What a fantastic book! It hooked me right from the start (once I got all the characters straight) and kept me guessing until the very end.. The story takes place in an English town (as do most of my favourite books, it seems!) where the local, revered school headmaster may be a philanderer, pedophile or murderer...who knows? Someone else is an innocent "stalker", someone is not so innocent. Every time I thought I knew what was going on the author surprised me again. There are lots of secrets and revelations right to the last page!

Lisa Jewell is one of my go-to authors so when I saw she had a new book coming out in late 2018 I jumped at the chance to review an advanced copy. A suspenseful novel set in England with loads of secrets and snoopy neighbours?? Yes please!

The book begins with the introduction of its MANY characters (which may take readers time to sort out). Several of the characters share their points of view and while they don't seem to have a lot in common, as the book progresses, readers become privy to their connections and their sometimes lurid pasts. Ooooo, right? The pacing of the book is on the slower side and while Jewell draws her readers in and gradually increases the tension, I found there were less twists that I would have expected considering all the secrets.

Watching You has an atmospheric feel with its solid, creepy vibe thanks to all of the neighbours spying on each other, but it was more predictable than Jewell's other books and left only one person, in my mind, who could be the culprit (I was right). There is a large cast of characters but none, except for maybe Freddie, stood out for me and I found some of the connections between characters to be too rushed to be believable.

Overall, this is a good read but not as great as her previous reads. While I won't be adding it to my long list of "Lisa Jewell Books That I Adore" (which includes Then She Was Gone, The House We Grew Up In and The Girls in the Garden), Lisa Jewell continues to be an author whose books I eagerly await.

Maybe 4.5 stars. Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to preview this book. A little slow to start, but a strong finish. Recommended.

Loved this book - 5 stars

Lisa Jewel does it again with her latest thriller Watching You. The character development was great, with lots of POVs and side stories so you really felt like you knew person. As always, full of twists & turns! Eventually you'll work out the BIG question yourself before Jewell spells it out for you - but that was intentional.

I couldn't put this down. Looking forward to the next thing Jewell publishes!

Watching You is the newest standalone suspense thriller by UK author Lisa Jewell.

I really like suspense thrillers and have enjoyed the previous books that I have read by this author.

This book has multiple 3rd person POVs. The main ones are 15 year old Freddie, 15 year old Jenna, and 26 year old Joey (female).

This book is set in the UK. The book is divided into four parts. It starts with a diary entry from 1996 and then moves to March 24th 2017. Part one starts in January 2017 and gradually goes forward until we get back to March 24th 2017.

I definitely struggled with the beginning of this book. The book centers around the new headmaster of the local high school, Tom Fitzwilliam. Freddie is his son. Jenna is a student at his school. And Joey is his (Tom's) new neighbor.

All of the POVs were interesting enough. However, I did find it odd that two of the POVs were from 15 year olds. Both Freddie and Jenna's moms were quite interesting. But the back and forth in narrators made me feel like there were just too many narrators.

The book is interspersed with parts of recorded interviews with the police. I enjoyed this part a lot and wish that had been more of the story. Someone has died or was murdered and I sort of wish that we would have just found out who was dead and had the police solve the case.

I really like the title as there are multiple characters who watch people.

Overall, this book just started too slowly for me. The story was good. But it took a long time for me to become really invested in the book. And I did guess the guilty party. The most interesting thing about this book was the crazy twist on the last page. I think that a lot of people will go crazy for the ending. Although I also suspect that a lot of readers will be confused. I had to think about that last page. But once I realized what I read I thought that part of the story was fantastic.

Oh boy! Lisa Jewell has become another go-to author for me on NETGALLEY. In fact, it's fairly automatic for me to hit the request button even though I have so many others to read. In her sixteenth novel, Watching You brings us to a quaint English neighborhood and a whole cast of characters. There is Josephine (Joey) and her husband, Alfie Butter(don't you love it?)living with Joey's older brother, Jack and his pregnant wife, Rebecca. Two doors down, we have the superhero schoolmaster, Tom , his wife Nicola, and their 16 year old son, Freddie. Also, in this story is 16 year old, Jenna and her paranoid mother who believes she's being "gang-stalked." All are fascinating and multifaceted and even a little bit cray-cray.

Now, I had a feeling early on who was the killer( I know, your eyebrows are raised and you have a really intense reaction to waving a particular finger in my direction) but I didn't know the motive and that just glued me to my airport seat(Mother Nature delayed my return home) and I couldn't stop. Writing is amazingly good and the ending left me gasping for air.

I felt quite underwhelmed with this book. There weren’t any characters I really liked or cared about, and I didn’t find the story flowing all that well.

I will still look forward to more from Lisa Jewell though, as I generally enjoy her work!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
I am not that familiar with Lisa Jewell. I have only read one other of her novels, “Then She Was Gone”, and that was pretty recently. That does not change the fact that I was excited to read her newest novel, “Watching You.”
In a quiet neighbourhood, everyone has secrets. The new headmaster with his peculiar yet stunning wife and strangely reclusive son, the young teenager who seems awfully protective about her mother, and even the young, recently married couple who have just moved in with the bride’s brother seem to be hiding something. Soon, the young headmaster is in the spotlight- his wife has been killed, and two young women have infatuations with him- one willing to sacrifice her marriage, and the other willing to sacrifice her future. The headmaster, Tom Fitzwilliam, may not be as squeaky clean as everyone believes, when it is discovered that another young woman from his past also wound up dead after claiming to have an obsession with him. Only one person really knows the truth. But is it too late?
“Watching You” is told from the standpoint of several characters (and there are quite a few of them). Joey (the newly married wife living with her brother, Jack and his wife, Rebecca), Frankie (the headmaster’s son) and Jenna (the young teenage neighbour). There are many other characters that appear in a non-narrative role as well. Although the cast of characters is complex, the story itself is not difficult to follow.
Well developed and well told, Jewell’s plot will suck you right in from the beginning. Each character has just enough creepy secrets to make them suspicious, yet the ending still delivers a sucker punch of unexpected surprise.
The novel started off strong, with a dead body in the kitchen (not identified), and then slows down as the characters are introduced and developed. But the novel does not stop being entertaining or suspenseful, and the small chapters make “Watching You” a quick, addicting read.
A wonderful new addition to her collection of books, and I will definitely have to check out Ms. Jewell’s other works.

If I can use single a word to describe this book, it will be menacing. There is a sense of menace that hangs over the whole book - even the most innocuous small scenes have a sense of disquiet that the reader will have a hard time placing - even later in the book when things start to become somewhat more clear. It is the sense that you should constantly be looking over your shoulder and checking that your windows are locked but you aren't really sure why. Just. Creepy.

Our novel opens with a diary entry designed to set off some alarm bells but not many because we aren't quite sure what is going on as yet. It is an odd entry to be sure. and it gives any adult pause (and maybe a few teens too) but still not full on uh oh status. We move rapidly to a murder and then back in time. Without spoiling anything, once you start reading past the first three chapters, there are a couple of things in these first two items that take on serious and alarming undertones. Ms. Jewell takes what could be a perfectly normal suburban town and turns it into a hotbed of seething secrets, I use the term seething quite purposefully as each of these characters feels as though they are a ticking time bomb that can go off at any minute - Even Alfie.

There are some things in this book that are slightly obvious but the tension is so taut that it is like a train wreck - you just can't look away.. some of the twists are fabulous and some do fizzle a tiny bit but not enough to really slow the momentum of the book at all.

I will be recommending this book upon release far and wide. As I work in a bookstore part-time, I will also be recommending this book to my regular clients who come to me and to anyone who asks for help.

Of note, one of the pre-reviews calls this the next "Gone Girl" - I disagree with that vehemently. This is a totally different sort of book and Ms. Jewell is in a class of her own. Let's not do her a disservice and compare her to other authors in separate sub-genres.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for a review. This was my first Lisa Jewel novel and while Watching you started off slow, thanks to a friend’s review, I knew it picked up. I enjoyed it, especially the little twist at the end. It is definitely a book you need to concentrate on though with quite a few characters, and twists and turns.

I enjoyed this book a lot! I love the back and forth of all the characters and found that they held their own personality well enough that I didn't get confused. Interesting I found that I discovered who did it when I was about half way thru. At the end it wasn't a big deal as I wrapped it up. But afterward as I processed it thinking about the end, it was like.....hmmmm that was a bit of a surprise to me....Well done! Thanks for letting me review the novel before it came out Net Galley.

Lisa Jewell's new book, Watching You, keeps the reader in suspense as you realize that no one is who you think they are and everyone is hiding something. The book is skillfully written and Jewell continues to unfold the story and keep the reader guessing until the very last page!
It took me a while to keep all of the characters and their stories straight, but I was hooked very quickly trying to figure out what was going on. Highly recommended!

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Watching You is the newest mystery novel by Lisa Jewell.

This was such a compelling and addicting read, I ended up finishing it in less than a day! I read Then She Was Gone a while ago and I loved it! When the opportunity to review Watching You came about, I knew I had to read it!

There are many different point of views in this story all alternating, however Jewell keeps it organized and in perfect order; it's easy to pick up where the last character left off and it wasn't at all confusing. In fact, it made the entire plot so much more interesting. There were so many times I changed my mind about who I thought was involved and who I thought wasn't; it really kept me on my toes.

Even when everything was all said and done, there was a slight plot twist at the end that still has me reeling! I'm literally freaking out because I need confirmation on the new information we find out right at the end!

Overall, this was a fantastic read and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for an addictive mystery read.

This is my first Lisa Jewell read and it was amazing. Suspenseful! Thrilling book! I look forward to reading more of her.

Another fantastic book by Lisa Jewell; one of her best in my opinion.

This book has it all: family, mental health, relationships, marriage, dead bodies spying on neighbours, mystery.

Its quite the cast of characters and starts out with a dead body; who is dead ? Who is responsible ?

Don't want to recap the story but check it out, the pages fly by; I wasnt sure who i wanted to be guilty and who I wanted the victim to be.

Twists and turns.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy. Will buy a paper copy when it is available.

Great read. DIdn't want it to end

This book started off slow for me, but I have realized that most of Lisa Jewell's books are like that. I enjoyed the suspense/mystery of the story but like most people I felt there were too many superfluous characters whose main reason for being in the story was to divert attention. Overall this was a good book and I would recommend it to my friends, with a warning about the slow opening.

I have to say i was disappointed with this book, i loved The Girls in the Garden ( 5 stars) I Found You ( 4 stars) and Then She Was Gone ( 4 stars). This book took me ages to get into and it was so slow i found myself skimming through and i normally dont do that. Even with skimming i followed the story with no problem, which to me says it was dragged out. I didnt love the Characters and there were way to many characters to really develop a rapport with or even to follow properly. The plot seemed a little muddled and flat at times with so many different tangents. I love this author and i really hope the next book is more like her prior books.

As soon as I saw a new Lisa Jewell novel, I had to read it. I've read tons of her stories, but my favourites have been Then She Was Gone, The Girls in the Garden and I Found You... that is until now! In my opinion, this is her best piece yet; riveting, suspenseful, and astonishing. For fans of Everything You Want Me To Be, Big Little Lies, and She Was The Quiet One. It was a little predictable at some points, but it still had me tearing through the pages. Thank you to @netgalley and @simonschusterca for this ARC.

3.5 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this compelling and suspenseful book in return for an honest review. Lisa Jewell’s stories are always character driven and the characters here are intriguing. I found that the many characters introduced here were not difficult to keep sorted in my mind after paying close attention at the beginning.

Most of the characters live in a community where their homes are in close proximity. Most are spying on others or even stalking them. This gives the story an unusual mixture of paranoia, obsession and secrets withheld.

In one house lives the family of Tom Fitzwilliam. He has an unusual occupation where he is called in to be headmaster for a couple of years to rescue failing schools. He is a charismatic, brilliant, handsome man in his early 50s who is very successful in improving these schools. He is beloved by students and popular in the community. His fashionable wife, Nicole spent most of her time outside the home running but since injuring her leg has become reclusive and spends her days knitting. Their teenaged son, Freddie, may have Asperger’s syndrome. He has difficulty socializing and goes to a private school where he is an exceptional student in his studies. He wants a girlfriend but is awkward in his approach and has no close male friends. Freddie spends most of his time in his room on his computer, photographs his neighbors and watches them with high powered binoculars.

Close by is the home of a busy heart surgeon, Jack. His wife, Rebecca, spends time working from her computer. She is pregnant with their first child but does not seem very happy about it. Moving into their home is Jack’s sister, Joey with her new husband, Alfie. She met him abroad and it was a whirlwind marriage. Alfie is handsome, charming and loves Joey very much, but this is not reciprocated. From much passion at first she has quickly become cold and distant. A predominant player in the drama, I found her annoying. Joey is obsessed with stalking another neighbor and seems quite unstable.

Jenna is a high school student who lives further away with her mother. Her mother is paranoid and believes she is being stalked by a group intent on spying on her. She spends her days hiding in bushes filming people and on her computer in conspiracy themed chat groups which heightens her paranoia. Jenna worries about her best friend, Bess, who has an obsessive crush on an adult man.

The book begins with the discovery of a brutal murder. The identity of the victim, the perpetrator or motive are not revealed. I usually do poorly figuring out twists and am frequently surprised and shocked. I did anticipate the motive and killer here. I felt the epilogue was too drawn out and didn’t add much to the story. I did enjoy the characters and their thought processes and actions. I thought it was a well plotted and well written story. I would definitely read more of Lisa Jewell’s books.