I Found You: A Novel

Wow! I loved this book. Two decades of secrets.This is my second Lisa Jewel and i am amazed how she has total command of her material. This story interlaces three vivid sets of stories--that holds our attention--building suspense--to the very last page.This book had EVERYTHING!!! I enjoyed this very, very much. At first I thought “Here we go, another stale thriller.” But that thought quickly vanished after the first 5 minutes.A great book with an ending you may not be expecting. 5 stars from me.

This book alternates between three different stories.Alice Lake, main character in the first story, lives in a coastal village in the U.K. called Ridinghouse Bay with her three children and three dogs. She's made some bad decisions in her life. Each of her kids have a different father, and good riddance to all three of the blokes. Alice's life is rather chaotic and messy. But she loves her kids, and they love her. There's a basic goodness about her. She would give the shirt off her back to someone in need.And that's just what she does when she sees a man sitting on the beach one day in the rain. He looks cold and lost. When she notices he's still there several hours later, she takes a coat out to him, and learns he has amnesia. He can't tell her his name, or where he came from. Or when he last had a meal. Alice knows she shouldn't get involved. He could be an axe murderer. But, how can she leave him there? In spite of knowing it will give the village people more fodder for gossip, but she takes him in, feeds him, and decides to give him shelter for a day or two. Just until she can help him finding his identity....In the second story, a young, beautiful woman named Lily Montose is impatiently waiting for her husband of two weeks to come home. She is from the Ukraine, where they'd met only a couple months before. After a whirlwind romance, Carl convinced her to marry him and return with him to London. They moved into a small flat, where she spends every day alone while he goes off to work. He returns promptly each evening, where he's the perfect husband, lavishing her with attention. They don't go out to eat, nor does he introduce her to family and friends. He tells her he just wants to keep her to himself for a time.But now he's very late coming home from work. And, as the minutes and hours goes by, Lilly realises she's in a foreign country, and doesn't know a single person other than her husband. And now he's disappeared. She calls the police, but when she's unable to provide the officer with any information about her husband, they become dismissive, thinking she's a mail order bride and her husband is off having dalliance with some other woman. When she gives them her husband's passport, a computer search shows the passport is fake. The man named Carl Montose, doesn't exist...The third story takes place 23 years earlier, in 1993, in Ridinghouse Bay. The Ross family is spending their annual holiday here, staying in the same cottage near the ocean that they do every year. Dad, mom, and teenagers Gray and Kirsty, are on the beach getting some sun. Gray becomes annoyed when he notices a guy next to them ogling his 14 year old sister. He really gets annoyed when the guy has the gall to introduce himself to them, and start a conversation. His name is Mark Tate, and he points out his aunt's house, high on the hill behind them. It's the biggest and most beautiful home in sight. Gray is alarmed when Mark asks if Kirsty would like to take a walk with him along the beach, and his parents don't object. Something about this guy really seems off to Gray. Mark appears to be at least 5 years older than Kirsty, and is way too interested in her, but his parents don't pick up on it. And Gray watches helplessly as his younger sister walks off with him....Each of the three stories is interesting in itself, but the reader has to wait until near the end of the book before the connection between the stories is revealed. I enjoyed this mystery suspense novel from beginning to end.I love how this author writes. This is the second book by Lisa Jewell I've read, and I now have a new favorite author. She's nudged Kate Morton, Tana French, Liane Moriorty, and Kristen Hannah down a notch.Five stars. I'd give this book more if I could.

Well-developed characters. The writer did a great job, there are several stories within the book which come together.

Very impressed. I had this downloaded on my kindle app for months before finally opening it and I regret taking so long to read it. I loved the book. Even when I realized some of the bigger twists in the book early on, the real story still chilled and saddened me. I loved the realness and strength of each character. The only thing I thought dragged a bit was the ending. It didn’t need to span a couple chapters lol. But I didn’t deduct any points for that. It was a really great read.

I was kept intrigued to the point that I had started another "real" hardback book that I could read during the daytime hours, but couldn't put my Kindle fire down because I wanted to know what the next twist was. I had some problems starting to get into the book because I didn't understand the characters and where the person that made the story come alive and was the central character played a part in both "sides of the coin". It wasn't until the middle of the book, that it started making " making sense ". Overall, very good book.

A woman lives with her children of different races and her three dogs in a house overlooking the seashore in Yorkshire. One day she sees a forlorn looking man sitting on the beach.A newly wed Ukranian immigrant is waiting for her husband to come home.A family is holidaying in Yorkshire in 1993.Those stories are connected and not that many surprises there but it is so well written you can picture the village and the families.Nice read.I also liked the epilogue as it really make sure you see the end of the story.

Was an enjoyable book club pick that I'd recommend to several readers. There's a rom-com element and so much more!

Well written and a wonderful plot. Loved it!

Bien escrito y no puedes dejarlo de leer!!Excelente

Love this author. She always keeps you guessing and most of the time, in her books, nothing is as it seems. This one does not disappoint. A great read so you won’t regret your purchase if you buy a copy.

I loved this book! All the characters were brilliant and good (except the obvious). Very beautifully narrated and touching story.

È il terzo libro di Lisa Jewell che leggo e, anche se nessuno dei suoi romanzi mi ha particolarmente entusiasmato, non posso che confermare la bravura dell'autrice e la voglia di leggerne altri. L'elemento fondamentale dei suoi testi é l'analisi psicologica dei personaggi, ai quali non si può fare a meno di avvicinarsi emotivamente, che spinge a seguire con attenzione gli avvenimenti e a voler terminare il libro per scoprirne l'origine ed i risvolti.Come negli altri libri letti, i personaggi di "I found you" sono umani, hanno difetti, segreti, dubbi e drammi famigliari che si intrecciano. In questo libro, in modo ancor più approfondito.Anche se la storia non é particolarmente avvincente e il libro scorre un po' lento, risulta tutto sommato una lettura piacevole e ben fatta. Che invoglia a proseguire per sapere come andrà a finire e cosa è davvero accaduto.L'ho terminato in 3 giorni.In questo, a differenza di "And then she was gone" non ci sono rappresentazioni crude e dark', salvo qualche accenno. Similmente, però', cosi come in "watching you", alcuni avvenimenti sono piuttosto inverosimili o, per dirla tutta, 'da fiction'. E non apprezzo per nulla il romance, che risulta un po' forzato in tutti e tre.Non penso mi ricorderò in futuro di questo titolo in particolare, ma sicuramente mi ricorderò di Lisa Jewell e sto già pensando a quale dei suoi romanzi sarà il prossimo.

No conocía la nueva faceta de Lisa Jewell, que se despega un poco de sus primeras novelas tipo chick-lit y se acerca al trabajo de escritoras como Liane Moriarty. En este libro, al menos, lo ha sabido hacer muy bien y ha construido una historia muy entretenida e imposible de dejar hasta que la acabas. Recomendable.