Even though I own most of her backlist, this is the first Lisa Jewell book I’ve read, and Watching You was an ideal first read from the author!

Melville Heights is a quaint neighborhood in Bristol, England. It consists of several colorfully-painted Victorian homes overlooking the city. Melville Heights reminded me of the Painted Ladies in San Francisco, and I immediately imagined that type of setting because it was described so well. Everyone in Melville Heights is carrying a burden…a secret that could rock worlds. But the best, creepiest part and how the book got its title? Everyone in Melville Heights is watching you and each other.

There is an extraordinary cast of well-developed characters, such as Joey Mullen who lives with her husband, brother and sister-in-law, and has recently lost her mother. There’s also the charming, walks-on-water, Tom Fitzwilliam, the head teacher who champions school turnarounds and manages to easily attract women and teenage girls, yes those whom he is teaching, with his “dad bod.” Freddie, Tom’s teenage son, is quirky and has eyes on the whole city from his parents’ attic.

As the book opens, a woman has been murdered in Melville Heights, but we don’t know who, why, or what happened? We hear from multiple characters as the timeline goes forward in time eventually landing on the fateful day of the murder in March, along with short narratives from the police interrogation interviews interspersed throughout. I loved that particular structure. It kept me guessing and led to a great handle on each of the characters.

Overall, Watching You is a super eerie, well-written, suspenseful read. The short chapters, well-developed, complex characters, and interesting setting boosted my investment, and I devoured this delicious book in twenty-four hours. I’ll definitely be making time for Jewell’s backlist now!

Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

What a way to end 2018! This book kept me on my toes until the end! I didn’t predict any of it, and really enjoyed the way the author tied up all the lose ends. A nonstop thriller sure to leave you on the edge of your seat!

I received an advance copy of this book; all opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

For me, Lisa Jewell's books are a hit or miss.
I had a hard time getting into this book. It seemed to bounce around a lot in the beginning. I found the amount of characters to keep up with and their relationships was just a bit intimidating and confusing.
As I got into the book more and more, it caught my interest until the end.
A good thriller with lots of twists and turns.

Watching You is my very first Lisa Jewell book, and man have I been missing out!

What it's about: The neighborhood of Melville Heights may be one of the nicest areas in Bristol, but here everyone is watching everyone else. So who killed the woman at 14 Melville Heights? Was it her husband Tom Fitzwilliam who is the current headmaster working miracles at the local school? Is it the new neighbor Joey Mullen who seems to have an obsession with Tom? Is it the divorced woman, Frances Tripp, who is convinced that Tom and other people have been watching her? Everyone is a suspect, and not everyone is as great as they seem...

Suspicion is literally thrown on almost everyone in this book, and I loved it. Watching You is fast-paced, has short chapters, and kept me interested the entire time. I loved that not only did viewpoints switch around, but there were also police interviews throughout the book as well. It was nice having that added bonus which not only built the mystery up of who the killer was, but also broke up the book a little bit and added a bit of a police procedural element (a very small one of course).

There are quite a lot of characters in this book, but luckily they didn't seem too hard to keep track of. I would probably recommend not putting it down for long periods of time though otherwise you may not remember who everyone is and what their purpose in the book is. There is a lot going on in Watching You, and for me, the pacing was completely on point.

Final Thought: I loved the mystery in Watching You and the creep factor was very high with all the 'watching' going on. Fitzwilliam's son is also tracking and watching people which made it even more creepy since he's just a teenager. Unfortunately, I *was* able to figure out the who before it was revealed, but it was close to the end and I didn't know the why. The ending gave me chills so I highly recommend this novel to fans of murder mysteries!

WATCHING YOU BY LISA JEWELL BOOK REVIEW
I expect thrills and turns from Ms. Lisa Jewell. I’m happy to say, she delivers all that matched with alternating timelines, gaslighting & a heck of an ending with Watching You.

GETTING TO KNOW LISA JEWELL
This is my third novel by Lisa Jewell. A few years back, it seemed everyone & their mom read & loved I Found You. I read it & really enjoyed it but never wrote a review. For me, I Found You is haunting, thrilling & the ending really blindsided me. I still haven’t put together all my thoughts years later.

Last year, I burned through Then She Was Gone is one sitting. The story is quick, thrilling & reminded me of a Lifetime movie; in the best way!

STALKER VIBES
If there is one thing in this world that terrifies me, it’s the idea that someone is watching my every move. I’ll admit, I was a bit hesitant to dive into this one despite my love for Lisa Jewell. Jewell writes this tale in a Hitchcock type nature where the tension builds throughout & then the ending leaves your head in a tailspin.

There are definitely some topics & scenes that make me squirm. Thinking about them now, I’m pretty sure I’m grimacing. If you’re easily creeped out, this one may be too intense for you. As the synopsis alludes, there is a storyline that deals with men attracted to young girls. Like I talked about in my review for Little Liar by Lisa Ballantyne, these topics make me cringe.

THE VERDICT
I am Really Into This book! I read it in one day, which may be the way I read all Lisa Jewell novels. It’s about impossible to put her books down! Read Watching You if you’re into slow burn thrillers, love twists & turns & you’re not easily creeped out. Skip it if you’re too squeamish & want a nice happy ending.

Special thanks to Lisa Jewell , Atria Books & NetGalley for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

Melville Heights is a very wealthy neighborhood. Jack and Rebecca Mullen have moved into a nice house there. Jack is a busy heart surgeon and Rebecca works from home as a systems analyst. This is a good job for her as she is expecting their first child. Jack’s sister, Joey, recently returned from vacation in Ibiza married to Alfie. Neither of them have terrific work skills or great jobs so Jack has kindly offered them live in their home. This is also a good situation because after Rebecca gives birth, Joey will be the live-in nurse for the baby.

A fairly new family has moved into the neighborhood. Tom and Nicola Fitzwilliam and their son, Freddie, are settling into their new home. Tom is the headmaster of a school. He has a skill at being able to move go into a new school and improve its standard. There have been rumors that he may have taken advantage of his position to have contact with young female students. Nicola is a stay-at-home wife. Freddie attends a private school. Having moved a number of times, he finds it difficult to easily make friends. He spends his time in his upstairs room watching people. His parents gave him a pair of high-powered binoculars which he uses to watch people, recording their schedules. He is also able to capture very good photos with it. An intelligent young person, he can speas seven different languages and dreams of joining M15 after he finishes university.

Freddie enjoys watching a young girl who attends his father’s school. Her name is Jenna and she lives with her mother who appears to be schizophrenic. The woman thinks people are watching her and planning things against her. When she sees Freddie at his window, she yells at him. Jenna has a difficult job trying to keep her mother calm.

But in this fairly quiet enclave, a savage murder occurs and someone in this group is guilty. Who and why?

This story builds meandering the reader around several characters making us wonder who, if any, would have motive to want to kill someone. It wasn’t until right before the end of the book that I was able to to piece it all together and figure out who was killed and the motive. The author was leading us down a completely different path to make us think we had it all figured out. Very well done, Ms. Jewell. I have read her books before and have enjoyed them.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

BOOK REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 .
Happy Publishing Day! Three storylines- the awkward teenage son of a handsome headmaster with an impeccable reputation, a newlywed living in her brother’s home, and a teenage girl with a mother who battles paranoia. Taking place in a quaint, quiet town, until the day a murder happens. .
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This story has all the elements of a great mystery- the suspicious characters, the back and forth timelines and perspectives, and the subtle clues that lead the reader to question “whodunit”. Despite all these elements, something just fell flat for me. Not to mention, I pegged the murderer before I’d reached the middle of the book. I wanted to love this one, but I’m going to have to land on “like”.

Intelligent, suspenseful, and shocking—my first experience reading the incredible Lisa Jewell blew my mind!!! There are times when an author is hyped up (for good reason), but I feel a small sense of disappointment when I finally join in on their work. Perhaps because I don’t have the history with the author, or because the book I came in on wasn’t their most ground-breaking work. NONE of that can be said about my first experience with Lisa Jewell. If anything, all of the amazing things I’ve heard fellow readers say about Jewell pale in comparison with the journey I just took through Watching You! There’s not a moment of this book that I’d change. Outstanding!!!

Reflection

First I want to talk about the narrative structure. We begin with a murder and see bits of evidence at the scene. Then we travel back a few months, to the moment Joey Mullen first arrives to Melville Heights, living in one of the storied painted houses she admired so much. From here, many characters begin to pick up the narrative. This isn’t a book just about Joey. In the same way a neighborhood has hidden threads connecting people, some by proximity, and others by something deeper, so does this novel. The way the stories picked up on one another, bringing pieces of information and perspectives in to make the final twists and turns stand out was truly a masterpiece.

If there’s one thing we can all learn from this book, it is that someone is always watching. Those hidden moments that you think no one saw? The extra bottle of wine you pick up at the store, the lingering glance you give someone after they walk away, the item you drop into a neighbor’s bin—in a neighborhood like Melville Heights, even the most mundane occurrences are noted. So what happens when a murder occurs on the same block? Who will have a piece of the puzzle?

I found Joey to be a stand-out character. She’s self-destructive. She describes her mind as a hurricane—as someone incapable of following their instincts. She understands what the bad decisions are, but she sees infinite possible moments and she seems to haphazardly push forward without organizing her thoughts. It would be easy to think Joey is unlikeable, given the nature of her storyline (attracted to another man). But I never felt Joey had bad intentions. Joey is someone who just doesn’t have herself together. She’s in a halfway stage between grown up and young adult, and she is finding her way. I’m so excited for readers to experience Joey’s story.

There are too many great characters to talk about (this review would be 100 pages long), but I want to mention a few more standouts. The first is school girl Jenna Tripp. From an outside perspective, Jenna has it all. She’s beautiful, popular, and has a close group of best friends. Jenna’s life could seem easy. But Jenna has a mother with somewhat undiagnosed mental illness. Her mothers hovers on the line between ok and needing help. Jenna has so much on her plate, and I looked forward to her chapters. She’s a remarkable girl and character!

And then I want to end with those enigmatic Fitzwilliams… The mother, who fades into the background, enamored by her perfect, magnetic husband, and a bit lost in life. The son, Freddie, who keeps watch over the neighborhood, documenting the small moments that may be the clue to the murder, while still struggling to find his way as an awkward teenager. And then Mr. Fitzwilliam—the center to the whole story. In a way, Mr. Fitzwilliam is the center to the neighborhood. He’s a man with a trail of admirers. And yet, he’s difficult to pindown. Is he a charming school head, or is he someone more sinister? You’ll have to read to find out!

Thank you so much to Atria for my copy to review. I loved this book!

A brilliant and intrigued story from the beginning!I have read some of Lisa Jewell's books in the past but this one was something else!I was hooked immediately in the story.The opening scene had me so intrigued in finding out who was murdered and why .The process is slow as we get to know all the characters and their motives.

I had many questions while I was reading it, and I found my self having some answers but all the conclusion is coming in the end!I'm really impressed about how this story goes.

I loved the writing and the plot as I said in the beginning was brilliant!Overall it was another great story that make me wondering all the time!

Dark secrets come to light in the aftermath of a brutal murder in Lisa Jewell’s WATCHING YOU.

Jewell probes into the lives of those who live in Bristol’s upscale Melville neighborhood—a row of highly coveted, Victorian homes whose colorful exteriors hide the dark and twisted secrets of those who inhabit them.

We meet a cast of compelling characters starting with Joey Mullen. She’s just returned from Ibiza married to a man she met at a resort, and now they’re both moving in with her brother Jack and his expectant wife, Rebecca.

Joey is trying to sort out her life, including the wisdom of her quickie marriage. She becomes more unsettled when she finds herself infatuated with neighbor Tom Fitzwilliam, head teacher at the local school. Tom seems to be the man everyone either idolizes or covets, except for his son Freddie, who spends his time watching and photographing Melville’s inhabitants, documenting their comings and goings. His relationship with his dad is strained, especially seeing how his mom Nicola’s life revolves around her husband, their arguments spiraling her into deep depressions.

16-year-old Jenna is one of Tom’s students and her mentally ill mom is convinced Fitzwilliam is hiding secrets, convinced they’re after her. Jenna doesn’t idolize Tom like everybody else, including her best friend, who she suspects may be having an inappropriate relationship with him.

Everyone is watching each other and everyone is hiding secrets. One of those secrets leads to police finding a dead body on the kitchen floor of the Fitzwilliam home.

The various characters and their histories, lives tangle together cleverly, making each a viable suspect.

Well-paced, propulsive and haunting, this domestic drama kept me rapt, packing chilling surprises until the very end. Fans of Liane Moriarty, Ruth Ware, Fiona Barton will love it.

Twisty-turny just like I like! It starts out with the reader knowing someone is dead. Then the story is pieces together like a perfect puzzle. I had suspicions and finally figured it out after several possibilities played out in my head.

The title, Watching You, is perfect for the book as everyone is watching everyone. The story is told through the eyes of three different characters. I love that the theme of being watched or spying on someone else popped up with all of voices. It pulled me in immediately and was fast-paced all the way to the heart-pounding end.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Atria Books, and Lisa Jewell for the opportunity to read this ARC.

3.5 stars

Watching You by Lisa Jewell is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Atria Books, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My Synopsis:
The people in Melville Heights watch each other. They see everything. Secrets are kept, but when someone is murdered, many things are revealed.

Tom Fitzwilliam is the Principal of the local school. He and his family move from school to school, while he “fixes” their problems. He is an attractive man, fawned over by many, and seems squeaky clean. But is he?

Some of Tom’s neighbours are interested in the answers.

Jenna, a student at Tom’s school is beginning to wonder about her principal. Jenna’s mom Frances, thinks Tom is one of many who are stalking her. Although mentally unwell, Frances remembers witnessing an altercation Tom had with a woman when they were away on a holiday. Although Jenna realizes her mom is paranoid, she does believe that Mr. Fitzwilliam was that man. She is also starting to see some strange behaviour from her principal.

Jenna’s friend Bess has a major crush on Mr. Fitzwilliam. This is creating friction between Bess and Jenna.

Joey (Josephine) is newly married to Alfie, and currently living with her brother and his wife (who has her own secrets), a few doors away from Tom Fitzwilliam. Joey also has a crush on Tom.

Nicola, Tom’s younger wife, seems oblivious, but is she?

Freddy, Tom’s 14-year old genius son who plans to work for MI5 as a spy, is a bit of a voyeur. He is never without his binoculars or camera, and has just discovered girls. Someone is hacking into his computer.


My Opinions:
A bit of a slow start on this one, with a lot of characters, and a plot that took a while to take off. However, the last 25% was good, really good.

The story ended up with a fairly major “creep” factor, thanks to all the “watching” going on. The story is told by different perspectives (mainly Jenna, Joey, and Freddy). Through the police interviews of a few characters, we are aware of a “heinous crime” being committed, but it is a ways in before we find out what happened, and a lot further in until the culprit is found. I liked the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book for an honest review. I discovered Lisa Jewell about a year ago and have been quickly devouring her books. I was thrilled to get my hands on her latest! I love a good suspense novel that keeps you guessing until the end. This one, I had no idea what to think and just let myself go with it. As a result, I never saw any of it coming. I will definitely recommend it to others.

This is my second book I've read by Lisa Jewell and definitely not my last. The story started slow and dragged for me but was intriguing enough for me to keep reading and reaching the end. The many character's caused me some confusion at times but at the end worked out great. This was a great mystery that kept me guessing until the end.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

This was my first Lisa Jewell novel and I’m already a huge fan! I was hooked instantly, great characters, interesting mystery and a really satisfying ending. I can’t wait to read more of her work! Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this novel! It took me 3.5 hours to read and I give it 4 stars!

I don't know why this is the first of Lisa Jewell's books that I've read! I absolutely loved it! Watching you is a fast paced thriller with a unique and refreshing plot that includes obsessions, stalking, spying, affairs, and revenge!

Joey Mullins has recently moved back to the area she grew up in; a wealthy community in Bristol called Melville Heights. Her and her new husband have moved into a suite in her brother's house where he lives with his pregnant wife. Snippets of police interviews are interspersed throughout the chapters, and from this we learn early on that someone will be murdered. The narrative alternates between the points of view of various characters in Melville Heights. The new, prestigious principal of the local high school, Tom Fitzwilliam, of whom Joey is increasingly infatuated with. His teenage son, Freddie, who is newly attracted to girls and has taken to spying on them in the community. A paranoid woman and her daughter. A school girl who is also obsessed with Tom. The list goes on and the connections between characters build as more clues are revealed.

I seriously loved every line of this novel and could not put it down! Lisa Jewell’s writing is eloquent, purposeful, and refreshing. It is concise and poignant, and every word is meaningful in relation to the storyline. I even laughed out loud a few times at the honest and clever way that big news was dropped. I also loved small aspects such as people taking the bus (something that is usually ignored in novels) and the use of social media. There is a clear distinction of emotional connection vs. physical attraction, but recognition that the latter can be just as life-altering and empowering.

Watching You addresses serious topics that are not accustomed to this genre. I was really impressed by the take on mental health and the various sides of motherhood. The characterization had me loving a character one minute and thinking they were guilty next, as each person’s strengths and faults were highlighted in a real and honest way. There are red herrings and clues throughout the novel, and though I figured out some things, I was still surprised by how everything came together at the end. That’s my favorite combination! Clearly I loved this one and I could go on and on but I’ll wrap it up by saying that if you’re debating reading this, please do!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for a providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Because of this book I can’t decide which Lisa Jewell novel is my favorite. I have read three of her books this year and have been impressed with them all.
Those other two being Then She was Gone and I Found You.

Lets take a trip back in time. About five years ago. I picked up and read and loved a novel by the name of Before I Met You also written by Lisa but this book is historical fiction. I also gave this book five stars back in the day. Why am I telling you this? Well because I believe it speaks volumes about the authors ability to master multiple genres. She is such a talented writer and I urge you to pick up any of the books listed above and give them a go.

Watching You is about a small community in the UK and the inhabitants there. Throughout the book you’ll get little snippets of a police investigation that is going on and slowly piece together a mystery. Many characters once strangers find themselves connected and storylines become interwoven.

It seems as though everyone is watching everyone.
Watching and being observant is in human nature.
Where does simply watching someone turn into stalking and where is that line?
When does curiosity turn into obsession?
What makes a person good or bad and can they be both?
These are some questions brought to mind while reading this book.

Lisa Jewell’s writing style is flawless and I was turning pages until the very end.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see things from multiple points of view. Never once was I bored with one point of view and eager to get to another. All of her characters were very well fleshed out and well developed.
I found myself invested in all of the characters and that is a very rare thing.

From beginning to end this novel was a masterpiece

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for supplying this book to me in exchange for an honest review. I still plan on purchasing this upon release so I may pass it among my circle of bookish friends. It Is absolutely a must read.

Brilliant does not begin to cover it! Lisa Jewell impresses as usual. This one starts off slowly but drags you in like quicksand. The multiple points of view make it interesting and engaging. The characters are well rounded and almost real. The writing style is marvelous. Overall an amazing read that you must have on your 2018 reading list.

Thank you so much to Atria books and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I feel like Lisa Jewell's books are hit and miss with me. Some of her books I've loved while others I feel meh about. Some of them grip me from the very beginning and others I slog through till I get to the end.

This book is about a group of neighbors who are more intertwined than they realize. Tom is the affluent headmaster that everyone loves with the seemingly loving wife and teenage boy. Joey, who has just returned to live with her brother and his pregnant wife with her new husband that she's known less than a year finds herself inexplicably drawn to him, which Tom's son Freddie observes from his attic bedroom. In the neighborhood of Melville Heights Freddie watches everything that goes on in the neighborhood and records all his findings. A student of Tom's who lives on the same street doesn't believe Tom is everything he says he is and notices he might be paying too much attention to her very young best friend. It doesn't help that Jenna's mother who's mental health is rapidly declining believes that Tom is stalking her and swears that he's a man that was questionable on a holiday years prior. In this affluent neighborhood you never know who all is watching you and what they see.

I had a hard time getting into this book at first. It bounced around a lot in the beginning and I found myself getting bored waiting for something to happen or the book to pick up speed. Which it never really did but it got a little bit easier to read.

I really didn't connect with any of the characters in this book either. Joey drove me insane because she seemed like such a flippy person. Almost 30 years old, has never really held down a job, marries a guy after only knowing him a short amount of time, and can't seem to ever make up her mind on things. I did like how the book jumped from different POVs in the book instead of just focusing on one person's point of view on everything. Made it a lot easier to read but certain parts of this book still made me roll my eyes.

Thank you again to Atria books and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

This book started out perfect...with a dead body at a bloody crime scene! Nothing quite grabs your attention like that in the first chapter. This was my first Lisa Jewell book, I know it is crazy isn't it? I loved how this author tells a story. She hooked me the very first chapter and had my mind spinning the entire time. It is a mystery as to who is the victim and the killer for much of the book. Everyone was a suspect in my mind, because there was quite a bit of bizarre behavior going on in this little neighborhood.

So many well developed characters that lived on this same street. The title for this book is spot on. All these nosy neighbors are watching each other. They are taking it to a whole new level. Quite frankly many of them were down right creepy. I began to question many of their relationships and their true intentions.

Jewell wrapped this story up nicely with an ending I did not expect. I had some suspicions but she kept me guessing until the end. I read this book as a group with the Traveling Sisters and it appears to be a hit. I can't wait to read more from Lisa Jewell!

Thank you so much to Lisa Jewell, Atria books and Netgalley for this ARC.