Watching You by Lisa Jewell
| Watching You by Lisa Jewell | |
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| Category: Thrillers | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Morris
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| Summary: Nosy neighbours and a web of lies and misinformation underpin this story about the lengths people will go to, to make up for past actions | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 512 | Date: January 2019 |
| Publisher: Arrow | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1784756277 | |
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A teenage boy spies on a teenage girl from his bedroom window. Down the road, a woman is convinced she knows a man in the village and that he is following her. Meanwhile, a young woman has moved back home after some time abroad, and develops a fascination with her new neighbour. The man's wife, meanwhile, engages the services of the young woman's husband in some work around the house. Oh, and that teenage boy? He's her son. And the woman with the conspiracy theories? She's the mother of the girl he's spying on. Plus, the man she thinks is out to get her is the woman's husband (and is also the new headteacher at her daughter's school). Whichever way you look at it, there's a lot of watching going on in this book.
This book is classic Lisa Jewell with lots of different view points all weaving around from side to side like a teenager staggering home after one too many glasses of Prosecco. It's not quite clear from the very beginning just how interconnected their lives are, but this is a smallish village and by the end everyone knows everyone else's business. Oh yes, and someone is dead too, so there's that.
Right from the start, the narrative is peppered with Police interviews in the wake of the crime that is to come. It's done in such a clever way, because nothing is a lie and yet the way you start to interpret what is said, in light of the situations unfolding around it, can easily lead you down the wrong path. It was only at the very, very end that I was able to guess the motive and methods of the crimes and even then there was a final twist that surprised me. It's a book that starts and ends with a crime, but it's not really a murder mystery in the traditional sense. Instead it's about people and relationships, and what goes on behind closed doors, whether or not you can see it from behind your net curtains. So much of the confusion and misinformation is simply about perspective, with different viewpoints on the same event leading to diverse conclusions. It's a very engaging read, and there's lots of characters to choose from when you're taking sides. I read it quickly, enjoying the pace and the changing narration, and enjoyed it to the last page.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review. It truly is another jewel from Jewell. For more in the way of, shall we say, keeping track of other people, Watching Edie by Camilla Way , set in London rather than Bristol, has a lot to recommend it.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Watching You by Lisa Jewell at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Watching You by Lisa Jewell at Amazon.com.
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Sue said:
A cracking good story with deft, intricate plotting. The structure of the story means that you can easily be deflected down the wrong roads: I certainly didn't work out who the murderer was until it all unfolded in front of me.
The characters are excellent: I was really invested in them and wanted everything to work out for them. They're alive in my mind long after I've finished reading.
I was so involved in the book that I even read through all the acknowledgements at the end. I really didn't want the book to finish!
