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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A woman whose husband vanished, leaving behind a debt to a gangster, begins to feel that someone is manipulating her life. The alternating perspectives will keep you guessing in this spine-tingling thriller.
Creepy fun book! Interesting characters, husband disappeared, wife forced pay off gambling debts, deadly consequences occur when people mistreat the wife, a mysterious man, crazy backstory for several people. Nice ending too, she got revenge and saved her kids.
Great book, with a few good and unexpected twists. I am now going backwards so I can read more of this author's work in this series...
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As I’ve said in a previous review of another book in this series, this is just not my kind of genre. While I love a good mystery or thriller, I tend to dislike ones where the drama centers on “the one man” who can save everyone. I took a risk with the last novel (“Say You’re Sorry), and I was crazy for it, so I decided to read “Watching You,” and it was every bit as satisfying as the last one. So, if you are like me and you typically hate this kind of genre, I encourage you to give it a try because its excellence really surprised me.
This Joseph O’Loughlin book was different from the last one in its character focus. Instead of the primary character being psychologist Joe, the book primarily follows Marnie, a woman who is struggling to provide for herself and her children after the disappearance of her husband Daniel. Because Daniel is missing, rather than declared dead, Marnie cannot gain access to any of his financial accounts or important documents. She is depressed about the loss of her husband and scared about what may happen to her family. Marnie confides in Joe, her psychologist, about everything she is experiencing.
After making an unexpected discovery, Marnie asks Joe to help her look into her husband’s disappearance. Joe and his friend Ruiz, a former detective, follow a trail that leads them to a malicious Marnie who cannot be reconciled to the Marnie they now know. From there the story takes all sorts of twists and turns until Joe ultimately unravels the mystery and gets to the truth.
“Watching You” really threw me for a loop. Though I had a hunch I knew who/what the murderer would be, I liked how the author was able to—at times—trick me into thinking it was something else entirely. Part of me felt sorry for the person responsible for the murders. As awful as it is, that person became the way they did in large part because of the things that they experienced when they were young. I know that doesn’t excuse anything, but it still makes me feel more sympathetic for that character.
That being said, when the final big twist was delivered concerning *the* character’s reasons for their actions, I was floored. This great plot development made the ending so much more powerful. I also liked the little nugget of a question that was left in the final lines of the book. It was so gripping! Michael Robotham really knows how to weave together a suspenseful story better than most.
This Joseph O’Loughlin book was different from the last one in its character focus. Instead of the primary character being psychologist Joe, the book primarily follows Marnie, a woman who is struggling to provide for herself and her children after the disappearance of her husband Daniel. Because Daniel is missing, rather than declared dead, Marnie cannot gain access to any of his financial accounts or important documents. She is depressed about the loss of her husband and scared about what may happen to her family. Marnie confides in Joe, her psychologist, about everything she is experiencing.
After making an unexpected discovery, Marnie asks Joe to help her look into her husband’s disappearance. Joe and his friend Ruiz, a former detective, follow a trail that leads them to a malicious Marnie who cannot be reconciled to the Marnie they now know. From there the story takes all sorts of twists and turns until Joe ultimately unravels the mystery and gets to the truth.
“Watching You” really threw me for a loop. Though I had a hunch I knew who/what the murderer would be, I liked how the author was able to—at times—trick me into thinking it was something else entirely. Part of me felt sorry for the person responsible for the murders. As awful as it is, that person became the way they did in large part because of the things that they experienced when they were young. I know that doesn’t excuse anything, but it still makes me feel more sympathetic for that character.
That being said, when the final big twist was delivered concerning *the* character’s reasons for their actions, I was floored. This great plot development made the ending so much more powerful. I also liked the little nugget of a question that was left in the final lines of the book. It was so gripping! Michael Robotham really knows how to weave together a suspenseful story better than most.