What a page turner. The author had me guessing all the way with many unexpected outcomes. It had suspense, murder, suspicion and great characters. I thoroughly recommend it.

Then She Was Gone author Lisa Jewell’s new psychological suspense thriller explores what happens when an innocent crush develops into a dangerous, deadly infatuation. Family secrets, illicit passion, and an unexplained murder lie at the heart of this wonderful page turner. What more could you want from a gripping summer read?

Another fabulous read from Lisa
The twist I certainly did not see coming
Highly recommend books from this amazing author

Another great book by Lisa Jewell - the thriller aspect is amazing a twist no one sees coming. Love this book

This book was best so far I've read from Lisa Jewell. OK, here and there, there might be a few exaggerated things in the story line, but overall it was so gripping and delivers everything you would expect from a mystery/thriller. Lisa Jewell's writing is always above average and in this book she's exceptional.

Sometimes it makes me cringe when I am reading thrillers with sloppy writing, where characters constantly bit their lips, have pounding hearts, having goosebumps in a maddeningly repetitive way and this book has none of it. There aren't any unnecessary, cringing paragraphs but it's all tidy and good quality writing.

The characters are solid and real. (maybe except the villain) Surprise ending is delivered nicely, tension didn't drop until the end for me. A 5 star in mystery/thriller category.

I also think Jewell really writes her teenagers much better than her adults. The Girls and this book are my favourites from her and they both have groups of teens which are brilliantly portrayed.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!! The book is full of twists and turns. There is a current narrative but also past events leading up to the current event. You're set up with one culprit and one body but it isn't them. Brilliant! Loved the storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Wow - this is a busy book! There is quite a scene to be set at the beginning with the many characters to get to grips with, alongside where they live and work, plus who goes to which school! I got a real feel for the village, and could almost walk around myself! The characters were also described in detail allowing the reader to form images of what they might look like in their head.
The story itself was enjoyable, it felt more like a family drama than a psychological thriller until near the end. I didn't like the police interviews which were interjected throughout the book, I found them slightly annoyingly disruptive to my reading.
The ending was quite sad, and left me in a rather pensive mood. It was nonetheless a great ending, which I hadn't seen unfolding at all.

Watching You was good but not as shocking or impactful as Then She Was Gone (a heartbreaking, brilliant read!). I did like the story's plot but felt it all hung together on pretty flimsy thread. There was too much coincidence to be believable. The story became predictable enough for me to guess the outcome. Plus, it is wholly unlikely that one road could house so many people fixated on, and secretly watching, their neighbors.

What's to like? The characters, definitely. They are worth a read. Jenna and Bess, most especially, followed closely by Freddie. The kids really stole the show leaving the adults in the dust. I didn't feel particularly attached to the adults. I did like Tom and Alfie, Joey less so, but felt they paled compared to the kids and their dramas.

I liked the feel of the Bristol community in this area. The easy distance into town certainly helped push the plot along whilst giving plenty of opportunity for the characters to be out and about interacting with each other. I appreciated the layout of the Melville area and the colourful houses carefully perched on a hillside. A great vantage point for our main characters live. It's vividly illustrated and sounds like such an ideal place to be.

Though not my favorite book by Lisa Jewell there is plenty here to enjoy and it's certainly worth your time if you are looking for character-driven drama.

I’ve been reading Lisa Jewell books for about 15 years. I used to love her warm hearted ‘superior chick lit’ style which chimed perfectly with my life in my 20s and 30s, and I have to admit I was a little disappointed when she started to go down the popular psychological thriller route, with the obligatory cliched covers and straplines. However, just as she aced the chick lit market I’m pleased to say that her thrillers are also superior, different and far more believable than most of the output in this saturated and over-hyped market.

Lisa’s latest book centres around the women in the life of Tom Fitzwilliam, a ‘super head’ teacher who moves his family around the country as he takes up each new post turning around failing schools. His family consists of his mousy, younger wife Nicola and his loner son Freddie. They are now living in a quiet suburb called Melville Heights, where echoes from Tom’s past soon start to catch up with him. Tom is the sort of teacher who inspires schoolgirl crushes in young girls (and some not-so-young women) and Jewell’s skilful writing means that the reader is never quite sure how innocent he is when it comes to the accusations levelled at him. Thankfully there are also plenty of traces of her trademark warm and empathetic writing in this fairly gritty and dark thriller.

I believe this is Lisa Jewell’s 16th book. I've read them all and thankfully she shows no sign of losing her touch.

Ever since reading The House We Grew Up In, I have been a huge fan of Lisa Jewell’s writing, and am very happy she has taken the plunge into writing psychological thrillers. Jewell is a master of characterisation, and her portrayal of flawed and disturbed characters usually drives the story for me! Watching You is a very apt title for her latest novel, as everyone in this book is spying on one another. Joey watches Tom, Jenna watches Bess, Freddie uses his telescope to spy on the whole street, and Jenna’s slightly crazy mother thinks she is being watched by just about everyone else (she has a point). With all this spying and lying going on, there is a constant sense of menace and tension in the air, belying the idyllic setting of the colourful painted houses in this expensive neighbourhood.

As usually is the case with Jewell’s novels, no one is quite who they initially seem. Dark secrets simmer just below the surface and will ultimately lead to murder – and I dare you to predict the ending of this one! Most of Jewell’s novels take part in a small, closed setting, and this one is no exception, featuring neighbours in the small housing community of Melville Heights, much like one of her previous books The Girls (which I loved). The author uses multiple POVs to bring her story to life, which in this context worked very well for me. I love slow burning, character driven novels where people present only the parts of themselves they want others to see. Jewell does a great job in gradually stripping them of their masks, layer by layer, until the ugly core is revealed. Most of the characters here surprised me with their revelations, which made for some very interesting dynamics.

It is impossible to go into this story any further without revealing something that may spoil the surprise for other readers, so I will just say that it starts with a bang (or more accurately, a corpse) and then takes you back in time to unravel the mystery. The path to enlightenment may contain some clues but is also paved with red herrings, so the armchair detective has his / her work cut out for them. Tense, creepy and utterly addictive, the story soon drew me in and I was utterly absorbed with these dysfunctional characters until the very end.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Joey Mullin has returned home from working in Ibiza with a husband (Alfie) in tow. For the time being they must make do with lodging with Joey’s brother Jack and his pregnant wife in a large house in a smart part of Bristol. Jenna is not finding it easy to settle and it doesn’t help that she finds herself becoming fixated on her handsome neighbour, Tom, the headmaster of the local school. She just can’t stop herself watching him. But Joey isn’t alone. There are eyes on her as well and there are others in this small community who keep watch to catch out the secrets of their neighbours, some of whom are almost driven to madness.

Watching You is a fantastic novel which, I’m so pleased to say, equals Lisa Jewell’s previous novel, the superb Then She Was Gone. Lisa Jewell is the perfect observer of human nature, understanding so well fears, desires and the danger of obsession. She writes about these things so well and in Watching You, her characters are beautifully drawn, whether they’re children, men or women. We want to get to know them. We want to understand why they are behaving as they do and, when the time comes, we feel deeply for them, even fearing for them.

This is a novel with several themes and one of them is bullying and the relationship of teenagers to one another and to the adults who should be doing a better job of watching out for them. Tom’s son Freddie, Frances’s daughter Jenna are just two of the youngsters who really make Watching You stand out. They both have so much to deal with, each in their different ways. There is no black or white, just young people trying to find themselves. And the adults in their lives are no help at all.

So we have multiple stories, all threading together and mostly circling Tom, the headmaster. Tom is, for me, the least likeable person in the book (although Joey gives him a close run for his money) and his relationship with Joey is fascinating to watch develop, not least because it’s one of the ugly things that blights the lives of others. But their relationship is offset by some other quite beautiful and fragile relationships, especially between the youngsters.

The novel is held together by a series of interviews conducted by the police as they try to solve a crime that we know will happen. It’s to the credit of Lisa Jewell’s immense storytelling gift, that I had very little clue about what was going to happen until almost the very end. In fact, this is one of those wonderful novels that kept me guessing throughout, that kept surprising me in the best of ways, and rewarded my attention. The best psychological thrillers are those that are character driven, and not driven by twists or shocks, and Watching You is one of the very best I’ve read in a long time. I felt heavily invested in these marvellous characters and I loved watching them watching each other. I can’t wait for more from this wonderful, wonderful writer!

Other review
Then She Was Gone

Another gem from Lisa Jewell. Watching You is a clever and tension packed thriller and you're never quite sure where the story is going to go next. I was skilfully misdirected a couple of times by skilful plotting and a twisting tale told from a number of narrative points. It's a sharp and fast read; I flew through it in a couple of sessions and the finale is outstanding. A brilliant read, my thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

'Watching You' doesn't have the menacing thread usually associated with psychological thrillers but it's plentiful in suspense and mystery, and the ending has many twists before being revealed. The characters are believable and ordinary, no sinister serial killer looms in the background but something tragic occurs, and there are numerous suspects.

The ending is tragic and leaves its mark on the reader.

Fast-paced, there are multiple character points of views, but they're easy to follow. Watch out for the twists because nothing is as it first appears. An absorbing read.

I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House UK - Cornerstone, Century via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I was delighted to be approved to read this book and it totally lived up to expectations. I found it a real page turner, like Lisa Jewell’s other novels. I saved it for my holiday and didn’t mind the rain, it was so good! The characters are so real, I felt I knew them. Joey is likeable and has made mistakes. I wanted everything to work out for her. The structure was clever with chapters interspersed with police reports and the fact that you didn’t know who had died. It’s an excellent, very readable novel, where the tension is ramped up as you don’t know who to trust. I would highly recommend it. I also enjoyed the setting of Bristol and the particular neighbourhood of Melville with its pretty, colourful houses. Lisa Jewell is brilliant at setting a story in an appealing neighbourhood. Top summer read!

If you have read any of Lisa’s books then you will know how good they are and this is another brilliant read from her. As you read this your mind goes of thinking about what might happen, which is what she very cleverly wanted you to do. This will take you up the wrong garden path and to be honest you could go up a couple as you read this but all is not what it seems. Extremely very well written by a brilliant author so this will be another best seller for Lisa Jewell.

From infatuation, stalking and murder, this book has it all. What are the secrets that everyone appears to have and why does the headmaster appear to be at the centre of everything. What has he done and is he running from his past? Then when he tries to hook up with his neighbour it makes you think that maybe it is all true what the people are saying about him. I could not stop reading this so that was a day I lost but really didn’t mind as I loved it.

So many good books out at the moment and my To Be Read pile is getting very big but I am sure I will get round to them all at some point. I would like to thank Netgalley for giving me the opportunity of reading and reviewing this book, it was my pleasure and it gets a good 5 stars from myself.

I love Lisa Jewell ‘s books, and this was one of her best. The story is told through the eyes of Joey (Josephine) who returns to her hometown of Melville with her husband. She met him whilst working in Ibiza and they married following a whirlwind romance. They are living with Jack, Joey’s brother, and his wife Rebecca, who are expecting their first baby. Before long Joey bumps into her neighbour Tom, a charismatic headteacher, and develops a crush on him, Freddie, Tom’s son ‘watches’. He has his binoculars and camera , taking photos of his neighbours including Joey and teenage friends Jenna and Bess. Bess also has a schoolgirl crush on Tom and Jenna, whose mother constantly fears she is being watched, realises that Tom has a secret past.
This is a very well constructed story with ‘watching’ being the theme throughout the book. The ending was a complete surprise and will leave you speechless. A riveting read, highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have just finished reading this book and I am absolutely blown away by the ending. I never saw that coming! I've read a few Lisa Jewell books and she never fails to surprise me. Watching You was a book I found really creepy. I couldn't read quickly enough towards the finish. A very suspenseful book, I highly recommend it.

What a brilliant book! I really loved this one. Joey comes back to live with her brother Jack and his wife in the UK, after a whirlwind romance and marriage to Alfie, who she met while working in Ibiza. She comes back to live in her home town of Bristol to settle down and live a 'grown up' life, but she soon gets involved with a married neighbour, Tom, who is the perfect teacher that everyone loves.
The story begins with a body lying in a pool of blood, after a frenzied knife attack, on a kitchen floor and we then go back and forward in time to find out exactly what led to the murder. The characters were extremely well written and developed, however, there were a lot of them and you have to concentrate to keep up with who was who! Jenna and her friend Bess were very believable as confused, vulnerable teenagers and I loved Tom's son Freddie, whose odd behaviour is revealed to be as a result of an underlying condition which was very authentically portrayed. His new romance was one of the highlights of the book for me.
The reader's perception of the characters change as secrets are revealed and their true personalities are uncovered. Lots of twists and turns and some real OMG moments, I would highly recommend this book.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

I have been a born again fan of Lisa Jewell ever since she changed genre from chic lit to psychological thrillers. Once again she has excelled herself with her new book Watching You.

The plot is quite complicated for me to explain, but I will tell you the story offers so much more than the synopsis.

The story is based in the village of Melville, in particular the painted houses of Upper Melville which looks down on the lower class Lower Melville. In Upper Melville lives Heart Surgeon Jack and wife Rebecca Mullen. His sister Joey (Josephine), and her husband Joey Butter. Two doors down lives Super Head Tom Fitzwilliam who saves ailing schools, his young wife Nikki and their son fifteen year old Freddie Fitzwilliam. Freddie has problems making friends because his father is constantly moved around the country saving troubled schools. His hobby is watching the comings and goings of his neighbours in Melville from his bedroom window, especially the girls.

In Lower Melville he spys on Jenna Tripp who is a pupil at Tom's school. Her Mother Frances has a mental health problem and is convinced that Tom Fitzwilliam and Freddie are constantly watching her. She believes that Tom is part of a global conspiracy. Frances is obsessed with Tom and every night she watches his house from a ditch in Lower Melville.

Watching You was a slow burner giving you plenty of time to remember the characters of the story. The plotline was fascinating, as the story progressed it became so much bigger then an obsessive attraction to a neighbour. I loved the description of the colourful houses overlooking the rest of the village and could picture it in my minds eye.

My favourite characters in the book were Jenna who had to care for Frances. I also liked the highly gifted but awkward Freddie and his infatuation with Romana. The story was told from the POV of Joey and transcripts from the police interviews. I was blown away by this book, It was compulsive reading and found I had read half the book in one evening. You will not regret reading this excellent book.

Lisa Jewell just goes from strength to strength as she serves up different scenarios with a whole cast of different characters in this her sixteenth novel and I for one was hooked from page one, where there is out and out darkness in the form of a body on a kitchen floor. The police are in attendance and an investigation is opened.

First of all the author paints us a picture of perfection, a group of colourful houses perched on a hill, the type of house that Joey (Josephine) has always wanted to live in but that seemed unlikely after four years working in Ibiza, and now she’s home with her new husband Alfie in tow. Fortunately her older brother Jack and his pregnant wife Rebecca live in the cobalt coloured house in Melville Heights and her and Alfie had moved in while they sorted out where there life was going next.

Lisa Jewell’s latter books have all had some level of darkness about them but this one hurtles headlong into the undeniable thriller territory. After listening to Joey describing her life to her mum at her grave, we are launched into a transcript of a police interview held at Bristol police station nearly three months past this point. A word of warning, keep your eye on the changing dates, which are easily signposted, because this book does hop backwards and forwards until the past catches up with the present.

There are as in many of this author’s books a number of issues which are sensitively portrayed but with realism at its core rather than the reader getting the feeling that they’ve been used to bolster an otherwise flabby storyline.

At the centre of this book is Tom Fitzwilliam, the head of the local school who is married to Nicola. They also live at Melville heights with their teenage son, Freddie. Joey quickly becomes infatuated with Tom and is watching him. Tom’s son Freddie was documenting the neighbourhood using his digital binoculars but more recently has been using his spy equipment to watch the teenage girls in the vicinity while down in Lower Melville Frances Tripp is convinced that there is a mass of people watching her, so she is watching everyone else.

You might be able to tell from that very short synopsis, apart from a lot of watching, there are lots of characters in this book. And what characters they are, even the teenage girls are kept distinct by Lisa Jewell’s keen eye (and pen) for the little things that make each person unique.
In short I found this latest novel absolutely gripping. I wanted to know who had been murdered, who would want to murder but most of all I wanted to truly understand this eclectic bunch of people who became my neighbours for the duration of the book. Of course it wasn’t that simple with impeccable timing we are drip-fed pieces of information, some of which are red-herrings, so that my opinion on the characters altered the more I learned about them all.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again here, if you haven’t read one of Lisa Jewell’s books you really should, she has a very easy to read style but that isn’t to say that they are superficial, in fact they are anything but!

I’d like to thank the publisher Random House UK for allowing me to read a copy of Watching You and thank you to Lisa Jewell for such a gripping read.