This is a copy provided by the publisher and the author in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to them!

This was a book full of surprises!

What captivated me in this book was the plot itself, how Elena would deal with the paranoia of observing her neighbors and what she would develop going forward in history. But when I started reading it I thought the story was a bit boring and very repetitive, making Elena a very fickle character with a little atypical actions of her personality, in a really short period of time. It serves as an example of how she reacted, almost unintentionally, when she contacted the Storms, her neighbors, and how her actions became too unconscious.

As the reading flows, I have been able to understand some of Elena’s attitudes and the way she has developed in this narrative. I can tell you that the reasons that came out were nothing of what I was expecting, and so the development of the story equally surprised me.

Themes such as bullying and family ties have proved to be constant in this narrative and it was through them that the main character retains in the midst of paranoia and the loss of its course, in a connection so creative and dense that Caroline presents.

It is undoubtedly a book that we must move away from and gather all the pieces, as the author constantly refers in her writing, and then raise the conclusions of dimensions much deeper than I was expecting. And that was the highest point of this book, the ability to look from different perspectives the course of this woman, Elena.

I recommend to anyone who wants to dare a challenging reading.

Happy readings,

Next to a Book.

on my blog: https://nexttoabook.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/review-of-the-watcher-by-caroline-eriksson/

This was a hard book to get through because Caroline used each character to give an impression that what was happening really did happen. After saying that I feel like I am spoiling the story for you to read. As you read Elena is an author that is watching her neighbors through her window making assumptions about them. They have a 14 year old boy, Leo, that also wants to be an author. His problems become Elena's, because he comes home from school without shoe's, or his door key. She need to write something as a story and this seems to be the ticket. Things take a drastic change when she follows Veronica when she goes off with two suitcases. I'll leave it at that so you can get into the story. You'll not regret it.

My first by this author but by no means my last. It's a runaway train of suspense and twists and turns. Kept me steadily reading until the shocker of an ending!

Thank you NetGalley and AmazonCrossing for the eARC.
It's difficult for me to rate this book, because I'm not too sure how much I liked it. My impression of a woman who was quietly going mad, is watching her neighbors obsessively, befriends their son and is also writing a book, made me feel extremely uncomfortable and anxious. She's separated from her husband (a 3-month trial separation) and seems to be going mad: not sleeping, not bathing or even eating. But I couldn't put the book down, it was like as watching a trainwreck...you don't want to look, but have to!
My rating is 3.5 stars.

Eriksson does a great job of illustrating Elena's empty existence while moving the plot forward. Naturally, the first section of the book moves slowly, settling the reader into Elena's mundane existence. It's the mystery of the house next door, the unsettling sense of danger, and Elena's slow unravelling that draws the reader to the last half, where The Watcher takes off.

At the 60% mark, The Watcher hits the ground running and doesn't let up until the final pages. It almost felt like the start lulled the reader into comfort before administering a shot of adrenaline to both Elena and the reader, creating a thrilling pace.

Structure and alternate points-of-view, unfortunately, take away from the novel in an attempt to seem tricky. At first I didn't mind it, but by the end of The Watcher, I found the point-of-view to detract from the important moments. It is, however, an interesting take on story structure.

The Watcher is one to watch for fans of Swedish crime novels and female-led psychological thrillers. Erikkson has planted a steady foot in these two popular genres and will be an author to watch for English readers.

See my blog for full review.

The Watcher by Caroline Eriksson. A "Rear Window" themed book. Unfortunately there wasn't all that much suspense and the pacing was slow.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

First I want to thank netgalley and the author for an advanced copy of this book for my kindle! I really enjoyed this book this was definitely a psychological thriller. The book started out introducing you to Elena an author who has hit a rough patch in her marriage and decided she needs a three month break so she moves into her sisters friends home and house sits while the friend is away. While she’s there she decides to watch her neighbors house and soon gets involved in there everyday problems which includes befriending there loner son. Soon you don’t know what’s real and what’s not since elana isn’t sleeping or eating and trying to write a new book. She’s certain the neighbors wife is planning to murder her husband or is she. The book can get a bit confusing with the back and forth but it was a quick read and I enjoyed it!

Thank you for the early copy.

I picked this up because of the plot and it was enjoyable read. A interesting and well done novel. I recommend this for fans of mysteries or thrillers.

While the pacing is a bit slow for a thriller and I predicted the twist, the story and writing are interesting. A nice conceptual update on the Rear Window trope. I was hoping for more details about Swedish life, but the most salient thing I learned was that some Swedes apparently garnish their lasagna with ketchup.

As I started reading the story I noticed that I had a difficult time keeping focused. However, as I got pass the first 10 chapters it starts becoming more clear at to what the authors imagination was bringing together. Elena is a married woman who moves out of the marital home to start a life away from her husband. She is an author who has written books but is finding it hard to write. She sees her neighbors and become intrigued by them. I do not want to give away too much of the story but I must say that this is one I would love to see another book written with Elena in it. You may find it a little drawn out in the beginning, but it gets much better. The ending brings it all togethe for the reader and you will have that ah ha moment.

I want to thank netgalley as well as the publisher/author for allowing me the opportunity to eas this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I give this on 4.5 out of 5 only because it was so drawn out in the early part of the story. I will however, round up for the author.

Elena, recently separated from her husband, seems emotionally distraught. Living temporarily in a sublet townhouse, she begins spending her time watching her neighbors. She quickly realizes that the husband, wife and young teenage son are having serious problems of their own. From there, things escalate out of control.

The author builds the story with subtle layers between reality and a periphery of madness. But what is real and what isn’t? From where and from who is this madness really coming from? As the story continues to develop, it becomes a real page turner, and Eriksson builds the suspense right up to the end. A great read!

It was after reading about three quarters of this book that I finally realised the central plot twist that was at the heart of it. That it took so long was either the result of deficiencies in my powers of deduction or alternatively the writing skills of the author, probably a bit of both. Anyway to concisely summarise without importantly giving too much away, the plot is as follows. The central character Elena who's first person narration we primarily rely on has moved into rented accommodation to undergo a trail separation due to her faltering marriage. We also discover that she is a fairly a successful author who has published four novels but at the moment appears to be mentally fragile and is struggling to obtain ad hoc work proof reading manuscripts.

Unable to concentrate or refocus her life Elena becomes increasingly occupied in watching through the windows the goings on taking place at the neighbouring house. The more she sees the more she interprets and develops a narrative whereby a violent murderous act is to take place. This belief is enhanced when she befriends the teenage boy who lives there and hears the disturbing stories he tells. She becomes obsessional and her life so dominated by the need to prevent a future act of violence that she begins to stalk the neighbouring husband and wife and even gains access to their home. But are the facts portrayed by Elena really trustworthy or are they the product of an increasingly paranoid mind exacerbated by the thought process of an author of fiction?

The premise of someone being consumed by and ultimately placing themselves in danger by their voyeuristic activities is a well used plot theme with Rear Window and the recent best seller Woman in the Window immediately coming to mind but this does give any new addition to this genre another opportunity to explore the psychological motivations of the watcher and to nicely build up the suspense. Overall I found this an entertaining read with enough page turning moments to satisfy. The conclusion was also quite uplifting. My only criticism which I admit is probably derived from emanating from a UK perspective is that at no point could I really place where the setting of this book was which is so much of an attraction to the British reader when reading anything (mostly crime related) set in Scandinavia, perhaps this was deliberate by the author. Anyway if you like a well plotted thriller that keeps you guessing then I think this may be for you.

This one just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t connect with the story and it felt kind of Woman in the Window-esque for me.

There were some good elements - the writing was well done, easy to follow and understand. The story itself is intriguing but it didn’t hit the mark for me.

Received a copy of this book through netgalley,the characters are true to life,like the comparison between the neighbours and Elena story,and her use of imagination .
A pleasant read,good description and emotions from all the characters.

Elena is an author. Recently separated from her husband, she's finding it hard to concentrate on anything, let alone her writing. She's renting a house and has basically buried herself there. She's unable to eat, sleep, she hasn't even unpacked her things. Day by day, night by night, she worsens as she becomes mentally unbalanced.

But she has something new to pay attention to. She watches her neighbors at night behind her blinds. She witnesses a marriage on the rocks, the anger of the woman, her cheating husband. She becomes that stalker we all hear about. ... following him to work, following her to the gym. She even spies on the husband's love affair. She befriends their son, Leo.

Somehow this all has inspired her to start writing again. She takes bits and pieces of what she sees and weaves them into the fabric of a story. She becomes certain that the wife means to harm the husband.

As danger escalates, the line between real and unreal dissolve....

4.5 Stars

Elena and the husband are the primary story tellers with alternating chapter. Some chapters are Elena's book .. the story she is writing. It's an interesting concept, complex, a little hard to follow at the beginning. But as the story parts begin to merge, a much bigger picture begins to appear. Not everything is as it appears to be.

Many thanks to the author / AmazonCrossing / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this psychological thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Meh. The word that probably should never be used to describe a thriller. And yet…Nothing’s wrong with it technically. It’s by the numbers suspense with female author and female protagonist, Scandinavian too, which comes across in no way at all, sadly, this book just refused to stand out and even the slight narrative trickery the author employed didn’t quite do it. Essentially there are a few perspectives at play and the trick is in how they are to be arranged, a puzzle of sorts. The main character is a woman whose marriage is struggling, an author whose writing has stalled, a person who is becoming something of a shut in until she finds some neighbors across the street to focus on. Soon both her writing and her imagination are stimulated, but not necessarily in a good (at least safe and productive) way. The main excitement of the novel comes out of the rearrangement of the puzzle chapters and the psychology behind it all, but it seems somewhat cheap, because it is that way only because of the dispersal of the information throughout the book and the trick is gimmicky and repetitive. The psychological depiction of the protagonist itself was ok, pretty good even, as you would expect from an author with masters is social psychology, but the unhinged woman shtick has been done so many times it really takes some originality to stand out and in the end this one just wasn’t striking enough. It read well, easily and quickly, but it’ll be forgotten in much the same manner. Not a terrible book by any means, not something to avoid, decent read with some entertainment value, just very much in line (virtually indistinguishable from) with all the other similar books overwhelming the market and the genre right now. Thanks Netgalley.