I Found You

 I Found You is one of the better psychological thrillers I've read lately. It's also the second book I've read by Lisa Jewell after The Girls in the Garden, so I was excited to see where she would go in this one. And I was not disappointed. This just seemed a notch above the usual psychological thrillers for me, maybe it's the writing, but this had me hooked from the get-go. And speaking of the writing, it initially set me back as it's a crisper, more staccato style- I'm not sure how else to describe it- but once I got used to it I was fine. 

The story is told from three alternating perspectives. Alice is a single mom who finds a guy sitting on the beach one morning, staring out at sea- he has no idea who he is. The second perspective is "Frank", the guy with no memory- Alice takes him in and tries to help him, against the advice of her friend and her own common sense. And the third perspective is Lily, a Ukrainian newlywed whose husband doesn't come home from work one night and is soon considered missing. These perspectives all felt different, I thought the author captured a distinct voice for each one, and that's just one of the things I really liked. 

So who is Frank? And where did Lily's husband go? Well it turns out to be intertwined with a story from thirty-some years ago, when two kids came with their family to the seaside town that Alice lives in. They were on holiday with their family, and we get flashbacks to that summer with the two kids, Gray and Kirsty. A local guy takes an interest in Kirsty and there's something about him that seems off to Gray, and as the story progresses we learn more about him and Kirsty even as in the present the clues seem to come together for Frank and Lily. 

It works very well and I was captivated by the unfolding story. I had to know more, and while sometimes I don't like flashbacks, at one point that was the most pressing story for me, and I got emotionally invested. Gray and Kirsty's story is a cautionary tale and I got very angry at something that happened- another sign that the author is doing something right! It also makes you think a bit about choices and consequences, and how a cascading series of events can change a life forever. 

So this was one of the better recent reads I've found in this genre. At this point Lisa Jewell is an author I would definitely like to read more of. If there was anything I didn't like it was the coincidence or two that seemed a bit of a stretch, and the plausibility of some events towards the end- a problem I have with a lot of these books. But I got my money's worth out of this one- characterization, tension, and a great story- and if you want to read a fabulous and atmospheric thriller this is a great one.