Watching You - Lisa Jewell

Review by Jackie

Best consumed with

Aperol Spritz, a simple go-to summer drink for many, but for me, it's quite bitter and after a few sips I really can’t drink more than a glass of it. I really wish I liked drinking Aperol Spritz as it gives European summer, cool girl energy - but there is something off in the flavour that has never made me buy another one! It’s much like this book where some people love it and some find it difficult to be hooked.

What's it all about? 

Watching You is a small-town psychological thriller, where everyone knows each other and it feels like you are constantly being watched. What if you found out, this feeling of being watched is actually a reality? This Lisa Jewell book is a slow burn where readers find out about a murder that has taken place in this small town. As we go back in time Jewell starts to build each character’s storyline and how they might be connected to the murder. From new neighbours, funky family family members and schoolgirl crushes each character has something odd and off about them. 

We all have this gut feeling when we know something isn't quite right - and that is exactly how I felt about each character in this book.

Why did I choose this book to read? 

I started reading this book shortly after reading None of This is True (link to book review None of This Is True - Lisa Jewell) by List Jewell. Recently, I have been really into psychological thrillers, this was another book that has been sitting on my TBR list so I decided to give it a go! I was really excited to start reading this book but sadly it wasn’t a page-turner for me until the last few chapters. 

What did I love? 

To be completely honest, while reading the book I was finding it hard to keep up with the storyline and to see how all the characters’ stories would come together and connect to the overall plot. After finishing the book, I saw how it all came together and how it was all connected, but it just didn’t grab me whilst I was reading. Towards the end, the book gains a couple of points from me, a plot twist that I never saw coming, which totally gave me chills. Although personally I don’t enjoy reading slow-burning books, I am glad that I kept reading this book to see exactly how Lisa Jewell was able to connect everything together at the end.

Besides the overall storyline of the book, I enjoyed how each of the main characters had some sort of eerie vibe and quirky characteristics like Tom changing jobs regularly, Bess and Jenn’s high school friendship (was it just girls being girls or did they really care for each other and it came across in the wrong way?), to Nicola (Tom’s Wife) trying too hard to keep a family secret or as readers you start to question some of Joey’s choices. As you are reading this book from so many perspectives, you start to notice certain qualities that make each character the main suspect in the murder. But who is the one always watching everyone? 

What did I not love? 

From the very start, there are a lot of main characters and mini-plot lines that I found quite hard to keep up with. As soon as I started to connect the storyline of the characters together the chapter would end and a new point of view from another character would start. At the beginning, I found it hard to invest myself in the story. Much like the book, each storyline has a lot of moving parts. 

One particular plot point involved an older man wooing a lot of young women and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around this - I actually found it a bit weird and unsettling, which might have been Jewell’s intention! If so, then I can say she achieved it very well!

Book club recommended?

No, this book takes time to feel interested in and wrap your head around what is happening and given book clubs usually have short turnaround times I think it would be really challenging to force yourself to read this book in a short amount of time.