her husband simply vanishes into thin air. Being in a new country, having never met her husband’s family face to face, having no friends to call, Lily’s search for the truth is daunting. Finally, able to enlist some help, Lily is baffled by what she discovers about her new husband.
‘I Found You’ is a tense psychological thriller, very cleverly plotted, beginning with a somewhat lighter tone that slowly develops into something truly dark and sinister.
This book played tricks with my head from the beginning and kept me guessing, tense, and on edge all the way to end.
I never knew who to trust, who to believe, who was in danger, or what to make of the situation, especially when ‘Frank’ begins to have a few memory jogs. The twists are deep, well timed, and surprising, the suspense is taut, but there is an emotional element at play, as well. At the end of the day, there is a sense of long overdue justice and I experienced palpable relief when I was finally able to exhale again.
Despite the darker tones and subject matter, the book has a deeply satisfying quality to it, which can be attributed to the characterizations, and the way the author adeptly, and realistically drew the book to a close.
Overall, this is another stellar effort by Lisa Jewell, who is now becoming one of my ‘go to’ authors.
4 stars -
"From the end of the bay came another plaintive call of a peacock".
NO SPOLIERS in this review ....a few plot set-ups....THAT's ALL!
Lisa Jewel has total command of her material interlacing three vivid sets of stories --
that holds our attention--building suspense--to the very last page.
Alice Lake is a single mom. She moved her clan ....Romaine, Kai, Jasmine ( her 3 children each who have a different birth father) .....and her three dogs ( Hero, Sadie, and Grif), to Ridinghouse Bay.
Alice sees a man sitting on the beach for hours and hours. When the rain comes down hard, she brings him a raincoat assuming he is homeless. She's not that far off. The man hasn't a clue where he came from - what his name is -has absolutely no memory of his life whatsoever. Alice has a small shed in the back of her house and invites him to stay. Over a period of months - Alice has given him food to eat, the dogs seem to like him ( so of course he must be a kind man), has taken him shopping at the thrift store for a few clothes, and to the May Company for 'new' underwater and socks. She has also given him the name Frank.
Alice has a best friend named Derry Dynes ( with one son Daniel). She has made it clear to Alice that she doesn't approve of the stranger Alice has brought into her house. Derry's warnings were always in my thoughts also....'knowing' this story could go anywhere.
Lily Monrose is from Ukraine originally. She has only been back 10 days from her honeymoon- in Ukraine- and is now living in a new flat in London with her husband Carl.
Carl doesn't come home from work one day. It's completely against character to everything she experiences about him.... but she admits she has not known him very long and knows very little about his background. Police are investigating his whereabouts. They have discovered there is no person with his name.
In 1993....( twenty something years earlier than Alice's and Lily's mysteries)....
is another fascinating story about a family that was taking their annual summer vacation in Ridinghouse Bay.
The Ross Family consist of the following: Anthony( Tony) and Pam are the parents. Their two children are Gray, (16), and Kristy( 15)
Across the way is a larger estate. Mark Tate is visiting his aunt, Kitty, who owns the large house ---with peacocks, and donkeys. Kitty's husband has recently died, and Mark is keeping her company.
Mark is 19 years old.....He's precocious, talks about being a millionaire, and has the hots for 15 year old Kristy.
GREAT-ARTFUL MYSTERY!!! DEFTLY PLOTED!! THOROUGHLY ENGAGING!!!!!
I LOVED IT! This book comes out in April 2017
Thank You Atria Books, Netgalley, and Lisa Jewell. -
3+ out of 5 stars to
I Found You, a 2016 thriller and suspense novel, by
Lisa Jewell. Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Lisa Jewell for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Why This Book
NetGalley had the book listed as an option in the thriller section. I'd seen one or two reviews with positive feedback on Goodreads. After reading the description, I was intrigued by how the plot would come together. Requested it. Was awarded it. And it was the next date due on NetGalley.
Overview of Story
Lily and Carl have been married for a few weeks and are deeply in love. Lily's waiting for him to come home from work in London, but he's later than usual. Carl met her on business in Ukraine and married her within a week, bringing her home with him to England, where she knows not a single soul. He's got a mother they spoke with on the phone once, shortly after the wedding, but she's not met any of his family or friends. She's about 20 and he's in his early 40s. When he's late, she gets the cops involved, and after their initial day of research, the cops tell her the man does not exist and must be using a fake name. They begin to search for him with whatever little information they have available.
Alice watches a man sit on the beach in the rain outside her small house. Her friend Derry tells her not to pickup another stranger, given her bad habits in the past. Alice, 42, has 3 different children by 3 different men, and each one ended in some sort of disaster, including kidnapping and violent attack. But Alice doesn't listen and offers the stranger a place to sleep for a few nights, given she learns he has no memory of who he is or where he comes from. Slowly, Frank (40), as he calls himself for lack of any other name, begins to remember pieces of his life, believing he may have murdered someone and is looking for a young girl from years ago.
Twenty-two years ago, the third story takes place. A father, mother, daughter Kirsty who is 15 and son Gray who is 17, are on vacation near the beach. They meet a young man named Mark, who is 19. At first Mark seems like a great young man and is very interested in Kirsty. He introduces them to his aunt Kitty, who he is living with up on the hill. Slowly, we see Mark might be deranged, and when Kirsty tries to end it, a battle between the 3 of them begins. It ends in disaster that night, and as the chapters unfold, we see small pieces of the previous events.
[image error] -
I Found You is my first book by Lisa Jewell and she is now on my radar and I will be looking at more of her books to read.
I Found You is an intriguing, clever and interesting mystery with secrets, lies and plenty of suspense that starts off a little slow and on the lighter side and then turns more darker as we learn more about the intriguing and likeable characters and their stories. It is well paced and well written with two stories told in the present day and are interwoven with a third story from the past.
I loved how the story opened up with the mysterious man on the beach and was immediately intrigued by him and wanted to know more about how he got there. I found myself very curious as to what were his buried memories. I was equally intrigued by the young women searching for her husband and liked her right away. The story from the past had me wondering as to how it tied into the other two stories and was excited to keep those pages turning to find out how. I found all three stories interesting and engaging and they had me questioning who is who, who is the bad guy here and who should I trust and trying to figure out their hidden secrets.
Lisa Jewell does a great job pacing and weaving the three stories together and revealing just what I needed at the right time to keep me guessing but allowing me to figure some things out leaving me feeling quite clever when I did. This was a very satisfying read for me that I highly recommend.
Thank you, NetGalley, Atria Books and Lisa Jewell for providing a copy for me to read and review.
All of Norma’s and my reviews can be found on our sister blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi... -
Alice Lake is a single mother of three who lives in a small tourist town near the coast. Prone to bad decision making, Alice sees a man sitting on the beach near her house for hours on end and decides to check on him. She soon comes to find out he's in a fugue state with no memory of his identity and commits herself to helping him out. Meanwhile in London, Lily who has only been married for a few weeks begins to worry when her husband doesn't come home from work, especially in light of his intense emotional devotion to her. Lily knows no one in the country, having moves only after being married, and struggles to try to track down her husband. Some how the two stories are connected to one that takes place twenty plus years ago, when an average family takes a vacation and the daughter finds herself the recipient of an older boys intense attraction.
I actually enjoyed this book a lot and I once again didn't get what was happening for a good two thirds of the book, probably because I'm oblivious. It felt pretty obvious in hindsight but I didn't see what was being built up to so I had fun reading and I was pretty invested in seeing where the story was going. The only character that really got on my nerves in this was Lily with her entitled attitude and I really just wanted to bang my head against the wall every time we switched back to her. Other than that I thought the characters were decent, especially Alice and her family. A good book if you just want some entertainment and suspense. -
I Found You took me on a suspenseful, emotional roller coaster ride as an harrowing secret, buried for 22 years, is uncovered.
Three main stories comprise the narrative: A man who has repressed such an awful memory for 22 years that it has put him in a fugue state. A newlywed bride living in a foreign country whose husband has disappeared. And the story of a brother and sister on vacation in 1993. These stories are bound by a common thread, but it takes time for this thread to be revealed.
Alice, an artist and single mother of three, is known for making bad decisions. It’s no surprise that when she spies a man sitting on the beach in the pouring rain, that she tries to help him. This man appears to have amnesia and cannot remember who he is or what his name is. Alice takes him and calls him “Frank.” Alice is determined to help Frank retrieve his memories, but the more she gets to know him the more she falls for him and begins to wonder if maybe it’s best he doesn’t remember who he is, where he is from, and what he might have done to block his memories.
At the same time in London, Lily, a young bride from Kiev, is searching for her husband. Only married for a few weeks, Lily believes that only grave danger would have taken her husband Carl away from her. The more she searches for him, the more she realizes that she doesn’t know him as well as she thinks.
Flashback to 1993, and the story of Gray and his 15 year old sister, Kirsty who are on a two week beach vacation with their parents, is at the forefront. Kirsty starts dating a slimy older guy named Mark. Gray recognizes that something isn’t right about Mark, but whether or not he can keep him away from Kirsty remains to be seen.
I love Lisa Jewell books because I never know what I am going to get from her; her books always take me in a different direction than I anticipated. I Found You is filled with suspense, so much so that I developed a sense of dread while I was reading, as I knew something bad was going to happen. I found the characters to be well developed and I was surprised by how emotional the ending made me.. I recommend this one for a solid, thrilling read!
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. -
A mystery of twenty years. Three lives that will become entwined, two in a horrible way, one may be the start of a new beginning. Some very fine writing here. Can one recognize the face of Evil? This outstanding and suspenseful novel uses some amazing sleights of hand to keep the reader totally engrossed. A few graphic scenes, none too gory, but it is the descriptions, the atmosphere Jewell creates that gave me the shivers. The kind where you find yourself holding your breath, butterflies in my stomach, and hoping answers will be found, someone held accountable.
The ending if a bit too over the top was satisfying. Light after some terrifying darkness. This is a suspense novel with substance.
ARC from Netgalley. -
EXCERPT: He is still there. The man on the beach.
He’s been there all day, since she opened her curtains at seven o’clock this morning: sitting on the damp sand, his arms around his knees, staring and staring out to sea. She’s kept an eye on him, concerned that he might be about to top himself. That had happened once before. A young man, deathly pale in the blue-white moonlight, had left his coat on the beach and just disappeared. Alice is still haunted by the thought of him, three years later.
But this man doesn’t move. He just sits and stares. The air today is cold and blowing in hard, bringing with it a veil of icy droplets from the surface of the sea. But the man is wearing only a shirt and jeans. No jacket. No bag. No hat or scarf. There’s something worrying about him: not quite scruffy enough to be a drifter; not quite strange enough to be a mental health patient from the day-care centre in town. He looks too fit to be a junkie and he hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol. He just looks… Alice searches her mind for the right word and then it comes to her. He looks lost.
ABOUT THIS BOOK: 'How long have you been sitting out here?'
'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'
East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.
Surrey: 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.
Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's brilliant new novel.
MY THOUGHTS: I honestly thought that, this time, I knew where Lisa Jewell was taking me. Was sure. Dancing around the living room chanting 'gotcha' sure. I was wrong. Again. Lisa, you are welcome to dance around your living room chanting 'gotcha', because you did. Again.
I think I am becoming addicted to this author who never fails to enchant, delight and surprise me. I love her characters, 'crap mum' Alice who has the biggest heart, 'Frank' whom she rescues from the beach while wondering if she is inviting a murderer into her home, and Lily who shows amazing grit and determination when the chips are down. Amazing people. Ordinary people. People I would like to have for friends. These are the characters who people Lisa Jewell's books. Characters who, when you close the cover after the last page, keep a little bit of your heart.
Jewell immerses these 'real' people into situations that are part romance, part suspense and a whole lot of mystery and creates a very plausible, emotionally gripping page turner that, while leaving me totally satisfied, also leaves me wanting more of her wonderful stories.
4.5 brilliant stars
Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone Arrow for providing a digital ARC of I Found You by Lisa Jewell for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/... -
A man is found on the beach, in the rain. He has no memory of who he is and where he's come from.
A woman has lost her husband. He never shows up after work and she reports him missing.
Two young kids summer vacationing meet up with a posh kid who introduces them to liquor and drugs.
Three stories entwined from the past to the present. Twisted lies, deceit.
I'm fussing with this rating - but am comfortable at a 3.5⭐️
I like Jewell's style of writing - but not sure if I can honestly say any memorable characters. An interesting storyline but one that was at times farfetched and one I'm likely to forget. -
This book had EVERYTHING!!! I enjoyed this very, very much. At first I thought “Here we go, another stale thriller.” But that thought quickly vanished after the first 5 minutes. Believe the hype this book gets!!
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A Captivating, Character Driven Suspense Novel and an All-Around Great Read.
I Found You, by Lisa Jewell held my attention and didn't let go. On a dark and stormy night, Alice Lake, looks out her window and sees a man, sitting out on the beach, alone. He is drenched, clearly confused and shivering, Alice goes to him and though he is a stranger, she ends up inviting him in. The stranger, is in a fugue state. He has no memory and can't recall how he got to the beach. He could be dangerous, and yet, Alice invites him to stay with her, her children and her crazy herd of animals. They call him Frank and help him uncover his lost memories.
Elsewhere, a young immigrant, Lily Monrose is frantic. Her husband, Carl, has gone missing. They are newlyweds and are madly in love. They are always together and only have eyes for, and spend time with each other. When she reports him missing, the police tell her not to worry, that he will most likely turn up, which does not appease her.
Each chapter, stops your heart; each character's heartache becomes your own heartache. As this mystery unfolds, you cannot help but root for Alice; for Frank and wonder: Is Frank a good guy? What caused him to lose his memory? Is Alice safe? Where is Carl? Is Lily as innocent as she seems? You must read this one to find out.
The author Lisa Jewell does a phenomenal job in keeping the readers on their toes and making us care about the story. I Found You, is a fast-paced suspenseful novel that should not be missed.
Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books & Lisa Jewell, for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 1/15/17.
**Will be Published on Amazon on 4/25/17. -
As my first Lisa Jewell I would say this book succeeded. At times I rolled my eyes and didn’t like the way the characters thought/behaved. But overall a well written thriller.
Lily is newly married to Carl Monrose. She has moved to the UK from the Ukraine after a whirlwind romance. When her doting husband doesn’t come home one day after work she panics and realises how alone she truly is. Especially when the police don’t take her seriously.
Meanwhile Alice has 3 children and 3 dogs in a cottage in North Yorkshire. When a strange man in found sitting on the beach with no memory and no idea who he is, she invites him to stay in her home. Much to the shock of the gossipy neighbours.
We also have separate chapters set in 1993 that tell a story of a family holiday taken every year - but this year will be one that changes them forever.
It’s very good at building suspense and the reveals were horrifyingly sad at times. I enjoyed the ending and how everything tied together.
3.75 ⭐️ -
I totally loved this book. It's only been in the last two years that I have been reading Lisa Jewell's novels and I am quite the fan. What I love about this book, like many of her others is that you can just relax into the story, enjoy the writing, get to know the characters and the book becomes your friend. For me this was one of those "go-to" books when you just want something solid that you know will entertain and give you true escapism from everyday life. A great holiday read too.
'How long have you been sitting out here?'
'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'
East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.
Surrey: 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.
Quite a surreal thing finding someone on the beach outside your home that doesn't know very much, basically because he has a form of amnesia. This is central to the plot and the direction of the book. Many may not have done what Alice did by offering him a warm room and a meal, preferring to contact the police or somewhere else, but this is exactly what she did.
The book runs two parallel storylines which explores Alice's growing time with "the stranger" and shares with us some of her own complex background and everyday challenges raising her children and running a home alone for some time. I really liked Alice as a character, she's pretty darn real, no tickets on herself, no Barbie doll, full of insecurities and self-doubt. With a past. I could happily do coffee and cake with Alice.
Lily is the other storyline - her handsome hardworking husband just does not come home from work one day, she is from another country in Europe and is in England because of him. The book shares with us her everyday fears and uncertainty of being a stranger suddenly quite alone in the country. I had mixed feelings about Lily, she may do that to you to as a character, sometimes I felt sorry for her and admired her tenacity pursuing the hunt for her husband, other times she just came across as a bit cold. Just me probably. Lily starts to dig into her husband's past in an effort to put the pieces together and nothing will ever be the same again.
The book definitely holds the reader tightly from start to finish, there is great dialogue, character interaction and a lot of questions left unanswered as you read both stories, you will absolutely be constantly forming your own version of events as you go and predicting the outcome. Well I did anyway, and got it wrong a few times. I think Lisa Jewell tells stories that you can take to heart but also engages the mind, it's a good combination.
As more and more is revealed and pieces of the puzzle of who "the stranger" is come to light I found myself hungry to find out the truth and eagerly whizzing through the last third of the book. As the storylines collide and answers to questions get answered I found it to be a really satisfying read. A very likeable book that I recommend to anyone that enjoys women's fiction and finds the idea of the plot appealing. If you have not read Lisa Jewell before this is not a bad place to start.
I recently finished her novel The Girls in the Garden
and had really enjoyed that too.
I read a lot of crime, serial killer chillers, psychological thrillers and horror but I also branch out into women's fiction and things on the lighter side to break from the darkness and Lisa `Jewell never lets me down ever. A great book with an ending you may not be expecting. 5 stars from me.
Many thanks to Penguin who kindly give me access to all of their new releases to read in exchange for a fair, honest and professional book review. Much appreciated.
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Kept waiting, hoping for this story to pick up the pace. Didn’t want to abandon it, but in the end, not sure it was the best decision.
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This book interweaves three storylines involving three families in England.
Single mother Alice Lake is a streaked blonde who looks weary but attractive. Alice lives in a beachhouse in the seaside town of Ridinghouse Bay, Yorkshire with her three dogs and three children, all of whom have different fathers.
Alice is a good person at heart, but - because of her freewheeling lifestyle - tends to hook up with the wrong men and has a 'rap sheet' with child protective services. Alice is trying to do better now, and is helped in this endeavor by her best friend Derry Dynes.
Still, when Alice sees a forlorn rain-soaked man sitting on the beach near her house, she can't help but offer assistance. The man - who's nice-looking and well-dressed - has amnesia, and Alice offers him a temporary home in her guest cottage while they try to unravel his identity.
Alice's little daughter names the man 'Frank', and Frank is soon almost a member of the Lake household.
*****
Meanwhile, in a London suburb, a beautiful Ukranian newlywed named Lily is worried about her husband Carl Monrose.
After texting that he was on his way home from work, Carl didn't return, and has been incommunicado ever since. Lily makes a missing persons report, but the police are rather indifferent until they discover that Carl's passport is a fake.
Lily is bewildered by the revelation, but loves and trusts her husband. Moreover, she isn't about to rely on the lethargic cops, and - with the help of Carl's work acquaintance - launches her own investigation into her husband's disappearance.
*****
The above two plotlines, which take place in the present, alternate with an event that occurred over twenty years ago, in 1993. The Ross family - mom Pam, dad Tony, 15-year-old Kristy, and 17-year-old Gray - are on their annual vacation in Ridinghouse Bay, Yorkshire - where they rent the same cottage every year.
This year, Kristy - who's matured into a very pretty girl - attracts the eye of 19-year-old Mark Tate, who's visiting an aunt in the area.
Mark is handsome and seems personable, and - with the permission of her parents - Kristy starts to spend a lot of time with him. Gray, however, is suspicious of the new acquaintance and tries to put Kristy off him.....with good reason, as things turn out.
The characters in the novel are interesting and well-rounded, and their behavior is (mostly) believable. In my opinion Pam and Tony were too casual about their daughter seeing Mark, who was overly aggressive from the get-go....but I understand that the author had to move the story along.
Readers will undoubtedly speculate about how the plotlines relate to each other, and they'll probably be wrong. 🙂 I don't want to give away spoilers so I'll just say that things come together in a dramatic, well-wrought, and satisfying fashion.
I enjoyed the book and recommend it to mystery fans.
You can follow my reviews at
https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.... -
For fast paced suspense, well developed characters, and a great story, it just doesn’t get any better than this!
Twenty two years ago, a family is on holiday in a cottage near the sea in northern England. The son and daughter fall under the influence of a 19 year old who is shallow but charming, manipulative and bad-tempered. The entire family becomes embroiled in a bad situation that turns tragic.
Twenty two years later, an artist named Alice finds a man occupying the beach outside her home for hours and when it becomes obvious he doesn’t plan on moving despite the terrible weather, she offers him assistance. She has a shed that he is invited to occupy while she, her 3 children, and 3 dogs occupy the house.
The man cannot remember his name, where he is from, nor how he got where he is. This poses a problem – and a challenge.
Meantime, in another area of England, a young woman’s husband of only a few weeks has disappeared. He faithfully returned from work every night on the same train at the exact same time so she knows something is dreadfully wrong. She eventually ends up on a journey to search for her husband.
The past then meets up with the all the characters in the present and the intensity builds to a crescendo.
This is a book I enjoyed completely. Lisa Jewell is a writer who knows how to lay out a great story and she knows how to ensure we are kept glued to the pages (or our eReader screens) from beginning to end. The characters are very real and well-portrayed; I cared about them and the events that turned their lives upside down and inside out.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrilling, fast-paced book that is highly satisfying through to the end. -
3.75 stars
I'm a bit conflicted on how to rate this book. I enjoyed reading it, no problems there, it's just that I had to suspend belief in how the whole story came together in order to enjoy it...see my quandary?
What I liked:
-Alice, one of the main female characters. She is flawed and has made a lot of poor choices in her life but she is also strong and made sure she landed on her feet. The best part about her? She curses a lot. It amazes me how many authors omit this simple character trait when it is something that everyone does in normal day to day life. I found her simple slips of the tongue both endearing and refreshing.
-The plot/mystery itself. While still part of the 'stretch', the lone man on the beach with no memory did intrigue me. As the story starts to unfold, I felt the author did a nice job of revealing just the right amount of breadcrumbs at just the right time to keep me invested.
What I didn't like:
-The pace. It was a bit slow for my liking. Took awhile to get there.
-The plot/mystery itself. Yes, I both loved it and then didn't. The downside to the plot is that it's just hard to believe all of it could have even happened the way it did. You know what I mean-no character ever feels it's right to call the police, or a character has completely lost his memory but no one takes him to a Dr. Yet miraculously they are able to solve the mystery on their own through convoluted ways that would never happen in real life.
But... I think the good definitely outweigh the bad here, so go grab yourself a copy and enjoy!
ARC provided by NetGalley -
2nd book for the Booktubeathon is complete! I read this all day today and holy shit it was so good. I can't believe I've had two five star books in a row, this never happens for me. Earlier this year I read Then She Was Gone by this author and that was also a five star book for me and I decided I wanted to read more form this author! Now I'm sure I need to get my hands on ALL of her books, she's an amazing writer!
This is a thriller/mystery that follows two women. The first woman Alice has three kids and she's a single Mother who lives on the beach. She she's a suspicious man on the beach and when she approaches him he says he doesn't remember who he is or what his name even is. In alternating chapters we follow another woman named Lily who's husband just disappeared only a few weeks after they got married and she doesn't know what could have possibly happened to him. Both of these stories intertwine in the most interesting way and this book kept me guessing until the end.
The thing I love most about Lisa Jewell's thrillers is that she makes you care about the characters. Both thrillers that I've read from her have been so emotionally investing and made my heart psychically hurt and made my want to cry by the end. That's how a thriller should be written. I couldn't put this book down because I had to know what happened and I got so emotionally invested with every single character. They just feel so real to me.
But god damn. What an amazing story. I won't be forgetting this one anytime soon. I need to read all of Lisa Jewell's other books now.
This book completed the Booktubeathon challenge for: Read a book with a beautiful spine. -
And my love for Lisa Jewell's writing continues....
After reading her thoroughly enjoyable books "The Girls in the Garden" and "Then She Was Gone", I chose this atmospheric mystery, set at the beach, and I'm so very glad I did!
Alice Lake looks out the window of her coastal cottage and sees an unfamiliar man, sitting on the beach, just staring out at sea -- for hours -- in the pouring rain. She takes her three large dogs with her and goes to him, to see if he's okay. As it turns out, he doesn't know who he is, where he is, or how he got there. He doesn't even know his own name.
Alice has a spare room in a shed behind her house and invites him to stay there for the night, at least to get out of the cold rain. He ends up staying for a couple of weeks while his memory slowly returns.
This mystery was so much fun to unravel, and I really enjoyed how it was presented from three different perspectives (two from present day and one from 22 years ago). I really liked Alice's character a lot, which is always a treat. It's really nice to have a heroine you can empathize with and root for.
Lisa Jewell can definitely write. The atmospheres she creates are just so tangible and real. Just a pleasure to read. So after finishing this one, I immediately pulled her book "Watching You" off my bookshelf and placed it on my bedside table for my next read. -
I waited a long time to write the review on I Found You because I was pretty conflicted about how I should rate it. On one hand, I could not put it down, and the book had a lot of twist and turns that I did not see coming (the big one I did figure out but not for a while); on the other hand, the female protagonist drove me a little nutty and was fairly unlikable, and several characters did things that no person I know would do. In the end, the fact that I could not put it down and there were some good twists led me to give I Found You 4 stars. Lisa Jewell does a phenomenal job setting up the story and making it unfold in a page-turning manner. I do not want to spoil even one bit of the story so I will not say any more about the plot other than to say that I woke up in the middle of the night and figured out one section of the mystery. That has never happened to me before, and I took that as I sign that I Found You was a really good book if I was thinking about it as I slept!
I Found You is a clever thriller that I generally enjoyed a lot. Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. -
When I read the cover information for this book, there was no point putting it back on the shelf. I was hooked by the setting, a beach near fictional Ridinghouse* Bay, Yorkshire, England, a familiar location from my own childhood. (actual:Whitby, Robin Hood’s Bay*) The story held lots of promise; a quirky, single, self-employed mom, Alice, finds a confused man with obvious amnesia sitting on that beach in the rain. There are all sorts of possibilities here. Is he a homeless man, a washed-up fisherman, an illegal migrant, or a tourist who had a health incident? Alice was more than curious about this know-nothing, somebody rather different from the urban know-it-alls who come to the seaside for their holidays. It was true to her nature to take him home to her three kids and three dogs. That establishes the first mystery.
Of course, there’s more. Meanwhile, down in Sussex, lovely Lilly from Kiev, Ukraine has called police to report her husband of three weeks as missing, his wallet and keys left behind.
A third storyline unfolds in the past when a youth fixates on the teen daughter of a family on vacation on the same coast. He may be charming, but he has an edgy, even sinister demeanour.
Lisa Jewell weaves the three storylines into a seamless, steady-paced narrative. She complements her entertaining prose with tension as if from a timed-release capsule. There are enough suspicious details and surprises to satisfy readers who favour all of psychological thrillers, domestic suspense, compelling characters with secrets, shifting atmospheric moods, and enough chilling creative links to coordinate everything into an entirely satisfying conclusion.
If you choose to read only one Lisa Jewell book, make it this one.
I guarantee it will not be your last. -
Lisa Jewell somehow manages to write a page-turning, suspenseful, keep-you-up-all-night plot with a satisfying conclusion AND create deeply human characters with whom you connect and care for.
Character-driven and plot-driven all in one. I loved it! -
I often find that with mystery novels I need to have a really strong plot, and either great writing or great characters. If it lacks 2 of these things then I probably won't enjoy it. With Lisa Jewell's latest—though my first foray into the author's works—she handles all three adequately, making for a gripping story that had me turning pages.
Most of the fun of this story came from me knowing basically nothing about it before starting. It was sent to me by the publisher unsolicited (and of course all thoughts/opinions in this review are my own), so it wasn't necessarily a book that I would've picked up normally. But I'm glad I did because it reminded me how fun mysteries can be—whether your theories are correct or not—and how they really put me in a reading mood. I'll admit that even when I wasn't loving the story, characters, or writing, I didn't want to put the book down. There's just something about needing to know what happens next and connecting all the plot points that makes reading mysteries such a pleasure.
Overall I did find the characters to be enjoyable, especially the ones in the flashbacks to 1993. I felt like Jewell handled both multiple perspectives and dual timelines really well, and they served a purpose to the story. Also the fact that it was written in 3rd person, not 1st person, was a big plus to me—because often 1st person multiple perspective novels are tedious to read if the author hasn't distinguished the voices of their characters enough.
If you're a big mystery fan, you've probably already had your eye on this one since Jewell seems to be a big name in the genre. But if you're like me and aren't someone well-versed in mysteries, this is a good taster, and one that is engaging, quick to read, and ultimately satisfying. -
Alice finds him sitting on her beach. It's rain, he has no jacket, and doesn't know his name, how he got there, where he came from. Alice takes in strays ..usually dogs, but this time she's going against her gut feeling and inviting him to stay with her and her children.
Many miles away, Lily is feeling abandoned. She's been married for 2 weeks and her new husband has been missing for several days. He doesn't answer his phone, he's not shown up at work. And when she finally goes to the police, she finds that her husband doesn't even exist.
Twenty-three years ago, siblings Gray and Kirsty are teenagers spending the summer on holiday with their parents. Another visiting teen has his eye on Kirsty. Gray is getting really bad feelings about this new guy, and he fears for her safety.
Alternating chapters are in the voices of Alice, Lily, and Gray. I thought I had it all figured out...but surprise! I didn't. It became something more ..more sinister...more dangerous...filled with dark secrets that have been hiding for decades.
This is a well-written psychological with solidly built characters. I have read several of this author's books and she has never disappointed.
Many thanks to the author / Arrow Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of I FOUND YOU. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own. -
A stand alone psychological thriller by Lisa Jewell that I had intended on reading over a couple of days but ended up reading in one sitting. I hate it when they class books as 'women's fiction' because it narrows the readers down unnecessary. This is an excellent novel that will appeal to psychological thrillers of either sex.
Alice Lake lives on the Yorkshire coast with her three children by different fathers and her dogs. Alice is an off the wall character, good hearted, chaotic but overall a very likeable person. While walking the dogs she encounters a handsome stranger around her age sitting on the beach. She is drawn to the man due to the fact that he looks bewildered and discovers he’s suffering from severe amnesia and has no idea who he is or where he comes from.that also means he doesn’t know why he’s there or where he’s come from. Alice in her own off beat world feels for the man and offers him a spare room at her house.
The book flips to twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose who was born in Ukraine and 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.
You think you know what the link is between the characters, don't be so sure, there are so many twists and turns this novel will have you guessing to the end.
I am sure you will realise there is a lot more to the outline I have given but the plot is expertly plotted with some excellent characters. This is my favourite novel by this author so far.
