Watching You by Lisa Jewell

5/5 stars

I had been thinking I needed a break from thrillers.  I was getting kind of jaded and several thrillers I read recently seemed predictable, but this renewed my faith in thrillers!  I don’t think I have ever given a thriller 5 stars, but this one seriously BLEW MY MIND!

It also renewed my faith in Lisa Jewell’s books.  I read “I Found You” last year, which lead to me quickly finding and reading “The Girls in the Garden”, “The House We Grew Up In” and “The Third Wife”.  All of which I LOVED.  But then I read “Then She Was Gone” and I will be honest, it didn’t seem possible to me and I didn’t like it that much.  I was hesitant to request this from Netgalley and hesitant to read it, because I feel bad giving a bad review, since I knew writers pour their heart and soul into their work.  I went into this book thinking I might not like it and it BLEW MY MIND!!!  It was SO GOOD!!!!

The characters are well developed and you feel invested in their stories.  Jenna is a teenager whose mom might be mentally ill and she has to take care of her.  Jenna’s best friend is Bess, who is very naive.  Joey lives with her brother and his wife and she is struggling with her marriage and growing up.  Freddie is a young autistic boy who is struggling with his own issues.  Then there is Tom Fitzwilliam, the headmaster at the school, who you are not sure if you should like or not, but he seems to have a certain charisma.

The book opens with a murder investigation but none of the characters seem like a murderer.  There is actually A LOT to unpack in this book and the plot is tight as a drum and the pacing is perfect.

This book doesn’t come out until December 26 – perfect for something to look forward to after the letdown of the holidays!