This is my first book by Lisa Jewel and I was very eager tos tart reading this after reading the blurb and seeing all the fantastic reviews her previous books had received.
The book multiple characters living in the same neighbourhood and the main focus of the book is on the new headmaster Tom Fitzwilliam brought in to shape the failing local school into a top notch one. All the women as well as school girls seem to be falling head over heels for this charismatic man with perfect manners and a spotless record but is all that shines actually gold? Well, you have to read on to find out.
The book manages to keep the reader on edge right from the start. There are twists and turns aplenty and not a second of boredom. I couldn’t stop turning the pages and finished the book in a single sitting. I loved the pace, the development of each character and I was completely surprised by the ending. I didnt see that coming at all. As a person who reads a lot of thrillers, its very difficult to take me by surprise lately. I almost always manage to predict the ending but here, I was completely surprised in the best way possible.
I am happy to say that my first Lisa Jewel book managed to leave me mighty impressed and I cannot wait to read more of her books. I highly recommend for fans of a good thriller

I finished Watching You by Lisa Jewell today. I really liked how Jewell had this story unfold. Different perspectives, letters, police interviews...I was worried about there being too many characters but it didn’t bother me at all! This is my second book by the author, and now I’m off to find a copy of The House We Grew Up In before a friend scolds me again. 😉
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this egalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. This book comes out December 26th!

Sadly, my file did not work past page 250. However, I probably would not have finished this book. The characters were not multi-dimensional, and I felt the story starting to fall flat around page 150-200. I tried my best to make it to the end, but again my file did not allow me to read the last 60 or so pages.

As a young girl, I always aspired to live in a large city so that I could be anonymous, no small town where everyone would know my business. I achieved that for most of my life, living in some of the largest metropolises in the world. Lisa Jewell's new novel, Watching You, demonstrates my nightmare. A wealthy enclave in Bristol, England, is a place where the moneyed people live, but the houses are close enough so that you can see what your neighbor is doing just by glancing out the window. If you have binoculars, as Freddie Fitzwilliam, a fifteen-year-old student does, you can become the town spy.

Jewel's gift is to take all the tiny pieces of peoples lives, every bit of detail and put it into a jigsaw puzzle that, in the end, came together and made me think, Ah yes, so that is how it happened. The protagonists Tom Fitzwilliam, a 'super head' of the local school and a young woman named Joey Mullen, set off the sparks that made this a fascinating read, done at breakneck speed. I had to get to the end!

I love Lisa Jewell's writing and recommend this book and all of her other many twisty stories.

I received an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.

*4.5 stars

This book was unputdownable! At the beginning we know that a murder happened but you don't know who it is and what happened. From there we go back a few months to how it all started. Told through several POV's from a neighborhood where everybody is watching, this will take you in all different directions. Nobody sees the same thing and everyone has their own interpretation. This really made the story interesting. It was fast-paced and compelling. I highly recommend to mystery lovers!!

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone who wants to read a real page-turner won't be disappointed with this book. The characters are interesting, the writing is very good, and the story has plenty of red herrings to keep every mystery lover riveted. The only slight negative for me is - - why do authors have two main characters with names starting with the same letter?! It drove me crazy for the first half of the book. Joey? Jenna? Let's see - - which one is this now - - making me pause for a minute or two before getting on with it.

The explosive ending of the book was quite different than it seemed the story was going. Love it when that happens! This was a very entertaining read!

Wow!!!!!!! This book pulled me in from the first page and kept me intrigued throughout the whole thing. Just when i thought I had it figured out nope the author spins a twist that I never saw coming into it. This is my 2nd Lisa Jewelll book and i definitely want to dive into her other 14 books.
Joey Mullens and her husband live with her brother and his wife. Joey developes a crush on a neighbor and dives into an infatuation that changes her life in ways she never would have thought. Freddie FitzWilliams is a teenage boy who watches his neighbors and is kinda a voyeur in his own way. He suspects that one of his teenaged neighbor's has a crush on his head teacher father. Jenna Tripp is a teenager living at home with her bi-polar slightly delusional mom. Her mom is convinced that people are stalking her amd the head teacher Mr FitzWilliam is at the head of it. At the head of this story is a murder and just when you think you've got it figured out think again. This story is told by each of these characters and that makes this story so easy to fall into and so hard to get out of. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced e-copy of this book for my honest review. I will highly recommend this book to everyone.

I NEVER dislike a book by Lisa Jewell...I just enjoy some a bit more than others...and this one comes in at just under 4 stars for me...3.75 stars (rounded up).

What is going on in Melville Heights.? A neighborhood of twenty-seven Victorian villas painted in alternating colors of red, yellow, turquoise, purple, lime, sage, fustian and then red again...Why are so many people watching their neighbors form their second story windows or from the bushes below those windows? And, how did this become a neighborhood where SOMEBODY gets murdered in their own kitchen despite so many people always watching??

The book opens with a mysterious diary entry, written by a young girl in love with her English teacher, and a prologue where DC Rose Pelham is gathering evidence at the scene of the crime.

The reader does not know WHO is murdered till the end, though Lisa Jewell and her always quirky cast of characters will drop some clues, and some red herrings, along the way.

It’s not a police procedural but some information about the investigation is provided via transcripts of interviews conducted by Rose Pelham and her partner.

Is Tom Fitzwilliam, who seems to be the object of desire for more than one young lady, really such a good guy? Or is his public persona completely different from his private one?

🤫 I’m not telling...but you can find out on Dec. 26th!

I would like to thank Netgalley, Atria books and Lisa Jewell for allowing me an advance reader copy in exchange for a candid review! I am looking forward to seeing what Lisa Jewell has in store for us next!

Thank you netgalley and atria books for the free copy
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Watching You by Lisa Jewell gave me all the creep vibes and I am here for it. While I did figure out the killer and motive near the end (most people will), it kept me wondering about some of the shadier characters. Justice didn’t feel entirely served so I was hoping the epilogue would wrap things up to my liking. When it didn’t, I was a little disappointed but I was satisfied with everything else. It was a definite page turner for me!

Watching You is now one of my favorite novels. I stayed up late to finish it because I couldn’t wait until the next day to finish it. I was riveted and that doesn’t often happen. I was wrong about several things before the big reveal and that’s to the author’s credit. I had guessed one event but she convinced me I was wrong for several pages before I was confirmed in my suspicions.
One of the main characters isn’t as likeable as some other characters, but not everyone are as they seem and I made assumptions about who the murder victim was as well. Of course I will have to revisit this book and see if I can spot the mis-directs and solve the murder correctly this time. Red herrings abound to great success.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to more novels by Lisa Jewell.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked that the story is being told from multiple point of views. This was a fast read. I didn’t want to put it down because I wanted to know what was going on. This book kept me guessing until the end which is such a great thing. I’d say 4.5 stars.

***5 Stars***

Joey, Tom Fitzwilliams, Freddie, Jenna, Jenna's mom... This book begins convoluted; lots of characters that initially I thought would be too many, but it's seriously perfect. The writing is so descriptive and the character development made me feel like I could perfectly picture every person and scene. At first you think all the characters are going to be off doing their own things but suddenly everyone intertwines with alternating point of views and the story is intense throughout. About half way through the book I thought I figured out the twist, however I wasn't spot on and the final page threw another twist I didn't see coming, which bumped me from 4.5 to 5 stars. There is love, lust, murder, mystery, sadness, pain, you name it, this book has it all. This is my first read by Lisa Jewell and I will definitely be reading more from her in the future.
I loved this book and I cannot recommend it enough. It' s expected publication date is December 26, 2018 so it's the perfect book to use those holiday gift cards/money on!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another well-crafted, suspenseful novel by Lisa Jewell. Tom Fitzwilliam is a charismatic private school principal who lives in a nice neighborhood with his wife and brilliant teenage son. His neighbors include student Jenna and her paranoid, possibly schizophrenic mother who is convinced that Tom and his son Freddie are ringleaders of a giant network of stalkers. In another home down the street, Joey and her new husband Alfie have moved in with Joey's brother and his wife, who's expecting their first child. Joey becomes obsessed with Tom after a chance encounter; Jenna and Freddie start to believe Tom is not who he appears to be; and a troubling incident from the past haunts them all. Jewell is a master at creating a mysterious secret that ties her many characters together.

Thank you to Atria Book sfor sending me a free copy of Watching You in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I've got to start by saying that this book is 100% character driven. And what unusual characters they are! To be honest, I was a little thrown off for about the first half of the book. It seemed to be full of odd characters that went about their daily lives doing very odd things. And there are a lot of these peculiar characters, all strangely interacting with one another.

In the second half of the book, I was beginning to see where things were going, and the ending was very good. Please make sure to read the epilogue, too, because there is one last final bombshell to be dropped. But no spoilers here!

I found Watching You to be very outside of what I have come to expect from Lisa Jewell. The few novels of hers that I have read tend to have a bit of a pulling at the heart strings but there was none of that here. I actually didn't like any of the characters in Watching You, I thought they were all pretty despicable. So is it a good thing for an author to go in a different direction? I think so.

I did end up liking this book as a whole, even though the parts separately I didn't like. I'm struggling to decide on a rating but I think I will go right in the middle at 3 out of 5 stars. I hated the characters, I couldn't connect with them or what they were doing, but everything wove together in the end. If you like Lisa Jewell, I think this one is definitely worth reading, but be prepared from something different.

Watching You kicks off with a murder investigation - we aren’t sure who was killed or any of the details. And then it jumps back a few months. We start to learn the details of what’s been happening in this suburban neighborhood through different perspectives - a man who is the new headmaster of the local school, his wife, his son, the two couples who live a few doors down and a student who lives down the street with her mom.

There are lots of pieces that all come together. I had figured out the biggest piece of the ending early on but it didn’t take away the enjoyment of reading through to understand the hows and whys. It became a read that I couldn’t put down - perfect for a cold winter day, cozy under a blanket.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Atria books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 ⭐️ .
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Just when you think you have it all figured out, you really don’t ! @lisajewelluk Has done it again !
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Thank you to the publisher @atriabooks and @netgalley for an advance reader copy of this amazing book ! Although it started a bit slow , and it was hard keeping track of the many narratives and the various characters at first, once it got going, I couldn’t put it down !
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Given the number of mysteries I read, I’m always amazed to discover a popular author whose works have previously escaped me. But while I own an audiobook of her’s, I had yet to read or listen to anything by Lisa Jewell. So, it was a pleasant surprise to find out how much I enjoyed her upcoming book.

Joey returns to Bristol after four years away in Spain. She’s recently married but already unsure of her decision. She and her husband have moved in with her brother and sister in law. She becomes obsessed with an attractive older man that lives two doors down.

There are so many moving parts to this book as it’s told from multiple viewpoints. It also incorporates police transcripts as a way to move the plot along. You’re really kept on your toes. Who has been murdered and why? And what a strange group of people. We’ve got stalkers and conspiracy nuts and that’s just the adults. Lots of teenage angst thrown in as well.

Who is Tom Fitzwilliams really? Women want him and men want to be like him, as they say. He reminds me of the story of the blind men and the elephant. Everyone knows pieces of him but no one knows the entire person. As each tries to learn more about him, the story picks up its pace. This book really kept me in its thrall. Great ending which i didn’t see coming at all.

My thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

Melville Heights is Wisteria Lane on crack; everyone spends more time and energy checking out the comings and goings of their neighbors than they do attending to their own disordered lives. And it's awesome!!

The book opens with the death of...someone. We don't know who but we know a red tassel was left behind and that it will play heavily later on.

The story is told from multiple POV's, some likable, some slappable, all interesting and well-written. The central questions revolve around Tom Fitzwilliam. Who is he, saint or sinner? What was he getting up to, and why does it matter?

The story unfolds in such a way that as a reader you can play sleuth. The clues are doled out and there's enough info to put it together if you're good at this kind of thing. I didn't, which I LOVED! The police transcripts were a very fun touch.

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and Lisa Jewell for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another enjoyable book by Lisa Jewell. It started off a little slow for me, but once I figured out all of the characters I really enjoyed it. The story was interesting and relatable- everyone’s had that nosy neighbor who’s driven them crazy. The twist was very enjoyable and I totally didn’t see it coming. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

4/5 stars

Thank you, Atria Books, for the ARC of Watching You! I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell's writing, and I was so excited to read this title. As usual, she did not disappoint! Hugely page-turning, skillfully written. I was so thrown off the path that even when I started to suspect the real culprit, there turned out to be so much more to the story than I expected. I had a great time reading this, and I loved the way the characters were developed and how they wove together throughout the plot. I was also chilled by the ending - I like how it left me hanging just ever-so-slightly on one detail. Great cozy fireside read!