Cover Image: I Found You

I Found You

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I loved this book! Alice finds a man just sitting on the beach in the back of her house. She goes by her window several times and still, he's just sitting there. It starts raining and still he's just sitting there looking out at the water. She gives him a coat left from an old tenant who rented her little cabin in the back. After talking to him, she finds out he has lost his memory and invites him inside.

Meanwhile, the author has several other plots going on in the book. While reading, your not sure how or where everything fits. However, when it all comes together, oh my gosh. I am getting goose pimples writing this and thinking about how it all tumbled out in the end.

This is an amazing read with lots of suspense. The characters are well developed and unforgettable. There is evil in here too. Evil you cannot even believe. This was not my first book by Lisa Jewell, I've read several and she has not failed me yet. Once again, an awesome read that I highly recommend.

Thanks to Atria Books for approving my request and Net Galley for the free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

Alice has found a good looking man on the beach, and she’s brought him home. See what I’ve found! With just this much information, I am immediately engaged, wanting to have a conversation with this woman about risks, about dangers. For heaven’s sake, what about your kids? Friends, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Lisa Jewell’s hot new novel goes on sale April 25, 2017. I read mine free and early, thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

The level of suspense is heightened by shifting points of view. We have the man himself, who has amnesia and doesn’t know his name. Alice has her children name him, and they decide to call him Frank. Her teenage daughter Jasmine rolls her eyes, and I want to grab Alice and say, “Oh no, you didn’t!” But since I can’t do that, I read on instead.

Frank has nightmares and we are privy to them, as well as the fragments of memory that come home to him in shards and fragments, bit by bit.

We also have two other, separate story lines. One is that of Lily Monrose, whose husband Carl has vanished. She is just twenty-one years old and came with him to UK from Kiev. He showered her with affection and gifts, found them a home, set up housekeeping, and one day, he failed to return from work. What the heck?

And then we have a vacationing family with a narrative set in the past, featuring teenage siblings Kirsty and Gray, who fall into bad company one summer.

Naturally we wonder from the get-go how these disparate elements will come together at the end of the book. Is Frank really Carl? Is Carl really Gray? Is Frank…well, you see what I mean.

The thing that I love about Jewell’s work is that her dynamic characters are always women, and she develops them well. Alice isn’t always a lovable character; her impulse control and judgment are less than stellar. She tells Frank at the outset:

“I’m not the most together person in the world and it doesn’t take much to make all the wheels fall off.”

She promises her friend Derry, who has seen her through some dark times that were partly due to her own terrible instincts, that she is letting Frank stay in the mother-in-law apartment in back of her home. It has a separate entrance; she will lock the door to her home, and it will just be for one night. But then, the dog likes Frank, and so she takes down the safeguards—the locked door, the one night, the keeping him in a separate place from her family—in breathtakingly swift succession, and I am with Derry, who asks Alice to remember what happened before.

Before what? I turn the pages a little faster.

Meanwhile, the police are way too slow in trying to help Lily, who is isolated in her exurban apartment; she is frantic. Her mother wants her to stop looking for Carl and come home, and it sounds like a smart idea to me, but then I have never lived in Kiev, so who knows? The longer Carl is gone, and the more we learn about him, the more I want to take Lily to the airport. Fly away little bird, there’s nothing that is good for you here!

The hardest buy-in for me is at the beginning, because really, people don’t just get amnesia. Not from car accidents, not from shocking experiences, not from anything. It’s almost unheard of, the stuff of bad old movies. But a good author can sell anybody anything, and I want to know what happens next, so I tell myself, fine then. Amnesia it is. And the way the rest of it unfurls is fascinating. Flawed but appealing, believable characters combined with strong pacing make this addictive novel the one you want at the vacation cabin, the beach, or just for a rainy weekend curled up in your favorite chair.

Recommended to those that love good fiction.

Was this review helpful?

This was an impeccably-paced thriller, packed with engaging details and simply yet elegantly written.

One of the strengths of this story is that it’s character-driven, rather than relying heavily on plot like many of the mystery/thrillers I’ve read in the past. Each of the protagonists is deeply flawed in their own way, and you’re never entirely sure whose past is the darkest. But there are patches of light too; there’s some tongue-in-cheek humor and a broad range of family dynamics at play. Also, one of the main characters’ jobs - creating art from cut-out pieces of old maps - was fascinating. Sounds like a dream job to me!

Overall, I Found You is a well-rounded and immersive story. Highly recommended!

*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Was this review helpful?

Compelling from start to finish. I couldn't wait to see if I was right about the reveal at the end. Satisfying ending which I was hoping for all along. The writing was excellent and tight, and the characters were intricate and well developed.

Was this review helpful?

A little darker version of Liane Moriarty, but still keeps the characters real.

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed the mystery behind this read. I found myself holding my breath wanting to find out who the stranger who had forgotten his past was. Although not a fast paced read, it kept me turning pages to the very end. I enjoyed this authors descriptive writing.

Was this review helpful?

No rating DNF at 23%
The blurb sounded promising unfortunately I just could not get into the author's writing style. It was very slow, very boring and skimming within first 23% is not a good sign.
This is the 2nd book I've tried by this author that hasn't worked for me so I don't plan on trying again :(

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with an advanced copy of Lisa Jewell's novel, I Found You, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Single mom, Alice Lake, notices a man sitting on the beach in front of her home. He stares off into the ocean, while the rain pours down on him, and he doesn't move for hours. Finally, overcome by a sense of compassion and curiosity, Alice goes to check on him. The man has lost his memory and does not have identification. He only knows that somehow he has a link to this seaside village in the north of England. Alice takes him in and he convinces her to hold off on going to the police, to see if he can recover his memories; memories that seem to point to something sinister. 

In a London suburb, Lily, a new bride, is worried when her husband does not return home from work. Lily has recently moved from the Ukraine and she has never met her husband's family. Not only has she never met them, but she does not have their contact information. Could Lily's husband be the man on the beach? 

LIKE- Last year I read Jewell's novel, The Girls in the Garden, and it was fabulous. I was thrilled when her latest novel, I Found You, showed up for request on NetGalley. It did not disappoint. 

I Found You is filled with unexpected twists.. I truly did not anticipate where the story was heading, making it a page-turner. I blazed through it in less than a day, unable to put it down. To this end, I'm not going to discuss any specific plot points or characters, as with this novel, more than most, I think the thrill is in the mystery. I don't want to inadvertently spoil anything for a would-be reader.

In addition to a nail-bitting plot (and intense action sequences), Jewell has memorable characters and a vivid setting. What sticks with me the most is her atmospheric writing and foreboding settings. There is a mansion that is downright creepy. The strong sense of place, coupled with the excitement of the mystery, really grounded me in the story world. I read the last quarter of the novel on my Kindle in a dark room, and I was very relieved to have my husband in bed next to me. I had trouble getting to sleep last night!

DISLIKE- Nothing. After finishing I Found You, I looked up Jewell, and was thrilled to see that she has written many other books. I can't wait to read through her works.

RECOMMEND- YES!!! I enthusiastically recommend both I Found You and The Girls in the Garden. I saw mention of comparisons to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, and Paula Hawkin's The Girl on the Train : no slight to either book, I enjoyed them, but I enjoyed both of Jewell's novels even more! She's a masterful storyteller.

Was this review helpful?

Twenty years ago a family of four went on their annual summer holiday and only two left at the end of it. Flash forward twenty years to the same location where a man with memory loss turns up in the same beach town trying to figure out what happened to him. At the same time in London, a new bride is looing for her missing husband, and it turns out he is not what he claimed to be. With the help of a local woman with a kind hert, can this man remember his past, and what brought him to thisn tragic place?

Jewell is a master at giving you just enough information to think you have it figured out, and plot changes again.

Was this review helpful?

Page-turner.
Will recommend at the Gold Coast Public Library when giving reader's advisory at the reference desk.

Was this review helpful?

It is a gripping book. I devoured this in a couple of days.

Was this review helpful?

My review can be seen at RT Book Reviews.com - 4 1/2 stars TOP PICK

Was this review helpful?

I really enjoyed this atmospheric, twisty romantic thriller. While only the two primary female characters were thoroughly developed, still the plot and episodes were enjoyable and enticing. It's hard not to fall for a helpless, good-looking guy with no memory sitting hunched on the beach in the rain!

Was this review helpful?

Enjoyed the read. A nice mystery thriller with some good character development and some dubious but interesting plot twists. Nice use of language with rich an vivid descriptions.

Was this review helpful?

It took me a very long time to get into this book. Almost to the point where I was getting ready to put it down. But I've only done that twice in my life. I hate abandoning. So I kept going. And thank God I kept at it. What started off as a story told through a man without a memory, a woman whose husband is missing, and a flashback to 93, all came together for a web of craziness 20 years later. About the last 30% of the book, I could not read fast enough. There are so many emotions in this story, from several aspects of heartbreak, to fear and anger, to realization and closure. It takes a while, but it all plays out in a twisted full circle, very well put together story. Definitely worth the read. Definitely worth sticking with it if you're not happy with the pace.

Was this review helpful?

This was an enjoyable read. I liked the way the author wove the 3 story lines and I also liked the mix of mystery and suspense. However I had a major issue right from the beginning in the fact that they never reported Frank to the police. To find a man on a beach who has lost his memory and not report it to an authority seemed completely implausible to me and because of that, I couldn't really take the rest of the story too seriously. Aside from that, this will be an easy book to recommend at the library where I work.

Was this review helpful?

I've said it in the past, but I believe the best thrillers are the kind you can't say much about because you are afraid you will give something away, and this is one of those books. It starts off with Alice meeting a man on the beach who doesn't know who he is or how he got there. At the same time, a woman named Lily realizes her husband is missing. The story unfolds quickly, and it's full of twists and turns. I really appreciated the ending of this book-it's interesting and for the most part, realistic. If you love thrillers, you need to pick this one up right away!

Was this review helpful?

Ha! This was an amazing read. From the beginning, I was charmed by its innocence and then as the pages rolled along I was cast into a storyline filled with amazing characters that filled out this story. It was a story brilliantly told, a story where we had to peek back in time to see where the story originated to find the root of its evil and when it all came together, it was a masterpiece. I truly loved it! My first novel by Lisa Jewell but it will definitely not be my last.

He couldn’t remember his past but he was drawn to the ocean and this particular section of it. Alice, a single mother notices the man sitting on the beach, just staring out into the ocean. As it starts to rain, he continues to sit and stare, not moving, just staring out into the water. His name nor what he is doing, he cannot remember yet Alice decides to take him home where she lives with her three children. Lily had married Carl ten days ago, and he just started back to work after their honeymoon. It’s been twenty-four hours and Carl still is not home from work, Lily can file a missing person’s report but she realizes she doesn’t know much about Carl. Are these two stories even related? It’s 1993, (about 20 years earlier) the Rabbit Cottage is being rented by Tony and Pam and their two children Kristy and Gray. They do this every year but this year they will met Mark who is staying with his aunt. There is no turning back now as this story has me in its grips.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I loved Lisa Jewell's The Girls in the Garden, so I was hoping for quirky characters, and this one is not like that. I felt a little like this story was too "out there" to be believed, so I had a hard time enjoying it.

Was this review helpful?

This is not a quick read- it moves slowly, yet is still a page turner, thanks to Lisa's great way with her characters. Even if you don't really like them (raises hand), you're interested to see what happens to them next, which is definitely the case with this novel. How the characters all come together is the key that binds the novel! Their interaction, and the consequences of their actions, all leads to an intriguing end of the story, that will leave the reader wondering where they missed a clue or two. All in all, it's a novel to be savored, not read in spurts, and I highly recommend it,

Was this review helpful?