had to read a Lisa Jewell book for my bday

The Night She Disappeared – Lisa Jewell 

Mystery, thriller, fiction. 

Rating 9/10

Tallulah is a single mother going through college and trying to take care of her child, Noah, with her mother. Her child’s father Zach wants to be more involved with both her and Tallulah but Tallulah wants something else. She wants to be a social worker and live with her mother without anyone judging her. After a night of Zach and Tallulah spend together, both have gone completely missing with the only person connecting them is Scarlett who provides nothing other than that they were simply friends. One year later, Sophie, an aspiring mystery novelist moves into this town alongside her boyfriend who works at the school. She finds a DIG HERE sign and decides to dig up. She digs up a ring and looks into the missing teens’ case. She turns the evidence over to the police unveiling a break in the case. 

I was so thrilled that Lisa Jewell came out with another novel. I love her thriller mysteries because each one is so unique. I enjoyed the diverse characters and their interactions that felt natural. As all her novels are. Furthermore, the writing of this novel was so well done and well spun. Watching it all unfold with the past and present timeline narratives made this novel work in a very thrilling dynamic novel.

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sometimes the truth is intense

The Truth of Melody Browne – Lisa Jewell

Mystery, fiction. 

Rating 7/10

Melody is going about her date at a hypnotist show when she faints and remembers some parts of her childhood. She returns home and begins to remember more and more memories of a childhood she couldn’t remember. Her son helps her obtain these locked memories and she soon realizes that her childhood is much darker than she thought. That the truth is much more sinister than the facade of her childhood.

This was an alright novel. This was nicely paced and organized. I had read this in one sitting and I believe that this novel can be read over time but depending on the reader one sitting. The jumping from the past to present helps understand what happened in the life of Melody Browne. I love Lisa Jewell’s works and this one was not my favorites but this was good however. The writing is so splendid and she really knows how to write a good mystery. I just didn’t care for the repressed memories resurfacing trope as much. There were parts that I really loved because I was expecting something less traumatic for the main character but it was something else than I had predicted. I do recommend this novel and any of Lisa Jewell’s works in general. All are really good and very well done.

in the shadows…

Invisible Girl – Lisa Jewell

Mystery, fiction.

Rating 7/10

Saffyre goes missing. Multiple women and teens are claiming Owen to be a sexual predator. He knows he is innocent. Cate and her husband Roan are disturbed by Saffyre’s disappearance. Roan was her therapist and tells that she had a tough past and did not keep her as a client due to the fact she was making a lot of recovery and worked towards a healthier life. Owen’s room has criminating evidence that points him to her disappearance. When more evidence comes out, the truth of why Saffyre disappeared comes at a shocking cost.

This novel was alright and wished it were more thrilling. Overall, the writing and characters were interesting and the plot as well. I was hoping for a more interesting narrative or something bigger than what occurred in the novel. This was a moderate mystery and not so overly done though. Rather under done and I feel the author could have went a little bit more. I was not expecting some of the elements which was shocking for me. That is something one cannot really predict with Lisa Jewell’s books. There is always a twist with her work.

eyes on you

Watching You – Lisa Jewell

Contemporary women, family life, suspense, fiction.

Rating 9/10

Joey and her husband move into a new neighborhood after getting secretly married at a beach and had a glorious honeymoon. As Joey explores the new town, her eyes are drawn to Tom, a man who was very physically attractive. She grows close to him to the point of obsession. That obsession led to him being a murder victim and everyone in town is a suspect, including her.

This is a classic who did it with a twist. I loved the plot that led up to the climax and the transcripts of the police reports makes the novel feel so realistic. Even though they wouldn’t be publicized, I loved the chilling aspect. I couldn’t get enough of the plot nor the characters. There are some plot twists but overall, pretty suspenseful as promised from the synopsis and after reading. I suspected the novel to produce another chilling suspense fictional novel. Jewell has a knack for interesting suspense fiction. I do recommend this novel or any of her novels. I’ve read three of her works and found myself loving her work and her writing.

never be too trusting of strangers..

The Family Upstairs – Lisa Jewell

Mystery, cults, fiction.

Rating 9.5/10

Libby comes home to find a letter that revealed that she inherited this house from her birth parents. Libby remembers the stories of her being the baby that survived in the car crash, but the letter suggests that she was left behind in the same house where her parents had committed a suicide pact and her siblings long gone. Wanting to know more she investigates. Lucy is a struggling single parent that escaped a toxic relationship gets the message the baby is 25. Henry recalls all the events that led up from his happy family life that turned into a horror story and how he had to do whatever it took to get out of the hell. Libby finds out the truth through his story and how things weren’t as they had seem, they were much darker.

I was waiting forever to get this book and now that I had it to read, I was excited as well as hyped up. I really loved how this book slowly unfurled the sinister plot of survival. What Henry had to do to get him and the other teenagers out was gutsy and took a lot of courage. This book is worth purchasing, reading, and rereading. I had high expectations with this novel and Lisa Jewell went above and beyond. Except there was a minor plotline had occurred that was never brought up in the rest of the book that would be considered very important in my eyes. That was frustrating and I found it useless to the story. Besides that, the novel was amazing. I can’t believe I waited to read this book and the wait was so worth it.

Hidden Evil

Then She Was Gone – Lisa Jewell

Contemporary women, suspense, family life, fiction

Rating 8/10

Laurel Mack loved her daughter, Ellie, who was bright and smart. Suddenly one day, she becomes missing. Laurel had the police keep an ongoing investigation to look for any evidence to see if Ellie was alive. Numerous incidences give hints to her daughter being alive and or presumed dead. The police contact Laurel and tell her that they found remains of her daughter, signs of a horrific death. This news puts Laurel into shock and depression of the worst kind. Laurel slowly moves on by dating this guy she met, Floyd, at the coffee shop. Both chat and he told her about his kids, and she tells him about her kids. When she comes over to his house, Laurel sees Poppy, who looks like her daughter who was gone. After some consideration and sudden realization, she sees the dark and ugly truth.

I grabbed this book from the shelf because I saw online that this novel was popular. I see a little why this novel was popular or is popular. Horror and suspense are always a good read but throw in some mad women and kidnapping, it’s a bestseller. Not that I hated this book, I enjoyed the novel. I personally thought the novel’s length could be longer and more in-depth with each character’s backgrounds. Yes, this was Laurel’s tale, but the author included other points of view that, at first, didn’t make sense of whom was telling the story until there was contextual clues that the perspective changed. Otherwise, this was a great book and I would recommend to anyone who is interested in the suspense fiction genre.