Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of Lisa Jewell's latest thriller - I'm a huge fan and this is another 5 star read for me.
The story is told from 3 different points of view - Cate Fours is a mom of teenagers Georgia and Josh, and wife to Roan, a psychologist. Owen lives across the street from the Fours in a home owned by his aunt. Owen is a teacher and has just been suspended due to reports of sexual misconduct towards female students. Owen is in his 30s and still a virgin - he gets pulled into an online forum for others in his situation - incels - involuntary celibates. Saffyre had a tough childhood with a trauma that she still can't speak about. But she was cutting herself and her guardian sent her to Roan Fours. When Roan dismisses her saying that she is healthy now, even though she has never spoken to him of her trauma, she feels unseen and starts following Roan. Then Saffyre goes missing - Owen is the last to have seen her.
As in all of Lisa Jewell's books, you have the mystery portion but she is a master at the character development. You feel for these people - especially ones that are "invisible" to the rest of the world or judged as being unworthy. Plus, as a society, we are so quick to judge others who appear different from us. As the saying goes - everyone has a story. Some hide those stories but they are still there, influencing behavior. I couldn't put this book down until all these stories intersected!
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