I have to admit that Watching You is only my second Lisa Jewell novel but with enjoying both of the ones I have read I do see why reviewers are usually raving about her stories. This is another great psychological thriller that is easy to become captivated by once you pick it up. The story is told from multiple points of view but still became easy to follow once getting started.
The book begins with a short diary entry from a young girl in love with her teacher in 1996 before jumping ahead twenty years with a prologue of a murder investigation. You may at this point think what in the world? Who’s murdered? What is going on? But then we get into the meat of the story which jumps back about two and a half months before the murder.
What Lisa Jewell has then done is take us back to this neighborhood before the murder ever happened and slowly introduce all the cast of characters that each have their own secrets and lies to follow. At the center of the story is Tom Fitzwilliam who is a teacher who seems to have a sort of charismatic way of drawing in those around him. Then between the story building up to the murder date we have flashes of the investigation after the murder.
I will admit it took a a few chapters to settle in and get used to the set up with this one but it was hard to put down once I found that groove. This is a bit of a slow build story but that pace complimented the amount of characters and situations happening to give the reader time to familiarize with it all and I didn’t find it to drag the book down the way a lot of slower paced reads are. By the time the ending of the book came around I had guessed this or that and the other but still ended up surprised at how it turned out so I definitely recommend checking this one out.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
The book begins with a short diary entry from a young girl in love with her teacher in 1996 before jumping ahead twenty years with a prologue of a murder investigation. You may at this point think what in the world? Who’s murdered? What is going on? But then we get into the meat of the story which jumps back about two and a half months before the murder.
What Lisa Jewell has then done is take us back to this neighborhood before the murder ever happened and slowly introduce all the cast of characters that each have their own secrets and lies to follow. At the center of the story is Tom Fitzwilliam who is a teacher who seems to have a sort of charismatic way of drawing in those around him. Then between the story building up to the murder date we have flashes of the investigation after the murder.
I will admit it took a a few chapters to settle in and get used to the set up with this one but it was hard to put down once I found that groove. This is a bit of a slow build story but that pace complimented the amount of characters and situations happening to give the reader time to familiarize with it all and I didn’t find it to drag the book down the way a lot of slower paced reads are. By the time the ending of the book came around I had guessed this or that and the other but still ended up surprised at how it turned out so I definitely recommend checking this one out.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.