Review: I Found You by Lisa Jewell

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.

Hardcover, 352 pages 

Expected publication: April 25th 2017 by Atria Books

****

Lisa Jewell is a new author to me, I've heard nothing but good things about her books - full of suspense and intrigue.  I jumped at the chance when netgalley promoted I Found You.  Right from the beginning I was captivated with 2 different storylines and a jump back to 1993 kept me reading.

The synopsis outlines the story nicely, the characters were interesting, flawed and somewhat believable.  That being said I would have loved to know more about Alice, while I was given snippets of her background I had more questions about why she seemed so desperate for love. Same thing with Lily, while I could understand her situation she seemed to change into a different person once she meets Alice and Frank and I didn't really feel the progression taking place.

As the story unfolded I had a hard time putting my kindle down.  The mystery surrounding 'Frank' is what kept me going especially as the back story started to take shape.  While I thought I had solved the mystery it twisted and turned around.  It was after Frank's past was revealed and the mystery solved that it floundered for me.  While the last pages brought closure it wasn't done in a matter that appealed to me.  It almost seemed rush and didn't match the smooth flow this book had.

Why am I giving this book 4 stars if I had a few issues?  Because I did enjoy reading it (only took 2 days) the author created a mysterious setting that had me wanting to find out what was going on.  I would recommend this one and read more by this author.

Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.