Review: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Title: Watching You

Author: Lisa Jewell

Published by: Atria Books

Released: December 26, 2018

Source: ARC/Review Copy from Atria Books and won through Bookish First

Synopsis: Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam… (Synopsis from Goodreads)

My Thoughts: Thank you so much to Atria Books and Bookish First for giving me the chance to read an early copy of Watching You. I was so excited when I won it.

I enjoyed Watching You. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting it to be. I'm a big fan of thrillers, along with millions of other people in the reading world. They are full of twists and turns, shocks and surprises. Most thrillers that I read really, really try to shock me with something crazy. Watching You is a much quieter, more reserved thriller than I've read in a while. It's not shocking me with flashes and bangs, but it's giving me a story where I can't really trust anyone.

Watching You is set on a street of Painted Houses. It looks to be an idyllic place, but all of the residents aren't what you think them to be. There is this undercurrent of uneasiness throughout the whole story that I really enjoyed. I couldn't really trust any of the characters. So many of them were questionable. They were Characters making bad life choices or characters with shady pasts. It really did leave me guessing as to what exactly was going to happen and where it was going to go.

I'd describe Watching You as a quiet thriller, it's not rushing the reader toward anything. It's taking its own time to set the scene, cast suspicion, and give us the clues to what really happened. I really enjoyed that.

It was told through multiple characters' points of view, which I also enjoyed. I liked reading and getting to meet them all. Every character that I did meet, well, let's just say they weren't perfect. There's a creepy teacher, a teenage watcher, a newlywed who is already lusting after other men. It just showed that though they might live in beautiful houses, there are other things going on behind the facade.

I also really enjoyed the chapters that were the police transcripts. I wanted to know so badly what had happened, who did it, and the way the transcripts popped up just kept me so curious.

I did not suspect the ending at all. Watching You did a really good job on leading me to suspecting all these other people, that when it finally came to the big reveal, I realized I was wrong, wrong, wrong. It was a good twist and I wasn't expecting it.

I really enjoyed Watching You. It's not an in-your-face-thriller, but it gives you a great slow burn. If you're a thriller fan, I'd definitely recommend it.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

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