Book Review: "Found You" by Sarah Jules

Sarah Jules is a pretty good writer. When I say 'pretty good' I actually mean I'm trying very hard not to become obsessed. She's written great books like You Invited It In (which I reviewed here) and You Need to Leave (which I reviewed here). I've often been reluctant from reading too many books by the same author in such a short time span but honestly, I don't think that Sarah Jules is going to disappoint me soon. With her fast-paced scenes, her brilliant alternating perspectives and her great way with character, I am pretty sure Sarah Jules is going to still go strong with this book.

Cameron has recently started dating Liz. He is getting on in his life and finally feels like he can settle down with this woman. He introduces her to his friends and is starting to get comfortable. But (of course there's a 'but' because if there wasn't it wouldn't be much of a mystery would it?) he starts to receive weird texts from a number he doesn't know and, when out with his girlfriend, he sees a mysterious man dressed in black looking his way - only to look back and he is no longer there. Cameron is clearly being tormented but it doesn't stop there. Graphic and violent images are sent to him such as one of a man with horrific injuries tied to a chair.

Alongside this narrative we have the pitiful Savannah. Savannah is a university student who is probably a little worse for wear and clearly can't handle her drinks well (but apparently struggles with an alcohol problem. I'm not sure if I believe this since people with an alcohol problem very rarely (if ever) go out to drink for fear of making their problems 'known'). When she is abandoned by her friends on a night out and an ambulance is called, her father wants to bring her home but she refuses to leave her friends. After a while, she starts to discover her friends aren't really her friends at all and a Facebook page has been set up to mock her. These feature images of her drunk out of her mind.

Tensions rise in Cameron's relationship with Liz as she admits that there is something wrong with one of his oldest friends - a deep, horrid and moral problem which shows that Cameron doesn't pick his friends well. As Christmas gets on with itself and Liz and Cameron attend his family home, Cameron continues to receive increasingly violent images with one featuring something that causes him to dread ever lifting his phone again. He is clearly terrified and can't escape it. He's tried blocking the number, he's tried not answering, nothing appeases whatever monster is haunting him here. Sarah Jules makes excellent work of also presenting Cameron as a morally grey character; someone the reader doesn't particularly like very much but also they believe he hasn't done anything yet that is so bad he requires this kind of psychological torture.

As Savannah gets pregnant from a man who pretended to get along with her and then left a fake name and Cameron in his storyline is sent home from work for failing to do his job properly - both characters curl up into a sleepless slumber, anxious and waiting for something to happen, holding back tears. I think this is the first time we really feel properly sorry for both characters, again this is surprising because they aren't really great human beings, but they don't deserve what they've been dealt.

As the book progresses though it becomes more and more clear that Cameron very much deserves the shit he's getting and probably deserves a lot more. Sarah Jules makes a perfect job of his descent but, there's a lot of twists and turns into figuring it all out. I loved the writing in this book, again the author shows her mastery at a fast-paced thriller which is actually pretty different to the other two books I have read by her. All in all, I really quite enjoyed reading this. It is very much a one-sitting read because if you put it down, you're going to forget or miss one of the twists. Maybe some characters don't choose their friends very well indeed. Maybe they are pretty bad at choosing people who are other than friends too.