Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins. BUT ... friends out there who have read this book, please HELP ME! What in the world did I miss at the very end?? The brown hair? Whose was it? Nikki’s as a teenager? Viva’s? Was it not a suicide but a murder? By him or by her, or were they both in on it? I have re-listened to chapters trying to figure it out, and know it was a significant lightbulb moment, but I am just stymied and feel like a bit of a dunce.

I absolutely loved that this book created so many questions and the subtle clues are perfectly interspersed in the storyline but piecing them all together was definitely making my head spin. So I decided that I was just going to read and let the story do the job for me. And, I am so glad that I did because what transpires in the end was absolutely stunning and so totally worth it! Born in London, she studied an arts foundation course at Barnet College before pursuing Fashion Illustration and Communication at Epsom School of Art & Design. The multi-perspective viewpoint with suspenseful novels really helps move these types of novels forward. Everyone comes from a different place and adds another layer to the story. The theme of secrets Jenna Tripp describes the chat rooms her mother frequents as somewhere “she could go to have her craziness validated” (p. 130). Many people use online communities to form connections and feel less isolated, particularly if they feel misunderstood by those around them. Yet Jenna observes that her mother’s delusions are being exacerbated by talking to people with similar issues. Discuss what makes an insular community (like a chat room) supportive or detrimental. Can it be both?A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. One of my favorite parts of the story is the recorded police interviews that are dispersed throughout the book, giving clues to who is suspected and where the investigation is focusing. I kept trying to figure out Tom and figure out if he was misunderstood or just another cagey predator.

That’s when you meet the man next door. He’s the head teacher at the local school. Twice your age. Extraordinarily attractive. Oh, and did I mention the short chapters? Creepy vibe + murder plot + short chapters = reading frenzy.

Throughout the story there is a lot of watching going on... Freddie is watching the entire neighborhood... let me just add in my opinion here, getting your teenage son high power binoculars, probably not a great idea, just saying...We also had Jenna’s mother convinced crazy shenanigans are going on, watching Tom... Jenna is watching and watching out for her BFF... Joey is watching the comings and goings of Tom and his wife... and so on, made me wonder what is going on in my own neighborhood? The complexities of the marital abuse described in Watching You undermine some of the assumptions we often make about what gives someone power in a relationship. What power dynamics do we see in the various marriages in the novel? How do these fit or defy our expectations? This title keeps popping up whenever I browse the kindle bookstore. Guess I must have read similar titles before. So far I have resisted, but whenever I see a positive review my resistance is weakening 🙂

This is a deliciously dark and tangled tale of burdensome and consuming lies, lust, and deeply hidden truths. The storyline revolves around several main characters whose lives are all entwined in different ways which made the story rich with a subdued suspense peaking towards the end so I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation and I was rewarded with so many more tasty morsels than I could have imagined. Her books, which have been translated into sixteen languages, have sold million copies across the globe. Everyone seems to be watching people, especially Jenna's Mom who is convinced that someone is stalking her. Her mental health has recently been deteriorating. Tom FitzWilliams is the headmaster at the school and is very well liked. Joey Mullen is his neighbor and is very infatuated with him and thinks it's a secret but Tom's teenage son, Freddie is one of the characters that watches people and finds out that Joey is behaving strangely around his father. One of Tom FitzWilliam's students, Jenna who lives in the same street that he lives on, thinks that he isn't what he seems to be since he has taken interest to her friend and classmate.

Misdirection

Considering what the men in her life have told her, Joey wonders if, “while most women spent their lives searching for the perfect man, men sat around waiting to be chosen and then made the best of it” (p. 313). Do you think this is true? Why, or why not? Okay ... I really, really enjoyed listening to this suspenseful drama. Great cast of characters, twisty-turny “gotcha” storyline, and never a dull moment. She wondered if that was how it worked, that while most women spent their lives searching for the perfect man, men sat around waiting to be chosen and then made the best of it.” Watching You is really about perspective. What one character might see, another does not. The narratives people build from watching one another lead to discovering truths but also to great inaccuracies. When the fleeting memories however start getting clearer by the day, Melody launches a desperate mission to uncover the true story of her childhood.