I was familiar with Armstrong's urban fantasy/supernatural fiction, but I didn't know she had moved into other genres until this book popped in my NetGalley newsletter. I do love Young Adult murder mysteries, and the cover reminded me of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, We Are Liars, and similar YA thrillers, so I decided to give it a shot--and I do love a cool cover!

For the sake of full disclosure, I was given an advance reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Once I started, I couldn't put it down. It is really unfortunate sometimes that I do most of my pleasure reading at night. If a book is good, putting it down in order to sleep is a challenge, and this book resulted in a couple of very late nights!

The story is a taut psychological thriller centering on a group of high school friends: Blythe, Gabrielle, Tucker, and Tanya. Tucker has a bit of a black sheep/bad boy reputation, so he and Blythe have been forced apart. However, when Gabrielle starts acting erratically, and then when she is found with the body of their murdered principal, things start to seriously unravel. Blythe starts having memory issues--as do her other friends--so they decide they need to get to the bottom of what is happening to them. Since they are not sure who they can trust, they turn to each other to peel back the layers of lies and deceptions in their lives.

The novel really does tick all the psychological thriller boxes: characters who might be crazy or who might be paranoid for a reason, shady scientists/doctors/institutions, not knowing who among your friends might be a plant or a spy, characters who are not sure they can trust even themselves.

If I had to point to a negative, it is that the teen characters do act with a degree of independence and crime-solving sophistication that is a tad unrealistic--but that is true of most books in this genre. As the reader, some suspension of disbelief is expected, and the rollercoaster of a good story makes that easy--and this is definitely a good story.

Content warnings: the main characters are essentially children, and they do experience significant trauma--both in their pasts and in their present. There is a fairly bloody murder, and past sexual assault is discussed. Not all the parent-child relationships are healthy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this book early. I really enjoyed this book! It kept me on my toes throughout the whole read. The beginning really sucked me into the mystery and kept me going to finish it all in one setting. Fans of Kelley Armstrong’s other books will recognize a lot of her favorite tropes and plot devices in this book as well. Which I throughly loved. Her writing style always does it for me. And this book was no exception. The characters and their relationships were so compelling and complicated at times, I really just wanted to figure them out. This book also toes the line a bit between realistic thriller and sci-fi in a very very satisfying way. That readers of both genres will get something from the mystery.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It kept my attention for the first page, which is always a huge bonus. This book was a fresh idea and I loved it.

Wow. Just... wow. This book was TWISTY! Every time I thought I had something figured out, something new would come to light and I would completely reevaluate everything. I was guessing and trying to wrap my mind around things until the very end. But even with all the twists, everything clicked into place and made perfect sense.

4.5/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

i really liked this book, the writing was easy to follow and read (though sometimes the information given all at once was overwhelming for me haha). besides that, the beginning was intriguing but starting from the second chapter it really got me hooked. the concept of an unreliable narrative caused by a supposed memory loss had great potential, but i felt it was missing that last bit of umph, especially the ending cause it felt rushed and vague but nonetheless it was still fairly well written.

the reveal (especially for blythe i would say) shocked me cause i really didnt see those coming, it made what was happening make sense. but in the near end i could kinda figure out who was the odd one out i would say.

the characters were well rounded i would say, i really liked blythe, tucker, and tanya the most. each of them had their own charm and personality which was nice. there was some lesbian and ace representation in this book as well so points for that.

Blythe witnesses her friend have a mental breakdown...or does she?
A psychological thriller that has you wondering who is a killer and who isn't. Or is everyone a killer?

Kelley Armstrong is one of my favourite authors. Not only is she Canadian, but she can write anything!
This book was a unique one encompassing many different genres. The characters all have hidden pasts to be uncovered. There’s murder, trauma, a mental breakdown, and so much more. Recommended!

This book was phenomenal! I was oh-so twisted up in the story and just had to know where it went next! The characters were so real and I loved how they were written. I thought I knew what was going to happen next several times, but the author always surprised me. That’s rare in someone that reads as much as I do! I can’t wait to see more from her, this was definitely a book that I didn’t want to put down until the very end. I would love to see a book about what happens next, I could very easily see this, turning into a series. I am here for it!

This book had one huge thing going for it before I even started it - it was written by Kelley Armstrong, and I have loved her books for years! I'm glad I read it, because I enjoyed it very much. Blythe and her friends are having weird dreams and acting out in violent ways, and they have absolutely no idea why. When they start investigating, what they discover is terrifying and hard to believe, but if they're going to save their friend, they'll have to dig even deeper to get to the bottom of what has been done to them, and trust me, it's truly chilling.

I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery here. The ups and downs and twists and turns kept me turning the page until the very end. I liked the kids and their relationships with one another, and loved how strong the female characters were. The plot was intriguing and well written, and the pacing was quick.

I'm very happy to recommend this book and am giving it 5/5 stars.

*** I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada, and Kelley Armstrong for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Slow start, but over a good read with unexpected twists and some expected. It is a good Young Adult thriller

Solid book. Was a bit slow to start but definitely picked up quickly. The main characters were so well done and played off each other well.

There is no trigger warning at the beginning of this book for sexual assault. The premise of this book is interesting and intriguing but the execution was not great. The pacing was a little fast. The writing style wasn’t my favorite and the dialogue did not feel teen to me. The final reveal of the mystery wasn’t exciting and the ending was too vague and left me unsatisfied.

My friend recommended me this book (arc) and I immediately started it. This book is AMAZING. The characters are deep, complicated, dysfunctional and incredible. Blythe and Tuck were my favorites, their friendship was everything. The plot is SO good, the ending too. I really really loved it. Hoping for a sequel!

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

I think the characters could have been fleshed out more and I don't think the author did that great of a job of portraying high school kids, it felt off and forced. However, I loved the concept of this story. The uncharacteristic behaviors, lost memories, secrets, lies...it was so intense!

This book is a story about high schoolers Blythe and her friends Gabrielle, Tucker and Tanya. An incident in the past has put some cracks into the relationship of Blythe and Tucker. Strange things start happening like finding Gabrielle covered in blood standing over their dead principle with no memory of what happened. Secrets are revealed about Tucker and Tanya. The truth becomes blurred when the teens cannot remember their own memories.

The middle was a little slow. I also think the author could have done a better job portraying high school students. I did not particularly enjoy reading about high schoolers using hard drugs.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tundra books for a digital ARC in exchange for my review.

My Thoughts

Filled with strange out of character behavior, secrets, outright lies and a mix of other happenings this particular tale had a little of everything you might expect and also a lot of stuff one does not before its final truths are revealed.

Said reveal is both gratifying and yet also scary to think about.

I could not get myself to stop reading this for very long at a stretch because it preyed on my mind that just had to read one more chapter, which of course meant another after that then still more after that.
[EArc from Netgalley]

On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

Someone Is Always Watching was a solid 4.5 for me. I found myself sacrificing sleep to finish it. I loved the psychological aspect that had twists and turns occurring every few chapters. For me, psychological thrillers need to draw you in immediately to keep the reader interested, and this book does exactly that. Just a few paragraphs in, and the first dilemma is already happening to Blythe and her friends. As the book progresses, it turns into a "Whodunnit?" which kept me turning page after page! I am also a big fan of romance novels, so watching this push and pull between Tucker and Blythe was *chefs kiss*.

A few critiques: if you read the synopsis of the book, it gives a good chunk of the book away. If I had the chance to go back, I would have preferred going into this book blind. Also, I was 48% in before this main confliclt was even revealed. While I didn't mind because of the other surprises, some people may think the book took too long to get to the overall issue the book promised. All in all, SUCH a good book! I can't wait to read more by this author.

CW: murder, gore, gun violence

Blythe Warren is the good girl who can't do anything wrong. Her close friend group seems like the typical high school friend group, until an act of violence causes a rift between Blythe in Tucker. This culminates in another friend named Gabrielle standing over the dead vice principal covered in blood with no memory of what happened. Other friends start having dreams and flashbacks of violent pasts. Who can Blythe and her friends trust if they can't trust their own memories?

I really liked the premise of this book, but I think it fell short in execution. I felt bored for most of the book and the pacing was slow and then rushed towards the ending. I did like how they explored the relationships between each character. The build-up to the final reveal was not great and there were more questions than answers at the end.

Armstrong brings us a new physiological thriller with a unique plot and particular context. The story is well done and written with great characters and a pace that keep the reader on edge.
As it's expected from this author, the story developed the mystery piece by piece, turning into big surprises. However, the reason for not giving 5 stars is the unsolved subplots. The end is kind of shopped and something where left without a proper closure.
Overall a 100% recommended read

Great mystery! I love that you learn a lot about each character but without giving away the who dun it. Very gripping thriller that unravels very nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend!