Member Reviews
With My Little Eye
by Joshilyn Jackson
“Bees under my skin” is Honor’s apt description of the suspense of this powerful book. There’s so much that’s scary and wrong but not given enough serious attention by law enforcement and others. “No one will believe you” is a terrible indictment. How to fight against an unseen stalker, how to prove that “accidents” weren’t, whom to trust? Stick together, sisters, help each other where we can, like the Three Fates, like Xena and Gabrielle. Yes, I did love the references to mythology and the popular variants like Xena and D&D.
I also appreciated the inclusion of characters with autism (Honor) and ADD, as well as the general fear of aging (Meribel, actress) and desire to be cool (all the teens). It added realistic problems and depth to the characters. The water park echoed too close to my real life for comfort, but this didn’t propose to be a comfortable book. Shaking things up is a part of the mission of good fiction, with some good life lessons included. WITH MY LITTLE EYE was so compelling that, ultimate compliment, I put aside all other matters and entertainments because I didn’t want to leave my new friends. I didn’t actually want it to end; good ending, but I’m going to miss them.
No matter what I know I can always count on Jackson to deliver the most amazing story every single time!
With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson is so well thought out, plotted, and executed!
This was a solid read for me with memorable and realistic characters.
A quick page-turner with a clever plot to keep you guessing! Great writing, heart-pounding mystery!
This has to be hands down the best stalker story I’ve ever read!
There is something about Jackson's writing that sucks me in. I’m completely fascinated by it. She kept me hooked the entire time.
Her writing was remarkable, well crafted and gripping.
Joshilyn Jackson has written another riveting, twisty, unputdownable suspenseful read.
"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
Thank You Netgalley and William Morrow for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC
When moving from Hollywood to Georgia doesn’t shake a stalker, what is an actress’s next move?
Meribel Mills achieved a dose of stardom thanks to a small but juicy role on a popular nineties sitcom. She has worked fairly steadily ever since but, as she she says at the beginning of the novel, she never thought that she was famous enough to get murdered. Her stalker clearly disagrees, and when his actions rose from garden-variety weirdo to breaking into her home, Meribel jumps at the opportunity to move herself and her teenage daughter Honor to her home state of Georgia to work on a new project. The situation isn’t ideal; Meribel decided to end a budding romance because of the move; she had fled her life in Georgia years earlier after a tragic accident, leaving her husband behind as well; and Honor is autistic, so a move like this wreaks havoc on the ordered life she needs. But the sacrifices will be worth it to bring a sense of security and peace of mind to their lives. The calm doesn’t last long, though; Meribel’s “superpower”, the ability to sense when she is under observation, starts tingling. Is it her stalker, whom she has nicknamed the Marker Man (the creepy letters and drawings he sends her are written and drawn with scented colored markers) followed her to Georgia? Could her ex-husband, though he seems to be happily remarried, still carrying a torch for her? Has the discarded boyfriend decided that their relationship isn’t over after all? Or is her new neighbor, who is still pining for his ex, not happy about being friend-zoned? Meribel isn’t sure that she can trust any of the men in her life, past or present; but she knows that if she doesn’t make the right choices, she and possibly her daughter will pay the ultimate price.
I have loved Joshilyn Jackson’s novels since the day I picked up her first, gods in Alabama. Her female characters are flawed, but they are also feisty, resourceful, and pretty darned funny. Her characters all have charm and dimension; I particularly enjoyed how she developed the character of Honor, who is so much more than just autistic. And where else but in one of Ms Jackson’s novels would you find a group of young people described as a “United Colors of Benetton Scooby Gang”? She plays with language so very well.
With My Little Eye is a wonderful read, equal parts Southern and suspense. If you have read any of Joshilyn Jackson’s prior novels, I don’t have to tell you to read this one too…its already on your to-be-read list. If you haven’t, then this is the time to start! If you have enjoyed books by Mark Childress, Fannie Flagg, or Alafair Burke, then you should definitely give this a try too. Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to delve into the advanced reader’s copy of this latest novel by a favorite author!
In the past on a heartbroken risk, Meribel Mills moves to LA and lands a life changing role on an 80s sitcom. Presently, she is a single mother with the occasional guest spot on popular shows. Life is good until Meribel is faced with a potentially violent stalker. When a new role which will take her back to her hometown of Atlanta presents itself, she jumps on it. Hoping to put distance between her little family and what they have named the Marker Man, Meribel quickly learns that you can't run from your problems.
I always enjoy Joshilyn Jackson books. The characters were easy to connect with and attach to. The mother-daughter dynamic was well written and having an autistic character was a nice touch of inclusion. The twists were fun but the additional storyline kind of took away from the focus of solving the Marker Man mystery. Although I did enjoy the book, it was hard to stay focused. The second half was much stronger than the first.
As a thriller, this one felt a bit flat for me. Again, like many recent reads for me, the premise had promise. But for a thriller to be satisfying, it needs to keep your attention until the very end, which this one missed the mark.
This is a book about...stalkers? Fame and Hollywood? Misogyny? Complicated female relationships? All of the above? Meribel Mills is a B-list, 40-something (shhhh...IMDB thinks she is in her late 30s) actress. She has a stalker whom her daughter calls Marker Man because he sends his stalkery mail with penmanship courtesy of those fruit scented markers. The letters are super creepy and sent to her home address. Meribel also realizes that he must have gotten into her L.A. home because her sheets smell like men's cologne. Fortunately she gets a movie role that is filmed in Atlanta (where her ex-husband and his new family just happen to live), so she and her daughter make a run for it.
But when she gets there, she can sense it. Every where she goes, she feels like someone is watching her.
And the letters return.
She trusts everyone and no one. Is the man she left behind, who just happens to own a security company behind this? Her too-good-to-be true new neighborhood? Or maybe it's her ex-husband, whom she is kinda stalking on social media?
Again, this was a fine read, but it you are looking for something fun and twisty, this may not be it.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for my honest review. Publication date is April 25, 2023.
Thanks to NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Having read the author’s prior work, I was very excited to receive this ARC.
Exciting and twisty story about Meribel Mills, an actress and single mom, who moves to her hometown of Atlanta to escape a stalker back in LA.
I enjoyed this book and especially enjoyed scenes from her daughter, Honor’s, point of view. I recommend it to those who like a fast-paced psychological thriller.
With My Little Eye follows Mirabel Mills, an aging B-list celebrity, as she relocates from LA to Atlanta in an attempt to not only revitalize her career but shake off “Marker Man” an increasingly disturbing stalker. The only other constant in her life beyond her career, is Honor, her Autistic daughter. The tension builds very slowly throughout the majority of the story then it becomes a mad dash to the conclusion. There are plenty of red herrings to keep you confused and second guessing the motives of the men in Maribel's life, because every one of them seems a little shady. With the exception of Honor, I found the characters to be lacking. Maribel seemed to have no personality outside of “actress” and “mother to an Autistic child” which only made the confrontational behavior between Cam and Cooper as they jockeyed for her affection fall flat. But then I always figured actors spent so much time in their characters personality that they didn’t really have one of their own, so maybe this tracks. Plus, you’d think with her own stalker, she wouldn’t stalk her ex-husbands wife on Instagram. Cooper struck me as weird from the start, and not someone Maribel would seriously consider as a partner. Cam was the cookie cutter boyfriend/bodyguard that really added nothing to the story other than being part of a not-quite-love-triangle and a convenient adult. The odd Cooper sub-plot just seemed kind of tossed in to fatten up the book, then we just pretend like it’s all cleared up and taken care of. I also found it unbelievable that Maribel-who up until the last few pages of the book is the very definition of milquetoast- suddenly manages to save herself (with a conveniently placed loose end that finally made me understand why we had those smatterings of Marker Man’s POV). Despite this, I did enjoy the story and rate it 3.71 out of 5.
My honest review is freely provided in return for the kindness by NetGalley and the author/publisher in providing me with this book.
For me, WMLE is an outlier for JJ's books which I normally love. This one is missing the lovable characters, and that engagement that her other novels have for me. This book didn't have that pull drawing me back to it, and there are a few eye-roll moments that I always hate to encounter. I found the story line a little confusing at times, and didn't feel the autistic angle was authentic. Those who enjoy this one will no doubt love JJ's other books.
Parts of this novel were well done, but as a whole I didn’t love it.
Meribel Mills was once on a successful sitcom and has done well enough in the acting world to make a living at it, despite the fact she’s approaching 40. She starts getting unhinged fan mail with drawings of her tied up and dissected. She calls him Marker Man because of the scented markers he uses in his endless letters. Her fear escalates until she’s sure he has been in her apartment. When she’s offered a job in Atlanta, a place she fled from bad memories many years earlier, she takes it to see if getting out of Los Angeles will make Marker Man lose interest. I liked the daughter, Honor, who is 12 turning 13 years old and autistic.
If you read a book about writing fiction or take a class, you’ll be told to focus on the five senses so the reader feels she’s there with the protagonist. I have never read a novel in which absolutely everyone is so obsessed with smell. It works with Honor because she’s on the spectrum and interprets her world a little differently than others of us might. It works with the markers on the letters because that’s a way to distinguish Meribel’s stalker, but I just got bored of reading about how everything smelled, all the time.
There were other things that didn’t work as well that I can’t get into to not give things away.
NetGalley provided an advance reader copy of this novel, which RELEASES APRIL 25, 2023.
I received this ARC from NetGalley. Joshilyn Jackson is a masterful suspense writer and this is a masterpiece! The twists you will never see coming as super smart and well timed. The characters are so well written that they become so real.
I love Joshilyn Jackson's books so much, she's one of my favorite authors, but this one fell a little flat for me. The stalker angle and the mother/daughter relationship were strong enough to carry this novel, but it really got bogged down with the secondary stories. The ex-husband storyline was totally unnecessary and the strange twist in the middle of the book on the day of the water park trip really through me for a loop. I also felt like the the main character was very immature for a 40-year-old woman, using teenage slang and constantly stalking her ex-husband's wife on Instagram. And this book definitely needed an epilogue because the ending was so abrupt.
I became a huge fan of Ms. Jackson when I read her debut, Gods in Alabama, which was phenomenal and had the best first line of any novel I've read since. I followed this by reading most of her other novels, which I've noticed have trended from Southern Fiction to the thriller genre.
This latest title, With My Little Eye, was a bit of a mix for me. Yes, it was well-written and suspenseful and held my interest. I loved the character named Honor, who had Autism Spectrum Disorder, and made the book, giving her a "stole-the-show" status.. Her quirks and friends brought the novel to life. But as for the main character, an actress whose fame peaked in the 90s, I was on the fence. Sometimes, I liked her. Other times not. But a likeable main character isn't necessary for a great novel. In fact, plenty of literature features antagonistic main characters and yet we connect with them on some level to find the work satisfying.
With My Little Eye started off great, chugged along at a nice pace, picked up break-neck speed during the latter third of the novel, and then....WHAM! WHAT? As others have said, please ask the author to include an epilogue. Endings can make or break a book. And for me, this otherwise fine novel, broke with such an abrupt, whiplashy ending. I remain a fan and will certainly read her next novel .
What I loved about this book is how rich and believable the individual characters feel. Each person is developed with care and there was nothing they did that felt out of character in the plot. I also enjoyed that there were surprise subplots and the connections to the end were twisted and lead to an interesting conclusion. The only part that felt a little difficult for me was the ending fell a bit flat and a bit rushed where it did not feel complete to me. I did enjoy this book and plan to read more from her.
WOW. I'll buy anything (and everything) Joshilyn Jackson writes, but it was such a treat to get to read this one early: I could not put it down! WITH MY LITTLE EYE was simultaneously engrossing and unsettling in all the best ways: Every POV switch sent chills up my spine, no one was what they seemed (or were they?), and Jackson keeping me guessing until the very last page. Suspense at its most satisfying.
I’m going to start by saying that Maribel, the main character, drove me a little bit crazy. She is incredibly paranoid and self-obsessed and made so many ridiculous choices…. but she is also a fiercely protective mother of an autistic child and that added such an interesting nuance to her spoiled celebrity side. I really enjoyed Honor’s character and seeing her point of view - she was such a smart, funny, interesting, and kind person and it felt like such a realistic and friendly portrayal of an autistic teenager (I mean, not knowing any autistic teenagers I could be wrong, but it felt very believable). The stalker and the different layers of mystery came together in some satisfying ways, though I didn’t love how Marker Man got resolved as much as I loved the Honor subplot - which could be partly because Honor was my favorite character and Maribel annoyed me. Side note: I couldn’t help but hear this read in Joshilyn Jackson’s distinctive voice after having listened to some of her books on audio and that just added something delightful to it. She’s a great audiobook narrator!
I loved all of her previous books, and this one was pretty good too. I thought the character twist for Cooper was interesting, but not necessary in that it didn’t add any depth to the character. The book seemed to end really fast too.
In true Joshilyn Jackson style, I was compelled to keep reading despite late hours and missing out on sleep. I really enjoyed the book's stalker theme and will confess that I didn't guess the stalker until he was revealed.
Meribel, an actress and the story's protagonist, decides to move herself and her daughter, Honor, from LA, California, back to her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to elude a creepy stalker who sends explicit mail and drawings that are created with scented markers. The author's well-researched and authentic depiction of Honor's point of view from the autism spectrum was beautifully written without an ounce of stereotyping. The stalking continues in her new town, and readers ride the waves with Meribel as she attempts to keep herself and her daughter safe until she can expose her stalker.
I felt that the ending was a abrupt and a bit rushed, and would have loved an epilogue to give insight into what happened with some of the characters.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I love seeing mothers as main characters — particularly when their kids are an integral part of the storyline. In Joshilyn Jackson's latest thriller, the teen characters, including protagonist Meribel Mills' daughter Honor, were engaging and well-drawn. Jackson's trademark easy patter and accessible writing style were also big draws.
Clever story, satisfying read.
Rating 3.5 stars
I have to admit, it took me awhile to get hooked. Meribel Mills actress, mother to Honor was determined to keep her daughter safe. All actors at one time have to deal with stalkers but Meribel's stalker was getting personal. Her daughter Honor who is autistic had nick named the stalker Markerman because of the smelling marker pens he used when writing his threating letters. Meribel makes the decision to leave her boyfriend, and LA to go back to her hometown of Atlanta. Honor and Meribel move into a condo, however, Meribel feels that she is being watched. Will she be able to find out who her stalker is before he does physical harm to her and her daughter.
While I am playing confession, I will also admit that Meribel was not my favorite however she did grow on me. Her wit and love for her daughter was what hooked me. Honor also was a compelling character. Being autistic, she had some ticks that she actively worked thru along with the help of her mother. She also had made some significant friends that lead to a thrilling thread. She loved puns which I enjoyed her humor. I had a great time reading this one.
A special thank you to William Morrow and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
I was excited about this book but was disappointed. I like the main character and her daughter—well, the idea of them anyway but it was really written in a strange lurid way that read false to me. The stalker parts were ridiculous and would be laughable if they weren’t also so gross.