Book Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell

This book has been on my radar for quite a while, as its publication date was my birthday, but I had no compelling urge to read it until the reviews started emerging. Immediately that ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) kicked in and I HAD to read it. This the perfect example of FOMO being a great thing because this book is brilliant!

Book Description:

Everyone has secrets. What if you can’t remember yours?

Lily 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.

Alice 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 into her home.

But who is he, and how can she trust a man who has lost his memory?

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 Found You is the perfect book for mystery lovers; the plot is so intriguing, Jewell keeps you guessing until the very end. Alice is a wonderful character, who is instantly likeable, so down to earth, you are #TeamAlice from the get go. In contrast to Lily, who isn’t necessary unlikeable but I didn’t take to her the same way I did Alice. A woman provides shelter to a strange man she finds on the beach and a woman is searching for her missing husband – you just know these lady’s lives are going to collide, you just don’t know how. Jewell does a wonderful job keeping us in suspense and the flashback narrative added another layer of suspicion because, again, you know it’s all connected, you just don’t know how.

I loved the multiple perspectives in this novel, it kept me constantly on my toes wondering whose perspective would next reveal a key piece of the puzzle. Often more than two perspectives can be confusing, especially when one of the perspectives is a flashback, but Jewell is a talented writer and I found the storyline easy to follow.

Jewell has crafted a clever mystery that even when you are right about certain parts of the mystery, you’re still wrong overall [at least, that was the case with me]. The plot doesn’t move at breakneck pace but the use of short chapters and the changing of perspectives works to draw you into the mystery. From the first page to the very last, I had no complaints, an excellent cast of characters, a story that gets dark at times but remains believable –  a fantastic book, one I highly recommend.

After finishing this book, I wanted to know what other books Jewell had written and imagine my surprise when I saw she had penned over 10 books, I must be living under a rock because how did I not know about this author. I’m so excited to read more of her work. I Found You is a brilliant book that holds your attention throughout; making it a one sitting read and so worth staying up until 2am to finish it!

This book is available to buy from: Amazon UK / Book Depository

*My thanks to the author (Lisa Jewell) and publisher (Arrow) for granting me access to a digital copy of this book via Netgalley*