3.5 Stars

After reading great praise for Lisa Jewell's books, and while having never read one myself, I was very excited to get my hands on this one.

The story opens, like so many other thrillers, with a murder scene and what follows is everything leading up to that scene. Again, a tired premise for this genre but what's a reader to do? Next, we are introduced to a plethora of characters, and while I'm all for complicated plots with a lot of players, I found myself confused more often than not. It took me well over half of the book to be able to start a chapter without thinking ..."hhhmmmmm...which one is this again?". For me, the characters lacked their own unique voice which is necessary to pull off this type of storyline.

Now for the good stuff! I very much enjoyed the plot, I love how all of these characters in the neighborhood are linked together with invisible, twisty, tied-in-a-knot silly string. It's a slow build with just the exact amount of mystery to keep you turning the pages. I only had one "omg what is happening?" moment around the 85% mark and was never, at any time, sure of what was actually going on until it was revealed.

Oh but alas... the author chose to end things with a futile and hurried attempt at wrapping up the story with an epilogue that went and ruined it for me.

Overall it was a quick read with an intriguing plot, despite the slow crawling pace. Would I read another book by this author? Heck yeah I would.


I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are a ton of great books coming out in the next few months- so many thrillers and mysteries- and my newest read is definitely one of them! First off, if you aren't familiar with Lisa Jewell, you are MISSING OUT! She is such a fantastic storyteller, so whenever I sit down with one of her books, I know I won't be doing anything else for the next few hours.

This book takes place in Melville Heights, a posh neighborhood in Bristol, England, where Joey Mullins and her husband Alfie are living with her ultra-successful doctor brother Jack and his pregnant wife Rebecca. Two doors down is Tom Fitzwilliam, a famously successful teaching administrator beloved by communities everywhere for turning cruddy schools to success stories, who lives with his exercise-obsessive wife and their eccentric son Freddie, a voyeur who likes to keep tabs on everyone in the neighborhood.

One of Tom's students, Jenna Tripp, lives down the street with her mother, a mentally-ill former model and actress who thinks people are watching her and that Tom is a stalker and lunatic with secrets. It's not long before all of the characters become intertwined, and Joey develops a crush on Tom, which becomes obsessive and threatens to ruin her marriage.

Meanwhile, secrets are starting to be uncovered about a dead girl from the past, who left behind a mysterious diary. She makes explosive allegations about her school and her teacher and this leads people to wonder, "So who really are these people of Melville Heights?" On top of it all, the book begins with a death in the neighborhood. so you spend the whole book wondering who/what/how/why. Is Tom just an amazingly devoted family man and successful teacher, or are things not quite as they seem?? Is Joey off her rocker, or just trying to cope with a marriage and her husband's wanting to start a family? The ending was fabulous and I did not see it coming.....I always love that!

4 our of 5 stars for Watching You by Lisa Jewell, which comes out December 26th, 2018.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Atria Books , who provided me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel revolves around the residents of a posh neighborhood in Bristol, England. Joey and her new husband have moved in with Joey’s brother, wife and child. She holds down a menial job and daydreams about neighbor, Tom, a schoolmaster at a local school. Tom’s son Freddie, meanwhile, is practicing for his future as a spy and watches all the comings and goings in the neighborhood with an eagle eye. Jenna, one of Tom’s students also lives nearby with her mother, a woman terrified by everything, sure someone is out to get her. As thew story opens, one of the neighbors is dead, murdered. Readers then discover the ugly secrets that lie buried just beneath the surface of this neighborhood.

WATCHING YOU got off to a great start, then slowed down a bit, then picked back up for a race to the finish. Despite this slight unevenness, it's an entertaining read and I enjoyed the creepy thought of these neighbors spying on each other. At times the plot felt a tiny bit unbelievable or "too much." But I liked the different characters and had no trouble keeping them straight. Jewell is really good at making the reader curious about what has happened, especially here when we know from the start that a crime will ultimately be committed. It's a clever structure with a (mostly) satisfying payoff.

What a treat! I am, admittedly, a huge fan of Lisa Jewell’s previous works. However, she consistently knocks them down as she sets them up. This book was no exception. It effortlessly wove the stories of a group of people living in an area, viewing the same story from different viewpoints and ultimately, the murder of one of the residents on the street. Unlike other thrillers, this book definitely gave the story a more human and emotional touch than perhaps a detective thriller might. Perhaps because the story was seen through the eyes of the residents and also some teenagers, it had a more thoughtful feel to it. Unlike some of the other books I have read previously, there were twists at every turn, but not predictable ones. The story was fresh, the characters were very well developed and the plot was air tight from what I could tell. I may be speaking from a biased viewpoint, but this is one of the best books I have read in a while in this genre. Pick it up!!!

I love mysteries that get under your skin and keep you guessing. You think you know what is going on but you have no idea. It's at those moments that you find that everything has changed. This was that kind of book. It was fascinating and fast-paced. Obsession and murder only fueled the intensity.

Thank you netgalley for a copy of Lisa Jewll’s newest novel Watching You.
I am a big Lisa Jewell fan and this book didn’t disappoint.
It did take me a bit to get into it...but once I did it flowed perfectly.
I sort of had an idea where the end was headed, however it didn’t affect how much I enjoyed this book.
I really enjoy her writing style.
Can’t wait for her next book.

Thanks to netgalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is my second Lisa Jewell novel and it is not likely to be my last. I found this book to be a very quick and easy read. I liked the storyline. We knew someone was likely murdered due to the fact that people were being questioned by the police and those interviews were placed throughout the book, but the interesting part is that we don't even know who was murdered. I thought there were just enough characters to keep it interesting, but not enough to get confused and not be able to keep track of who is who. I would recommend this.

I have never read any works by Lisa Jewell before, but when I saw the cover of Watching You, I was excited to read it.

The start is a little confusing, with all of the characters being introduced and the timeline movement; but, overall the book is a wonderful, creepy read. The characters have intriguing depth and the ending was totally unexpected.

I do recommend this book! I admit the start is sluggish and the confusion could be discouraging, but keep reading. By the mid-point, it settles into being quite the page-turner.

I was given an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review . Well this one just knocked me out. I don't even know what to say about it because I don't want to ruin any of the twists. But it's one of the most well crafted thrillers I've read this year, clever with enjoyable flawed characters. A solid five.

This was the perfect book to pick up for the first few cozy days of fall. Everyone is watching everyone else in the small town of Melville Heights, and the tension managed to grip me even though actual plot points came about slowly. The subject matter was extremely relevant to modern cultural issues—abuse, bullying, questionable relationships, internet stalking—but the quaint English setting made the story feel almost pleasantly nostalgic. This isn't a particularly ambitious book—of the half dozen or so characters I found only a few to be fully fleshed out—but there were enough clever turns to work for me and I really enjoyed one particular character's chapters and storyline (I don't want to name him or her here to avoid betraying any mild spoilers).

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy for review, all opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review your book.
Lisa Newell is fast becoming my favorite author.
This was another. Fast paced thriller of a read that keeps you guessing til the end.

I wanted to like this story, but I got so frustrated as there were way too many characters and I found myself getting distracted trying to remember who was who. This book also was slow to start and I just felt that I wasn't the right reader for this book.

Tom Fitzwilliam is the new headmaster at the local school in Melville Heights, a charming and affluent neighborhood in Bristol, England. He, his wife and son, Freddie live in one of the colorfully-painted townhouses that serve as a sort of landmark for the area. When Joey Mullen and her new husband move into number 14 with her brother and his wife, she becomes fascinated by Tom. Compared to her new, young and (mostly) unemployed husband, Alfie, Tom's maturity and steadfastness seem so much more appealing. But is Tom aware of her obsession, and could there be other young(er) girls also interested? Someone is watching them all, and knows their hidden secrets.

Recommended!

Intriguing thriller with plot twists and turns to keep you guessing. Flowing narration, three-dimensional and complex characters. Highly recommended.

Watching You is a creepily uncomfortable reminder that someone is always watching. The lonely neighbourhood teen who captures moments for his own records, to the ‘crazy’ mother who is convinced she’s being gang-stalked, to the soon-to-be Mom who is always behind her closed door. This book has a lot of characters, and they are all excellently developed, but can be a bit tricky to keep track of. Overall this was an excellent read, which I figured out near the end.

This one took a bit for me to read. Its starts slow, but then it gets going.

What I loved: Once the twists started, they really got going!!
What I liked: I thought I knew what was going to happen. I really did....but I didn't.
What I hated: It was slow to start. I *almost* gave up on it. I'm glad that I didn't, but I was so close to giving it a DNF.
Advice to readers: KEEP GOING. It's worth it.
There's ALOT going on in this book.
One word description to sell it to readers: Unexpected.
Actual Stars: 3.75

I love Lisa Jewel however this story just didn't reel me in like her others.

I'm not a fan at all of stories where the school kids have crushes on their teachers.
The story line was easy to figure out and there really wasn't much suspense.

This story just seemed kind of creepy and I just wanted to get through it so I could start something else.

Watching You is a quick read with alternating points of view from characters that are hard to like at times. It was slightly predictable but my curiosity kept me reading.