Although she has no recollection of the events before her ninth birthday, something mysterious happens while attending a hypnotist show with her first date in a long time. Starred Review. Jewell weaves a taut multiperspective, domestic/community suspense story that is sure to please fans of Ruth Ware and A.J. Finn." - Library Journal There are several characters in this book, all are well developed with perfectly timed introductions, leaving no room for confusion. The plot largely focuses on Josephine (Joey) Mullen who lives with her new husband in her brother and sister-in-laws’ house in a well-respected neighbourhood. They are trying to find steady jobs and get settled before finding a place of their own. We meet several of their neighbours, with chapters alternating between many of their perspectives. Each perspective brought a new layer of suspense and allure, each with a hint of secrecy that could possibly connect the intricate pieces of this puzzle together. The title says it all – “Watching You” – this applies to many scenarios throughout this fast paced and highly addictive novel. When Melody Browne was nine years old, she burned down their house in an act that turned all her belongings and memories into ashes.

But until you’ve experienced the incredible mix of emotions that a sibling brings to your life it’s really very hard to imagine. The love and the hate, the fun and the fights, the rivalry and the kinship. No one else knows your world like a sibling does. They’re there, every crap summer holiday, every day off school, every time your parents argue, every boring Christmas Day, every birthday party, they’re there. And they are a part of you.” Lydia, despite being rich and accomplished, is still haunted by a distressing childhood; Dean is a jobless single father without a promising future; while eighteen year old Robyn, who is smart and popular, has just joined college with dreams of becoming a pediatrician. She is however performing dismally in class and is also getting to know what it means to fall in love for the very first time.

Misdirection

A picturesque street in a nice neighborhood in England. Painted pastel houses with cozy surroundings. Behind closed doors, someone is watching... Watching You is really about perspective. What one character might see, another does not. The narratives people build from watching one another lead to discovering truths but also to great inaccuracies. Upon come home from work not long after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones receives a life-changing letter. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well written, character driven thriller. This novel will be published in December 2018. BUT ... friends out there who have read this book, please HELP ME! What in the world did I miss at the very end?? The brown hair? Whose was it? Nikki’s as a teenager? Viva’s? Was it not a suicide but a murder? By him or by her, or were they both in on it? I have re-listened to chapters trying to figure it out, and know it was a significant lightbulb moment, but I am just stymied and feel like a bit of a dunce.

Then She Was Gone was my favourite thriller last year and this is even better. Brilliantly plotted and impossible to put down, it kept me guessing until the very end. Alice Feeney, author of Sometimes I Lie You're keen to find a place of your own. But for now you're crashing in your big brother's spare room. Around twenty-three years earlier, teenagers Gray and Kirsty Ross crossed paths with a mysterious young man while on holiday in Ridinghouse Bay. Jenna Tripp describes the chat rooms her mother frequents as somewhere “she could go to have her craziness validated” (p. 130). Many people use online communities to form connections and feel less isolated, particularly if they feel misunderstood by those around them. Yet Jenna observes that her mother’s delusions are being exacerbated by talking to people with similar issues. Discuss what makes an insular community (like a chat room) supportive or detrimental. Can it be both?A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. While it is normal for people, and particularly for schoolgirls, to get crushes on someone they shouldn’t become involved with, in Watching You some of these “crushes” appear to be unhealthy. Where is the line between infatuation and obsession? Who are some characters that you think fell on the infatuation side of that line? Who became dangerously obsessed? Looking at examples, what do you think distinguishes them? As the book continues, the mystery about who Tom really is and who the murdered person is at the beginning of the book are slowly revealed. The central theme of being watched or being the watcher is what elevates this novel from what I consider typical suspense to something much creepier in feel. There’s a host of participants running rampant throughout, the mystery found in deciphering which of the watchers/watched are in fact driven by dark motives.