I love Lisa Jewell’s novels. They are always so suspenseful! I was able to get her latest (publishing 12/26/18) via Net Galley. Of course I read it in two days as I just could NOT stop reading! Thank you for my review copy.

(full review at www.drbethnolan.com)

Pretty solid thriller about a neighborhood full of people hiding secrets, many revolving around the handsome new principal at the local private school who may have been involved in the murder of a student. I thought the twists were pretty good in this one, the mystery chugged along nicely, and the characters were interesting and well-written. I would have preferred a couple characters to be fleshed out a little more, but overall it's a solid recommendation.

Another amazing read from Lisa Jewell!

This book is all about not really knowing the full story, or not really knowing people. What you think is going on, might not be the whole truth. This isn't simply a book about who did it, or who is dead, there is a lot more to it than that, and it is one of the things I like about the Lisa Jewell books I have read.

Watching You: A Novel

Really good story, with a nice twist at the very end.



Review copy provided by publisher.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Atria books for a copy of Watching You in exchange for my honest review.

In Melville Heights you never know what is hiding behind your neighbor's door. Melville Heights is like any neighborhood in Bristol, England (or really anywhere). You've got the friendly neighbors who don't seem to have a care in the world, the nosy neighbor who needs to make sure she knows everyone's business and everyone else in between.

The story follows many new residence to the Melville Heights area primarily Tom Fitzwilliam, a headmaster at a local private school, and his family and Joey Mullen and her new husband who moved in with her brother and sister-in-law. Tom is the guy who every guy wants to be and every woman wants to have and it doesn't take long until Joey is tangled up with feelings for Tom. Twenty years ago, a student wrote in her diary about her obsession with a new teacher named Tom Fitzgerald. Tom thinks he's starting a new life in Melville Heights but in this neighborhood there is always someone watching you and they know you're deep, dark secrets.

This novel isn't as suspenseful as Lisa Jewell's previous novels but that didn't make me dislike it at all. It is more a character driven mystery that had me guessing until the big reveal at the end. Usually I'm really good about figuring out the twist beforehand but I didn't in this case.

If you're looking for something to spend your bookstore gift cards for Christmas one, pick-up Watching You and you don't be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Lisa Jewell for an ARC ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

Watching You is a unique book. Not quite what I expected. I thought I would be reading a mix of suspense, psychological thriller and domestic fiction. While it has some of those aspects, it tends to be more random pondering of the neighbors about other neighbors with a bit of suspense thrown in.

I spent a good portion of the book wondering what was the point of the story. Eventually the different plot lines came together to create a fairly good conclusion. The people of the community are all a bit odd. They give an authentic feel to the story while keeping the underlying uncertainty to the book. I didn’t relate completely with one specific character, but a little piece of each one. And I think other readers will also find someone to connect with.

The one thing I didn’t get was why was everyone so obsessed with Tom Fitzwilliams? He didn’t seem to be that great of a guy to me.

Overall, a unique book written about ordinary people. Less suspense and more strange pondering about the neighbors. But somehow the author makes it all come together to make it work.

Watching You is touted as a domestic thriller, and the opening scene does suggest that, but then it changes. Ever play that game where you sit in a busy mall, plaza, etc and pick random people from the crowd, guessing what they're lives are like? This book brought that to mind. Everyone has a secret, and everyone seems to know or guess something about everyone else. The thing is most of these people just aren't that interesting. It felt like a bunch of nosy neighbors peeking past the curtains at everybody else. There are a lot of characters, some more important to the story than others, but they're all pretty easy to figure out, and none of them are particularly likable. There is a murder, but I had a lot of it figured out by the halfway mark, which left me with finishing it just to see if I was right. I never did get a sense of urgency, that thrill that should come with a good thriller. Instead, this one is more a meandering stroll through a neighborhood I certainly wouldn't want to live in. In the end, I would say that Watching You is a decent domestic drama, but the pacing is too slow and the story is filled with entirely too much of the mundane for the tension needed for suspense, let alone a thriller. It's one of those that is okay while you're reading it, but not something I'll remember a month from now.

Amazing! This book was intense and gripping from start to finish. I loved all the different perspectives of the characters throughout the book. My favorite was by far Freddie's perspective. I loved that while he started somewhat creepy at the start, he turned out to be a really sweet guy. Overall, loved everything about this book and I will definitely be picking up more Lisa Jewell books soon!

Full Review at: https://sometimessnarky.home.blog/201...

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been genuinely surprised. It’s not often that my expectations are met– and far less that they’re exceeded. Now, it could be that my expectations have withered away over the past few months, having read so many mediocre books. But I’m going to give this one the benefit of the doubt. Of course, now that I’ve built it up, it’ll be a let down for you. Oh well.

I had actually forgotten the title of the book until I started writing my review, and I'm realizing that's probably why my expectations were so low. Don't judge a book by its [terrible] title, folks. Watching You is about a small neighborhood in Bristol, England, in which everyone seems to be in everyone else's business-- as is the case in most small towns. But we're quickly introduced to the fact that there has been a murder in this town, and the primary protagonist, Joey, is also the prime suspect. For about half of the book, it's unclear whether she's going to be driven to murder the object of her obsessions, or whether the story is about an innocent woman being framed/wrongly convicted. As the story unfolds, twists and turns are revealed regularly, subverting all expectations (I guess this is the theme of our post today). The way the information is revealed and the transitions are both flawlessly executed, with just enough coming out at just the right times, so that everything makes sense without feeling contrived. There are a few moments that feel too coincidental, but I'll give those a pass. Jewell's writing is clear and her characters are multi-dimensional, possessing positive and negative traits that make them seem human. It's the kind of writing that is made for movie adaptations. There's no flowery prose in which to get lost, just a driving plot that keeps you turning pages until the very end.

I've never read anything by Lisa Jewell, and since I don't research authors until after I've written the majority of my review so as to keep the person separate from the work, but given her long history writing in the genre, it's making sense that this book is so solid. It definitely reads like the work of a professional-- there's nothing experimental or avant garde here, no sparks of pure brilliance, but it's very good. The kind of book you'll have no problems gifting to anyone and everyone.

Lisa Jewell again at her best. I loved the intricacies of the neighbors In Melville Heights. They were so interconnected it made their lives not only interesting but easily setup for disaster. I would highly recommend this book.

Lisa Jewell nailed it again!
Welcome to Melville Heights, a nice quiet well respected neighborhood where everyone wants to live. Even quiet nice neighbors have secrets though and someone is watching in Melville Heights! Watching Tom the popular school teacher and Joey the cute young married blonde next door. Watching students Jenna and Bess while Jenna's mom swears they are watching her. They are watching and soon they will know all your secrets.....
Suspense at it's best with an ending I never saw coming, I highly, as always recommend Lisa Jewell!

Voyeurism, predatory behavior, mental illness, bullying ,and friendship wrapped in a ball come hurtling down the lane in this new Jewell mystery.Yet it is not thrown at you but neatly wrapped in a quiet story until 3/4 of the way through and then pages begin to fly. This easy read should become a favorite-one to take on vacation or breeze through the holiday. The story line has three different main characters who spell out their fears and version of events. A loving schoolmaster is at the center axis. Is he loving or is he a predator? Joey, a 27 year old confused married woman, develops a crush on him which turns her world upside down. And then there is the schoolmaster's son, Freddie, who photographs all secretly and harbors mixed feelings about his father. Just take a chance and go for the ride. It's a sure bet to be a rollercoaster!

Okay, this is one of those books you should read straight through. There are a lot of different characters involved in a lot of different ways, but it's all wound together so well and becomes clear as the book ends. I appreciated getting to see the after scenes, and also having an opportunity to hear from the one person who could explain in detail what actually happened (keeping my review vague so I don't have to mark for spoilers!).

I really liked this!

What an addicting read! I absolutely LOVED this book! I found myself hooked from the first page and trying to figure out who was telling the truth and what really happened. Such an intriguing story!

Be careful who is watching you. All towns have their secrets, some more than others. This is the story of a town and it's people, all with secrets of their own to hide. How does murder in the present connect with a supposed suicide in the past. The trail form there to here is certainly tangled and it seems everyone is wrapped up in it.
This book had me blowing through pages to get to the bottom of things and Lisa Jewell ties it all up nicely for you in the end. An intriguing read for sure.

Lisa Jewell has proven to me several times over that she’s a force to be reckoned with, there is something utterly intoxicating about her writing style that just captures my attention from beginning to end and this was no different. The premise/title combo appealed to me greatly, nothing really creeps me out more than thinking about being watched or stalked and once I really got into this one and realized who was watching whom I was completely hooked!

There are quite a few characters here and it’s told from their various perspectives, but there’s not so many that I couldn’t keep track of who was who. It opens with a murder, a sure fire way to reel me in and throughout the book there are transcripts from police interviews with the residents of the neighborhood. It was a clever tool and one that I appreciated, it was interesting to see what each person would reveal in their interview as they all had secrets they were desperate to keep.

I don’t like to discuss the plot of Jewell’s books too much because she writes such intricate books that are best discovered on your own as you read them. I will say that this one did focus on obsession, betrayal, lies and paranoia and what a killer combination that turned out to be in the end. Jewell is a fantastic writer who writes about domestic strife like no other, this is sure to be another hit!

Watching You in three words: Obsessive, Gripping and Complex.

I have high standards for thrillers and Lisa Jewell never fails to disappoint. In recent years, thrillers have become more and more popular, with publishers cashing in on the Gone Girl and Girl on the Train phase. This has lead to a genre that is inundated with cookie cutter plots and overly dramatic characters. It is hard to find a quality read that is so engrossing it is impossible to put down. Lisa Jewell’s Watching You is certainly a quality read. Focusing on the residents of a single neighbourhood, Melville Heights, these characters give a whole new meaning to the term “nosy neighbours” Every resident is hiding their own secret, while they are carefully watching each other. It is a creepy thought, the idea of your neighbours watching you a little to closely.

Lisa Jewell is a very talented writer. She gives away just enough information at the exact right moment to keep you guessing until the very end. Watching You is the third novel by Jewell that I have read and what I love about them is that the plot and the characters are completely different in each novel. She creates unique stories that are very thrilling, yet believable at the same time. Her characters are flawed, but not in an exaggerated way. They are relatable, so that even though you mat not like them, you can understand them. I will eagerly await her novel book!

Normally with my reviews I share the synopsis of the book, but I’m not going to do that for this one. I do have a warning, though. Apparently the edition I marked as “Want to Read” on Goodreads was the one edition that had a very inaccurate synopsis. It very clearly stated which character is murdered, however that character is not the victim. I was kind of livid about this synopsis and couldn’t understand why no other review I found was complaining about it. And then after checking 3 different book seller sites and the other editions of the book on Goodreads, I realized this was the only place I could find this wrong synopsis. So my warning to you, don’t read the synopsis on Goodreads in case you get the wrong edition (though I’m hoping this will be corrected before the book is published).

Ok, now that my little PSA is done, let’s get on to the book. Watching You follows the intertwined lives of residents in a small English town. Joey is kind of a hot mess who moves in with her brother and sister-in-law when she returns home with a new husband in tow. When she first notices her neighbor, charming and charismatic Tom, she develops an instant crush. Freddie is Tom’s son and he likes to spend his time watching and keeping tabs on the townspeople from his bedroom window. He doesn’t believe his father is the great man everyone in town seems to think he is. Jenna is a student at Tom’s school. Her best friend has a crush on Tom and Jenna finds his interactions with her friend a little inappropriate. Additionally, her mother has paranoid delusions that Tom has initiated gang stalking of her and wants everyone in town to know what a fraud he is.

I’ve read some reviews that said there were way too many people to keep track of in this book, but I have to disagree. I did not have trouble keeping the characters straight at all. Jewell is excellent when it comes to writing character development and that skill is on full display here. However, I do have to say that I did have kind of a hard time connecting to any of the characters. I didn’t feel a real attachment to any of them. I wanted to find out what happened, plot-wise, but didn’t care that much about what kind of fall out the characters faced. There were a couple of side character I did enjoy, though. Joey’s brother, Jack, and her husband, Alfie, were both really sweet. I wouldn’t have minded getting to see more of them.

Overall, Watching You kept me turning the pages, but the mystery was not as satisfying as I hoped it would be. I did like how the story showed how easily our personal perceptions could be wrong and Jewel’s writing is always enjoyable. I just felt like the conclusion was a little lackluster and the book didn’t have much of the creepy “You’re being watched” vibe that I was expecting. I also think that my overall feelings for the book were negatively impacted by that incorrect synopsis I read. I still recommend this one to Lisa Jewell fans, though, and fans of character-driven mysteries.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?

Watching You by Lisa Jewell takes place in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England. However, there are cracks beneath the polished veneer of the houses. Each of the neighbors has their own secrets and their own agendas. What goes on behind the closed doors of Melville Heights will make you wonder what's happening in your own neighborhood.

Watching You is the second novel that I have read by Lisa Jewell, the first being The Girls in the Garden. Watching You is one of those slow burn psychological thrillers. Throughout the beginning of the story, we are introduced to a myriad of different characters, and each of their perspectives helps the story unfold. At first, I kept getting the characters confused, which made the first part of the novel a little "clunky" for me. The characters live in a place where neighbors keep an eye on each other, and that's not always a good thing. Nothing is quite as it seems, and as the story progresses, the characters grow increasingly suspicious. As the plot begins to unravel, the tension builds in a twist that you won't see coming. Watching You will be out in just a few days, so make sure you add it to your TBR! This one gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 from me. Thanks again @netgalley and @lisajewelluk for the digital copy of this book!

For some reason all the women are infatuated with the chubby middle-aged headmaster brought in to fix the local school. This includes a newlywed neighbor and a young female student. Others, like the crazy woman across the street and her daughter, don't like or trust the headmaster. The whole situation comes to a head when there is a murder in this well-to-do neighborhood. Once again Ms. Jewell brings together a twisted puzzle to keep readers guessing. For me, sadly, one of the guessing was which character was which. There were too many female characters whose first names started with "J." There are 26 letters in the alphabet. Unless it is a plot device, I do not understand why so many people had to have names starting with the same letter. But that is a minor pet peeve when the story is so good!