I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Read: 5th May 2018
Purchase: Amazon
★★★★★ 5 stars
What can I say? This book was brilliant! From start to finish. I started it in the early hours of yesterday morning, read most of the day and then finished it when I went to bed last night. It was one of those books you just couldn't put down and just wanted to keep reading.
It begins with teenagers Anna and Sarah on a train from Cornwall to London when they meet two young men who turned out to have just been released from prison - literally - as they boarded with black bin bags holding all their possessions from while being incarcerated. Enter Ella Longfield - the witness. She overhears the girls' conversation with the young men and feels as if she should step in should the girls find themselves in danger from the young men. She argues with herself the value of doing so and when Sarah gets up with one of the young men, Ella decides she will step in. Either that, or find their parents' phone numbers and call them. But something happens on the train to horrify, Ella in her blinded naivety, that she changes her mind going back to her carriage and moving to other end away from the girls. A choice that will haunt her come the following morning and the year thereafter. Then someone begins sending her threatening notes, and Ella begins to feel frightened, paranoid even.
I love how the book is written, with each chapter devoted to a different person - The Father, The Witness, The Friend, The Private Investigator and also "the one who is watching". My only fault I would find is that each chapter ends on a climax which never plays out for us, but is rather mentioned after it has taken place. It kind of feels like one of robbed a little, as we read for every little tidbit and yet we are denied the most important events that take place, only learning of them by way of conversation. I found this quite early on in the book, though I still very much enjoyed it, I just wish some events were actually played instead of just mentioned in passing later on. I was thoroughly confused by one instance in the book when this happened - when the father Henry toys with ringing the police or not, finally deciding to do ring them and then the chapter ended. When his next chapter came up, he was in a police cell. And I'm like "What??" When you read the chapter within the context of this happening, you will see what I mean. I was left confused as I read on, later discovering what led him to be there, though I found it somewhat unnecessary. That I would say would be my only fault I could find with this book.
Having said that, it was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it! And I didn't even guess "the watcher"...not until Ella's discovery. Then I knew. But normally I can hazard a guess early on or work it out. But not this book. It was brilliant!
It begins with teenagers Anna and Sarah on a train from Cornwall to London when they meet two young men who turned out to have just been released from prison - literally - as they boarded with black bin bags holding all their possessions from while being incarcerated. Enter Ella Longfield - the witness. She overhears the girls' conversation with the young men and feels as if she should step in should the girls find themselves in danger from the young men. She argues with herself the value of doing so and when Sarah gets up with one of the young men, Ella decides she will step in. Either that, or find their parents' phone numbers and call them. But something happens on the train to horrify, Ella in her blinded naivety, that she changes her mind going back to her carriage and moving to other end away from the girls. A choice that will haunt her come the following morning and the year thereafter. Then someone begins sending her threatening notes, and Ella begins to feel frightened, paranoid even.
I love how the book is written, with each chapter devoted to a different person - The Father, The Witness, The Friend, The Private Investigator and also "the one who is watching". My only fault I would find is that each chapter ends on a climax which never plays out for us, but is rather mentioned after it has taken place. It kind of feels like one of robbed a little, as we read for every little tidbit and yet we are denied the most important events that take place, only learning of them by way of conversation. I found this quite early on in the book, though I still very much enjoyed it, I just wish some events were actually played instead of just mentioned in passing later on. I was thoroughly confused by one instance in the book when this happened - when the father Henry toys with ringing the police or not, finally deciding to do ring them and then the chapter ended. When his next chapter came up, he was in a police cell. And I'm like "What??" When you read the chapter within the context of this happening, you will see what I mean. I was left confused as I read on, later discovering what led him to be there, though I found it somewhat unnecessary. That I would say would be my only fault I could find with this book.
Having said that, it was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it! And I didn't even guess "the watcher"...not until Ella's discovery. Then I knew. But normally I can hazard a guess early on or work it out. But not this book. It was brilliant!
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