This is the first Lisa Jewell novel I’ve read, and if her other books are as well-written as this one, I need to read them! WATCHING YOU follows several neighbors in Melville Heights, an upscale neighborhood in Bristol, England. It’s the sort of place where everyone has a secret, no one is who they portray themselves to be, and everyone is watching (i.e., stalking) everyone else. Naturally, someone ends up dead in this picture-perfect neighborhood, although the reader is left guessing the victim’s identity.
The story starts out slowly so you can get to know the characters, but then the tension builds up to some twists. There is a fairly big cast of characters, and most of them are flawed in some way, downright creepy, or possibly suffering from mental illness. For example, one character (Joey, a young married woman) develops a bizarre infatuation with a 50-year-old teacher (Tom) who is described as having a “soft” waistline; another believes she is being “gang-stalked” (Mrs. Tripp) while another actually does stalk people (Freddie). It was hard to stop reading because I wanted to learn more about the quirky characters as well as find out who was murdered and by whom. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say the ending was top-notch.
The story starts out slowly so you can get to know the characters, but then the tension builds up to some twists. There is a fairly big cast of characters, and most of them are flawed in some way, downright creepy, or possibly suffering from mental illness. For example, one character (Joey, a young married woman) develops a bizarre infatuation with a 50-year-old teacher (Tom) who is described as having a “soft” waistline; another believes she is being “gang-stalked” (Mrs. Tripp) while another actually does stalk people (Freddie). It was hard to stop reading because I wanted to learn more about the quirky characters as well as find out who was murdered and by whom. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say the ending was top-notch.