Are you looking for a plot summary or spoilers for Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell? Want to discuss the ending of Invisible Girl? Grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s talk about the book!
Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell. Published on October 13, 2020 by Atria Books.
First, I’ll do a quick plot summary. If you just want the spoilers or an explanation of the ending, scroll down!
Plot Summary for Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
- Cate and her husband Roan and their two teenagers are renting a house while their own home is renovated. Cate thought it would be fun to rent in a different neighborhood, one closer to her husband’s work and her children’s school. But soon a string of attacks in her area has Cate concerned.
- One day Cate’s daughter Georgia is followed by a strange man on her way home from the tube station. Georgia thinks the guy following her was Owen, the young man who lives across the street. When someone attacks a friend of Georgia near their house, Cate calls the police and suggests they question Owen.
- Cate’s husband Roan gets a mysterious Valentine’s Day card. Cate is curious but forces herself not to open it. A few years back, Cate was convinced Roan was having an affair. At that time she snooped through his things, including his case notes on an assault and bullying victim he was counseling named Saffyre. Cate is trying to prove she now trusts him.
- Owen is the guy Georgia thought was following her. He’s a computer science teacher, and a few students have just filed complaints against him for acting inappropriately toward them. He gets involved with an online community of misogynist “incels,” many of whom seem creepy and violent.
- Cate sees a story in the local media that Saffyre, her husband’s former patient, is now missing. She hasn’t been seen since Valentine’s Day. Cate remembers that Roan was late for their Valentine’s Day dinner, and then disappeared mysteriously afterwards. Again, Cate tries not to be concerned.
- Saffyre was following Roan. She suspected him of having an affair with Alicia, his colleague. Saffyre confronted Roan about the affair right after Christmas, only weeks before she disappeared.
- Owen is arrested in connection with Saffyre’s disappearance. Then Josh, Cate’s son, also goes missing for several hours. When Cate is searching Josh’s room for clues, she finds a balaclava mask hidden in his room. It’s similar to the one that the sex assault victims says their attacker wore.
Spoilers for Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
What happened to Saffyre?
Saffyre saw Alicia come to see Roan on Valentine’s Day. She filmed Roan and Alicia arguing, and Roan hitting Alicia.
Saffyre is friends with Josh, the son of Cate and Roan. Josh found out about his father’s affair, but Roan told Josh he was ending things.
When Saffyre went missing, she was actually hiding out at Alicia’s house because she was terrified after running into Harrison, the boy who was bullying her.
After Saffyre turns up safe and alive, Owen is released and goes to a re-education class to learn about respecting women’s boundaries. Cate dumps Roan, which is good, because the ending of Invisible Girl suggests that HE is actually the serial assaulter.
Spoiler Discussion for Invisible Girl
- I really liked this one! I liked the multiple points of view, and I was really in suspense about what happened to Saffyre and who the sex offender was. Was it Owen, Roan, or even Josh? I suspected Roan from the begininng. I mean, all those mysterious late night runs, after which he comes back all energized? Yes, his affair could have explained it, but clearly he wasn’t a great person. Do you think he did it?
- I liked the friendship between Saffyre and Josh. What did you think of the fox motif? That little fox just kept showing up. I couldn’t quite figure that out. Josh kept feeding the fox – was it a symbol of a predator (like Roan) or of a misunderstood and feared creature (like Owen)?
What did you think of Owen’s rehabilitation? Do you think people like him can change?
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If you loved Invisible Girl and are looking for other multi-POV books that are dark and twisty, you could try:
His & Hers by Alice Feeney- check out my review here, and my spoiler discussion of the book here.
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First of all I never liked the husband from the start. Always felt like he was up to some suspicious things. I knew the wolf was a symbol for something but I hadn’t gotten the chance to look up what it could mean. If it is meant to be a predator, does it mean that Josh is vulnerable to follow in his fathers foot steps? Because by the ending, it made us seem that way.
In regards to Owens rehabilitation, I believe he hadn’t crossed a line where he couldn’t come back from. So I believe that if people want to change they really will. Owen was just misunderstood, no one had ever shown him how to love or what real love looked like. I’m not by any means excusing what he did, but I believe in his situation he was capable of change.
The husband was terrible!! And poor Josh. I am on the fence about Owen, but I’m willing to give people a second chance, so hoping he sees where he went wrong!
I think it did a great job of differentiating between loserly, undesirable males that are inclined to misogynic tendencies due to being weak-willed and/or susceptible to patriarchic brainwashing, and those that are the legitimate, militant gender role extremists which are a terrorist organization known as “Incels” that actively tries to physically kill people and target lonely men capable of being disillusioned and defeated enough into spreading their hate-filled message….
I am half way through the audio book where Owen gets taken in for questioning. I didn’t feel like listening to another 4 hours of this book so came here to find out what happens. Glad I did. Now I don’t have to listen to another 4 hours. There really aren’t too many people that I like in this book. Its pretty depressing.
I find Lisa Jewell books are hit and miss. This was one did not have me sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Glad I got it from my library and did not have to pay for it through my audible account.
I’m glad to help! I feel that way sometimes about books and just peek ahead to see if it’s worth continuing.
Do you have a favorite Lisa Jewell? I’ve read a couple of her books but not all.
I have read a lot of her books (very good beach books to read almost in one sitting, then finish up when dinner is done) and I think “Then She Was Gone” and “The House We Grew Up In” are my favorites. Particularly the latter. The author portrays mental illness/hoarding in a way that made me understand and empathize in a way I never had before.
Thanks so much! Definitely have some personal experience dealing with hoarders/OCD issues so I think I’ll try that one!
I enjoyed the book, but I don’t understand why authors don’t check that they’ve got the police procedure and law right. Owen was taken from his house but wasn’t under arrest so didn’t have to go with the police. They also had no right to search his property. Then they said they had a warrant for 24 hours to keep him, but he was there for ages and they don’t need a warrant anyway ! Then he was charged and his bail was £1 million, but we don’t have monetary bail in the UK. And they continued to interview him and kept him at the police station which doesn’t make any sense at all. And no one likes police food!! So all these inconsistencies spoilt the story for me, but I did enjoy it.
Hi Clare! Thanks for this information. I don’t know UK law, so these issues didn’t register when I read the book. I had no idea the UK has no monetary bail! (The only thing I know from the many British crime dramas I have watched is that the police always say “You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you do not mention something you later rely on in court.”) Also the person being questioned has a solicitor or barrister who just sits there in the interrogation room saying nothing at all! Maybe they aren’t allowed to speak?
They definitely are allowed to speak! It’s a solicitor who sits in the interview and I was one for 10 years and would often interject. That’s why I don’t watch British crime programmes. They are never right and I end up shouting at the tv and annoying my family.
Bail is decided by looking at the seriousness of the offence, whether someone has been in trouble before and whether someone can be bailed with conditions. That way it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor!
That is good to know! And your bail system makes a lot more sense than ours, though I think some US cities are changing that.
I enjoyed the book very much and thought it was very clever with one exception. Perhaps I did not comprehend this part but towards the end, when Owen was still being held, the police detective informed him that another witness came forward from the night Saffyre went missing. The police said Alyssa ( I listened to the audible version so I apologize if I spell some names incorrectly having not seen them all in print) saw Owen talking to a girl in a hoodie that night and that she had a “good and sensitive” reason for not coming forward sooner. If this was the woman Roan was having the affair with, we find out at the end that she was with Saffyre that night and each night thereafter. Why would she go to the police and say she witnessed Owen approach Saffyre when she knows Saffyre is safe and with her?
Hi Carey! I haven’t read this recently but I looked at my notes. Yes, Alicia was the woman that Roan was having an affair with, and she takes Saffyre in to protect her from Harrison, the bully. So there’s a point in the story (reading on Kindle so don’t have a page #) when Saffyre asks Alicia to go to the police and say that. Saffyre says to Alicia, “Can you call the police today? Can you tell them you were there? That you saw me? That Owen Pick didn’t hurt me?”
I think Saffyre feels bad that Owen (though he’s a creeper) is being charged with a murder he didn’t commit.
If anyone has a better explanation, let us know!
Thank you, Jen! You are correct about that part of the story. The part that I am referring to happened earlier on in the book. On the Audible book, it took place in chapter 50. I listened again to confirm what I had read/heard. The female police detective told Owen that a woman named Alicia Matthews came forward saying she saw Owen talking to a girl in a hoodie, by Owen’s apartment, the night Saffyre disappeared. Why would Alicia go to the police and say that when she knew Saffyre was alive and well living with her in her apartment? It seemed innocuous at the point in the story it was written but makes no sense once we find out that Saffyre had been with Alicia the entire time she was missing.
It is strange that Alicia tells them that, unless she told them BEFORE she brought Saffyre home to live with her. And then when Saffyre realizes that Owen is in jail in connection with her disappearance, she asks Alicia to go back to the police and tell them that she is safe.
Yes, that would make sense; however, Saffyre goes home with Alicia immediately after the confrontation/attack with Harrison on the street. The two go back to Alicia’s home together and Saffyre stays with her the entire time she is missing. Oh well, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book, but little things like that can nag at me! I so appreciate your help and quick responses to my questions, Jen!
Wish I could have helped snip off that loose thread! Onto the next book, I guess. What are you reading now?
No worries, I appreciate your help! And, I just started The House We Grew Up In 🙂
Apparently I am a year late to the party! I enjoyed this book a lot, but the ending seems to insinuate that Josh, not Roan, is the other harasser? I hope not cause i really liked him! The dad however, I didn’t like from the beginning.
Argh I didn’t take notes on this one so I can’t remember Josh vs. Roan but when I have time I will go back and look. The dad was so sketchy though!!!
My understanding is that Josh tells Saffyre he got the running attire and balaclava from his dad. Then Saffyre remembers Alicia saying that she saw Roan getting off to a sexual assault fantasy a patient wrote ( Harrison wrote) so the ending insinuated it was Roan not Josh that was also committing crimes at the same time Harrison was.
Interesting! I missed the insinuation of Roan, but I’m still giving Josh the side-eye