In the Melville Heights neighborhood everyone seems to have a "eye" out for secrets while they don't realize their own are being discovered. The story almost needs a program due to the character list but minus that the story does hum along and keep you interested.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. My reviews can be found on my GoodReads page at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1335387-kelly.

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewel books. She mixes the best of mystery/thriller with women’s fiction!!! Watching You followed her amazing story telling pattern.
Melville Heights is the neighborhood everyone wants to live in. Bristol England’s elite live there, so it is not a place where people get murdered. But it is defiantly the place where everyone has secrets and everyone is “watching you”……..
I really enjoyed Watching You and I look forward to reading more from Lisa!

This was SOME book. And what an ending! Don't wa t to ruin it for future readers, but whatever you do, DONT miss this one. One of the best books I've ever read! Highly recommend

I really enjoy Lisa Jewell's novels, and this was no exception.

The large cast of characters is tied together with their location on a gorgeous street in Bristol, and slowly we begin to understand that all is not what it seems in this neighborhood.

I found it fascinating how the perspectives shifted, and, unlike so many other books, none were disappointing. So often I found myself convinced of something only to feel completely differently in a few pages.

The book is a mystery and has many twists an turns to keep readers guessing.

If you are new to Lisa Jewell, this is a great place to start.

First of, huge thank you's to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy! I'm a huge fan of Lisa Jewell, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. It was extremely well written, and probably my favorite written by her that I've read so far. The book was suspenseful and kept me guessing until almost the very end. I was shocked by the ending of the book! I'm anxious for it to come out in December so everyone else can get a chance to read it!!

I received an excerpt of this book from Netgalley and I enjoyed what I had read and was thrilled to be able to read the rest of the book. It was so easy to get caught up in this very addicting story where you knew the multiple families were going to eventually collide but when and to what extent? A super suspenseful and intriguing read!

I choose to read this story as I absolutely loved the author's previous novel, Then She Was Gone, which then led me to read and love I Found You as well. Unfortunately I didn't care for this story. I felt the plot to be slow and the characters just didn't shine through for me. It was a page-turner in the sense that I couldn't wait for the story to come to a twist, however it never did and I saw everything that was coming.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lisa Jewell and Atria Books for this ARC.

This is my first Lisa Jewell book, and I am so mad at myself for not reading her sooner! I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, and the pacing of the book was good. I was hooked from the very first chapter.

I am definitely a new Lisa Jewell fan, and will be reading all her other books as quickly as I can!

This book starts with you knowing that a crime has been committed. You have to unravel all the strings to figure it out. There are a lot of characters to keep track of. We have a school headmaster who might just be too good to be true. A physician and his remote wife. Several teenagers with obsessions. A Mother who has emotional issues. There are chapters throughout the book that are police interviews with different characters.

This book dragged a bit for me at the beginning. You have to pay attention to keep everyone straight. Overall it was a good plot with an unexpected twist at the end. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I've read and enjoyed several Lisa Jewell novels in the last two years. When an opportunity to read Watching You surfaced last month, I requested the book via NetGalley and was awarded it overnight. I was super excited and planned it for my October schedule so I could have a little scary / psychological stuff to read as the temperature got chillier and the sun set earlier. Overall, I was pleased with the book and would recommend it, but there were a few things that needed some additional attention before the final version was released to readers.

The story takes place in current times in an English village where several of the neighbors have a penchant for watching one another through binoculars, cameras, or even just between the separation of curtains in a window. There are ~20 important cast members' lives we read about and try to understand who's connected to who when they say things using generic names like "she" or "he" to keep us in suspense. There's a newlywed couple, a couple with a baby on the way, a couple fighting, a mother and daughter who act weird, young teen friends who are hooking up with boys they shouldn't be, a teen boy who is a bit peculiar at first (then we learn why)... all-in-all, it's a fine cast with lots of potential but no one was superb or lovable or hate-able (my new word of the day!). As we understand the connections and who's misbehaving, we begin to see how everything unravels until the big twist at about 90% in the book.

Unfortunately, I thought it was too easy to guess. That doesn't mean it wasn't good, but I believe it could have used some more mystery, red herrings, and darker tones. Additionally, several characters were manipulated to create red herrings (which I'm totally cool with) but the end of their story and the root cause of why it happened wasn't really sewn back together. I don't believe it was purposeful either, just not enough focus on total symmetry across the entire novel. Because of this and a few characters who weren't as fleshed out as I thought they should be (Rebecca, mother of girl who took lots of photos, the group that met at the house), I couldn't give it 5 stars.

The plot was strong, the characters were passionate. The dialog and descriptions were vivid and consistent. Rarely did I find myself tempted to skim/skip a few paragraphs. It was just missing something to make it really really pop. This is a genre I really love diving into, so it certainly met a lot of my go-to features but fell shy of where Jewell's books normally take me. It has a few difficult stories to handle (I'm okay with them, but others might be alarmed) such as child abuse, spouse abuse, possible rape, affairs, teacher/student relationships being crossed. It's almost as if the book wanted to cross a heavy line into being stark and scary, but it stopped too short to be a total dark psychological thriller and went too far to just say it gently handled these situations. We were in the middle and uncertain which way to gravitate on whether a character was black or white... several were muted grey in their tendencies and behaviors.

For me, in a book, it wavered too much. It's probably very reminiscent of reality, but I wanted a bigger gut punch or a lighter hint at misbehavior. An example is the spouse abuse. One says "nothing is happening" and the other says "yes, we occasionally hurt one another" -- I'm paraphrasing. We never get a real answer, so I'm uncertain why it was left that way when it was (1) not critical to the plot and (2) made us waffle on how we were supposed to interpret what was going on. Given the actual people involved were critical to the murder that happened, I felt we needed something more transparent.

That said, it's still a very strong book. I will keep reading more from Jewell. And if you can accept these things, and still enjoy a great story, you'll be fine with this one.

One of the best books I have read in 2018, I will most definitely will be reading more books by Lisa Jewel . Thanks NetGalley.

4.5 Stars: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

After reading Then She was Gone earlier this year, liked it did not love it, I knew that Lisa Jewell would be an author on my radar. Though the plot was not my favorite in her last book, her writing style is a style I enjoy reading. Watching You, in my opinion, was better than TSWG. There are more characters to keep up with, but there is only one I would honestly say was not necessary.

From page one, there is a murder and we know that it will not be the obvious choice-- or will it? And though I figured out some of the ending by 60% of the book some of it took me by surprise. The plot is well written and though it's a quick read, you cannot breeze past the details. Because all of the answers are in those tiny details. Watching You was a page turner and I truly enjoyed it. Would recommend to those who like suspense novels. Definitely a solid read.

This book was great! I could not put it down. The reader is drawn into the story, which, as the book nears its end, takes some surprising turns. Really shows that you should not jump to conclusions about others, there are two sides to every story.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Josephine "Joey" Mullen, newly married, has returned from a four year stint working abroad. She has brought her husband, Alfie, home with her. The couple has taken up residence in Joey's brother's spare room. Jack and his pregnant wife Rebecca live in the stunning Melville Heights—a community of posh character homes.

When Joey meets the man two doors down, she is smitten. Tom Fitzwilliam, a dashing older man, is the headmaster of a local school. Joey's innocent crush soon turns to a dangerous obsession. And now instead of Joey watching Tom, someone is watching her, and then things turn deadly.

I have reviewed Then She Was Gone and The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell and was thrilled to receive an ARC of Watching You. This book was absolutely captivating right out of the gate and I couldn't read it fast enough.

The story opens with a murder scene and completely grabs the reader and doesn't let go until the final twist. The reader is left guessing who the dead body is, who the killer is, and what their motivation was. Executed through multiple points of view and police reports, Jewell gives just enough away and paces the novel perfectly.

Jewell's character development is incredible. She deftly handles a large cast and this is where she excels—all of the characters are key to the story. They are rich in detail, motivation, and flawed. Her writing is clever, tense, and riveting. Chock-full of family secrets, passion, obsessions, and misconceptions, this is Jewell at her finest and I highly recommend this book.

Fuuuuuuuck, that ending!

The thing about Lisa is that you know, but yet, she still makes it damn surprising when you *really* know. You know?

I loved that this story centered around the whodunit sub, because I was so hooked into this one, trying to fit pieces together and setting up my own line of suspects. What fascinated me even more were the characters, of course. In the beginning, it was a tad bit hard to keep up with the various storylines, however, around a third of the way in, I was very interested in the lives each one led.

Then She Was Gone is my absolute favorite of hers still, but Watching You had more suspense in it that just wouldn't let up. I stayed up all night finishing this one and that ending really had me so done. I cannot wait for more from Lisa! For sure a new favorite/auto-buy author of mine!

This book for me was a smooth read. It was well written and the characters were pretty likeable. Watching You is a little bit on the slow side but keeps moving. The ending was really good! This book is the reason why Lisa Jewell is a wonderful author. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book..

*This is decent book that I had trouble getting into. I kept putting it down and picking it up. There are many disregard parts that you get lost in traitors l transition. However, it was well written and the characters were well drawn out and interesting. I believe that it's a book that needs to be read a second time to fully develop and get into the characterization and the storyline. I would like to thank netgalley/the author and the publisher for the ability to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

Are you a lover of the neighborhood voyeur type of story who constantly finds themselves being suckered into reading anything about “watching” or “watchers” but generally is left feeling very meh about the whole thing when finished reading – only to immediately repeat the process? If so, look no further because this might be the book you've been waiting for. I’m as surprised as anyone to be giving this (or really ANY) mystery/thriller the full monty of starzzzzzz – especially after recently coming off of my own supermeh Lisa Jewell read (that everyone else loved). But all the Stars it shall receive.

Watching You takes place in a quaint little place known as Melville Heights – and more particularly in a specific neighborhood featuring boldly painted homes. Our story focuses primarily on three households. The Fitzwilliam house features Tom, the headmaster of the local school, his wife Nicola and their son Freddie. Joey and her husband Alfie actually live with her brother Jack and his wife Rebecca. Then there’s Jenna who is the same age as Freddie (but not his classmate, because although she attends Mr. Fitzwilliam’s school, Freddie attends private) who lives with her (literally) paranoid mother. All of these houses have one thing in common . . . . they like to watch their neighbors.

And that’s all you get.

Dang did I eat this book up! I love a story where you know something superbadawful has happened, but you don’t know exactly what or to whom. I love it even more when I forget all about the “mystery” aspect because I’m so wrapped up in the individual character’s goings on. The closest thing I can think to compare this to is The Casual Vacancy (so if you hated that there’s a chance this one won’t work and you should pick one of Jewell’s eleventy other books to read instead), but the way the mystery becomes ancillary and how each character’s life intertwines with the others and how well developed they are all leaves that as the comparison that I’m going to make. I thought this was brilliant.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank yoy, NetGalley!

I feel like this novel can’t quite decide what it wants to be, what sort of tone it’s aiming for. It starts out with a detective examining a dead body, and the narrative is interspersed with interviews of Joey (Josephine) and others by the police, but even though it seems everyone is spying on everyone else, I never felt swept up in suspense or dread or psychological intrigue. I didn’t care all that much about the girl who committed suicide years earlier or who the person who the person who killed the dead body at the beginning of the book is. Except for mental illness on the part of one character, weirdness on another, and hinted-at nefariousness of another, everyone else seems just go to work or school and nothing actually happens.

Also, it was hard to like Joey. She’s just gotten married, but both she and her husband aren’t particularly ambitious when it comes to their careers, and Joey has a crush on a married man. It’s difficult to care all that much about the fate of a married woman lusting after a married man.