Watching You

Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: Suspense
Type: e-book
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
First Published: Dec 26, 2018
Opening Lines: "March 24 - DC Rose Pelham kneels down; she can see something behind the kitchen door, just in front of the trash can. For a minute she thinks it's a bloodstained twist of tissue, maybe, or an old bandage."

Book Description from GoodReads: Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam.

My Rating: 3 stars (aka 'a good read')

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. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.