I Am Watching You

“once you become a parent, you learn that love can involve more fear than you had ever imagined, and you never quite look on the world in the same way again.”

Un-put-downable. I started this one at midnight - don't be like me!! You won't sleep until you turn to the last page! I was completely wrapped up in the story - what Sarah knew, where Anna had gone and all of the secrets and lies that everyone was telling.

And in the midst of it all, Ella. My heart broke for her! I never would have blamed her! Who could? She overheard something - really none of her business! How on earth could she ever have found the parents to this young girl, making such awful scary choices.

I was so wrapped up in the story that the end was a surprise! I had show more no idea who it was or what was going on but I loved the ride. I will definitely read more from this author! show less

When Ella sees two young women, Sarah and Anna, on a train flirting with two young men, she thinks nothing of it – that is, until she realizes the two men are just out of prison. Worried that the two girls might be in danger, she decides she should report it. However, something else she sees makes her change her mind. But when Anna goes missing and Ella reports what she saw, she finds herself the victim of a harassment campaign. Driven as much by to her sense of guilt as the harassment, Ella decides to hire a private detective to find out what really happened to Anna. It soon becomes clear that almost everyone involved is keeping secrets including Sarah. Someone knows what happened to Anna and they are watching Ella.

When I first show more started reading I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll, I was expecting a thriller similar to Girl On the Train. This, however, is definitely not that. It is divided into several different viewpoints including The Witness (Ella), The Father (Anna’s), The Friend (Sarah), and The Private Detective and occasionally the culprit whose viewpoint is expressed not by title but by different font. Unfortunately, it seemed like every time the story would start to get exciting, it would switch to a different viewpoint. This clearly was meant to ramp up tension and had it been used more judiciously, it most likely would have. However, because of its overuse, it had the opposite effect – I stopped expecting anything to happen. I will admit, though, that I never guessed the outcome or whodunit but I’m not sure if that is because it was so well hidden among the red herrings (most of which were easily identified as such) or with all the switching back and forth, it just didn’t feel like he/she was all that relevant to the story.

Still, if it didn’t keep my attention throughout, I did want to finish it. It is well-written and, if not particularly thrilling, it was an interesting portrait of how the disappearance of a young girl can have ripple effects not only on the family but on those involved if only on the periphery as well as the guilt people feel for the small things they do/don't do that alone would matter little but together, can lead to tragedy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review show less

This novel is a shorter mystery read, one that tries to do a lot. My biggest praise for it is that it has range. There are so many side stories within the book, most will be able to find something to relate to. From parental abuse, teen pregnancy, self-harm, adultery, and most importantly, guilt. This book does too much in my opinion. I forget that this book is mainly about a stalker because there is so much more going on all at once.

The choice to jump between perspectives of different characters is a bold one for any novel, and I feel it was essential for what this is trying to do. The interwoven plots would be impossible to explain without the jumping POV. However, the 6+ characters that get featured chapters is a lot to comprehend, show more and you need to be paying great attention to remember who we are seeing from.

Still, it was enjoyable, and quick. I enjoyed it. show less

I enjoyed this story. In some ways it is a typical thriller, with many twists and turns, first you suspect one person, then another. Everyone has secrets, genuine or absurd. I liked the attention paid to each one of the families, and the things that were going on with each. It made the characters seem human, and authentic. And it wasn't over the top, like so many thrillers are, with events so improbable that it makes you roll your eyes. I think the author did a good job of portraying how each person felt guilty for Anna's disappearance. But really, although a thousand small things contributed to the tragic ending, it was no one's fault but the killer's.

The ending was a little abrupt, and I also really dislike it when an author has one show more first person point of view mixed in with other third person points of view. It's always jarring and pulls me out of the story. But that was my only complaint. show less

A great suspense novel about a missing girl told in three perspectives: the friend, the witness, the father.

Ella is on a train and witnesses two girls flirting with two young men who were recently released from prison. After ignoring her maternal instincts to contact the girls’ parents, Ella finds out the next morning that one of the girls, Anna, has gone missing.

A year later Anna is still missing but her friend Sarah (the girl with her on the trip) and Anna’s parents seem to be hiding secrets. Someone knows where Anna is, but who is it?

This was a solid suspense novel and definitely my favorite book out of the ones I have read in the Kindle First program. The mystery itself was great because it took many twists and turns. I loved how some of the characters held secrets that made you question their innocence and then something else would pop up and then you would have a new suspect. I also loved the role Ella played in the story. Although not to this extreme, I think most people can relate to being in a position where you question whether or not to say something or stay quiet and mind your own business. Overall, this was one of the better suspense novels I have read.

MINOR SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN THIS REVIEW!

This was another audiobook to keep me company while running. It is only this year that I have really got into audiobooks and I have discovered a curious thing – even if I don’t particularly like an audiobook, somehow it seems to keep my attention, in a way that a physical book which I wasn’t enjoying, would not be able to do. This book kind of falls into that category.

The story is told from multiple points of view, but it kind of feels like Ella Longfield’s story, as hers is the only point of view narrated in the first person. Ella is on a train journey when she overhears two young men chatting up two girls. When it becomes apparent that the two men have just been released from prison, show more Ella becomes alarmed and considers intervening but decides not to. However, the next morning one of the girls, Anna Ballard, has gone missing and Ella feels guilty that she did not step in.

Cut to a year later – Anna has still not been found, and Ella is full of guilt. She starts receiving threatening postcards from an anonymous sender, which tell her that she is being watched. Meantime, the investigation into Anna’s disappearance rumbles on, with chapters told by Ella herself (‘The Witness), Anna’s father (‘The Father’), Anna’s friend Sarah who was with her on the train (‘The Sister’) and Matt, a private detective who Ella employs to find out who is sending the postcards (‘The Private Detective’). There are also very occasional chapters narrated by ‘Watcher’ whose identity for obvious reasons, is not revealed. It soon becomes obvious that everyone connected to Anna has secrets and throughout the story it seems that any one of them could be guilty.

So far, so interesting. The premise is great – what would you have done? Would you have intervened? Would you have left well alone? Would you feel guilty in Ella’s position? And of course there is the whodunnit angle…who is sending the postcards? And what really happened to Anna?

So – there was plenty about this book that kept me listening. However, there were also things that annoyed me. Ella was not a particularly interesting narrator or main character. Can I go so far as to call her dull? (Yes, is the answer.) And considering that actually, she didn’t do anything wrong, she carries a tremendous amount of guilt, almost making the case all about her. I didn’t mind the multiple points of view that narrated the different chapters, and in fact I did particularly like Matt the private detective, albeit a lot of his personal story (his wife had a baby and he learns to adjust to fatherhood) was irrelevant. However, each chapter had a cliffhanger which was obviously a ploy to keep the reader/listener interested, but just ended up being a bit annoying and felt contrived.

The other problem was the ending. Okay, so I didn’t guess who the culprit was, but the things is that I don’t believe anyone guessed, because there was absolutely nothing – no clues, no hints – given earlier on. It seems slightly unfair to keep readers guessing and then to spring a culprit on them out of left-field. The best mysteries to me are when you are surprised by the identity of the culprit but then realise that the clues were there all along.

Overall, I would say that if, like me, you are listening to this in an effort to distract you from something else, it does the trick, but otherwise I probably would not recommend it. Fans of psychological thrillers or whodunnits can find similar stories done much better. show less