I Found You
Lisa Jewell
2017
4/5 stars
One rainy evening, Alice approaches a man she has noticed sitting on the beach outside her cottage since morning. The man has no idea who he is, where he is, or even why he is the Northern town. Alice, who is a toughened single mother of three with a history of bad decisions, finds herself feeling sorry for him and allows him to use her shed as a shelter over night. Instead of leaving the next day, however, Frank (as her daughter calls him), is still in a state of amnesia and, despite knowing she shouldn't, Alice finds herself making him a part of her family. The only thing is, Frank thinks he might have killed someone.
Meanwhile, a young Ukrainian woman new to England, Lily, is concerned because her husband of three weeks did not come home to their suburban London flat. When the police begin investigating, Lily learns that her husband may not be the man he claimed to be.
The story also goes back in time, over twenty years ago, to when the Ross family spent their summer holiday in Ridinghouse Bay. What should be a typical stay becomes a nightmare for teenaged Gray and his younger sister, Kirsti, when a somewhat older man, Mark, becomes obsessed with her. What happens to the three is tied in with the mystery of Frank and Lily's husband Carl, and is slowly revealed as the novel progresses.
Jewell writes well, and kept me engaged and intrigued to the very end. The plot becomes obvious as the story unfolds, but that doesn't make it less gripping or tense. Yes, there are parts that are not fully credible, but I Found You is engrossing enough that I was willing to suspend belief and just enjoy the ride. I was favorably impressed by Jewell, which was surprising as I disliked and did not finish another of her books, The Girls in the Garden (my discussion here), and wouldn't have tried this one if I had realized it was the same author. As it stands, though, I'm certainly willing to try a third.
