I have read Lisa Jewell before and there is something fundamentally compelling and mesmerising about her writing.  Her stories seem to reel me in and, as usual, I was engrossed in the plots and sub-plots which lead me one way and then another.

‘Watching You’ begins with a dead body/murder in one of the ‘painted houses’ in an exquisite suburb of Bristol, Melville Heights.  This is the house where Tom Fitzwilliam his wife, Nikki and their son, Frank live.  The family appears to have moved around quite a lot and Tom is the head teacher of the local Academy school.  He appears to be drafted in to failing schools to move them forward and improve their results.

Also in the neighbourhood are Alfie and Joey (Josephine) who live with Joey’s older brother Jack and his wife Rebecca who is pregnant.  Opposite the Fitzwilliams are Jenna (15) and her mother who has a condition, which means she believes everybody is stalking her so takes numerous pictures, and watches all the comings and goings in minute detail.

Jenna and her Bess friend, Bess, attend the local school and it appears as if Bess is becoming infatuated with Tom, who is god looking and charismatic.  Joey and Tom also appear to be getting close.

The pace is fast and furious and it is not clear until the end who was involved and what has happened and certainly not why.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Lisa Jewell for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Great Read, highly recommended.

Watching You is the first Lisa Jewell novel I have read in many many years and I now ask myself WHY?  This is a fantastic unputdownable read with a central gripping whodunnit storyline set in a village in Bristol revolving around and involving some of the likeable, unlikeable, complex, flawed local characters with a great twisting end to the story.  Lisa Jewell is well and truly on my list of future reads.  Recommended.

Another brilliant book by Lisa Jewell with lots of twists and turns that kept me hooked. Can't wait for the next book by the good author.

Lisa Jewell is a fantastic writer, her plots consistently engaging with well-drawn characters. “Watching You” follows the lives of people living in the same neighbourhood and touches on a variety of themes including domestic abuse and the long-term and far-reaching consequences of bullying.

Watching You is a gripping thriller that offers many perspectives within the storyline. I was never certain how the story was going to end and I was kept on my toes throughout. My only issue was that the pace was quite slow and it took half the book to really pick up in tension. Overall though it was a solid thriller, and I definitely did not expect the main twist!

This is an intriguing thriller. Slow to get started, but th second half does get better. Set in a small town on Bristol and focuses on a headteacher and his family.
Wasn't expecting the ending, which kept me reading.
Thanks to Net galley for an Arc.

This is one of the best books i have read this year.

I have already ordered the authors other books.

I read this book in one sitting, 

From stat to finish there were so many twists aaand turns and the writing was brilliant

I cannot recommend this book enough.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I have read Lisa Jewell's novel since my late teens and I particularly like her foray into genres a little darker to her usual chick-lit style. This book really shows how versatile a writer she has become. While the story carried her typical light-jaunty style of writing, this only heightened the tension when  events started to take a darker turn.

This story was interwoven with so many side stories that sometimes it was difficult to keep track of what was going on but when it all came together, it made for a very intricate tale.

8.5/10

This was one of those times where word of mouth made me take notice of this novel but reading it made me question why I’d never heard of this author before now and why has she written so many novels. Shame on me, this is supposed to be my go to genre. But also happy days, I’ve got loads of back catalogue to work through. 

This is a domestic thriller done well. Plenty of intrigue early on, a shady cast of characters most of whom have more going on than meets the eye, information dotted around hinting at what’s to come whilst never showing its hand. The writing style is top notch too, it flows really smoothly and does the tricky task of making you want to read more and find out things which are to come when it’s way too late to be reading. 

I’ll not say too much about the plot as the less you know the better but I will say that I’ll be eagerly hunting out more of Lisa Jewell’s work. This really impressed me and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting a fast thriller.

I really enjoyed this thriller about a small community and the affects of events a long time ago on people in it.

It is difficult to review a book like this without spoiling the plot because twists and turns are an element of the story.
The author creates a place and characters within it who are believable and well drawn. She takes you to plots and ideas that are unlikely but not unbelievable.

Recommended.

This was great: layered, nuanced and utterly believable. I was really drawn in, mostly because of connection with the characters. The crime storyline wasn't *that* tense, but I actually prefer that to a super-unrealistic denouement after a great deal of ratcheting up. 5 star read :)

What I needed after a previous difficult read was a book that would reel me in immediately and 'Watching You' certainly did that.  Lisa Jewell as always has written a very clever story that had me suspicious of everyone and casting assumptions based on subtle clues.  

Melville Heights is an idyllic Bristol neighbourhood but behind the rose tinted glasses many of its residents are hiding secrets.  Joey Mullen is recently married but she is harbouring a history of secret obsessions and crushes that have previously taken over her life.  Despite new husband Alfie's desire for a baby all Joey wants in life is her neighbour Tom Fitzwilliam.  School principal Tom Fitzwilliam is also carrying around baggage of his own. Previous rumours of inappropriate relations with school pupils have followed him around and now it seems history is repeating itself as another girl seemingly falls for his charms.  His attraction to Joey also is causing problems at home with is wife and teenage son Freddie. How can Fitzwilliam possibly keep up the appearance of this perfect life when chaos is all around him.  Freddie Fitzwilliam, Tom's teenage son, likes to spend his time 'watching' and documenting the comings and goings of the townsfolk especially a number of teenage girls.  Why is he so obsessed with spying on them and will he be found out?  His voyeurism also leads him to believe that his father is having an affair, how will Freddie deal with this?  His homelife is also not all that it seems.  His mother is covered in bruises and constantly depressed.  Can Freddie get to the bottom of why this is happening?

This is a story of casting assumptions and reading the clues.  Everything that I suspected actually turned out to be the opposite of what was happening and Lisa Jewell has a very clever way of tricking us into believe something when it isn't really the case.  I was hooked right until the end until I was practically blown over.  What a twist!  I did have to google what the ending meant though because I am not that clever but overall an  amazing read.

Took a while to get me hooked. The writing was convoluted and it took me time to understand the story. Did finish but took me a couple of attempts.

Lisa Jewell delivers again. Slightly different from some of her earlier novels Watching You takes a darker road almost from the outset but it is one I was happy to take, confident in the knowledge that our author could handle it and oh my she did not disappoint!

Joey returns to England after several years abroad with a new husband in tow and they move in with her successful brother and his wife. Living in a beautiful house she can’t believe her luck and when she sees her good-looking charismatic neighbour she thinks returning home wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Her neighbour, a successful headteacher seems beyond her reach but she makes a point of trying to get him to notice her starting a disastrous chain of events. His teenage son meanwhile is watching neighbours, girls and anyone else who catches his eye from the safety of his bedroom. There are many strong believable characters who have different agendas, questioning just who is watching who?  A story of human behaviours, good and bad that slowly unravels to reveal just who has the ultimate motive for murder. Well told but only 4 stars as I realised the main secret half way through. However this did not detract from my enjoyment of this original book.

A twisty, dark psychological thriller set in the small town of Melville with a large cast of characters; people who seem to be always watching each other. The houses and the neighbourhood are smart and stately but behind this facade lies a community watching and waiting. There's lies, darkness, tension and lust hovering under the fragile surface and it's all wrapped up with an investigation of a murderous crime.
This book is designed to intrigue you from the onset and then offer you a community to study and dissect; this is what grasps the reader and sucks you in, despite some slow pacing at times.
A clever, enjoyable and engrossing read.

Thank you for the review copy.

This is another terrific book by Lisa Jewell. I love her sharp, clear, crisp style of writing. 

The story is set in a Melville, a suburb of Bristol. I was intrigued about her description of a row of painted houses and delighted to see that such a row really does exist in this area. Seeing images online of the real ones really helped to bring the whole story to life for me.

The story starts with a murder in one of the painted houses. It’s where Tom Fitzwilliam, a good-looking, charismatic head teacher of Melville Academy lives with his wife Nikki and their son Frank. Tom's family move around a lot as Tom is drafted into failing schools to turn them around. Frank is very bright and attends a local private school.

A couple of doors away from Fitzwilliams are Jack and Rebecca. Jack is a consultant heart surgeon at Bristol General Hospital and his wife, Rebecca, is a systems analyst. Living with them are Josephine, known as Joey, and Alfie. Joey is Jack’s younger sister by 10 years. She’s not settled to much in life and is married to Alfie who she met while they were both working in Ibiza. The magic of their whirlwind romance and marriage is wearing off and Joey is now lusting after Tom despite the large age gap.

Also in the neighbourhood are fifteen year old Jenna and her mother who is convinced that people are stalking her. Jenna and her best friend Bess attend the school where Tom is head. Bess also finds Tom very attractive and becomes expert of manoeuvring herself into situations where she is in close proximity with the dishy headmaster. Jenna gets more and more concerned over this relationship of 51 year old man and his fifteen year old pupil. And then Bess thinks she is pregnant....

There are many twists and turns and the pace is kept up the whole way through this book. The ending was just perfect and very satisfying as a reader.

I am looking forward to reading many more of Lisa Jewell's books as the ones I’ve read so far have been excellent.

With thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK, Cornerstone for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Lisa Jewell's previous book so when I saw this I wanted to read it straight away. 

As I suspected it, it was amazing. Joe and her attraction for the older man are exciting especially while she is battling with guilt bc she is married. 

Every single storyline is emerging into one in the end, and everything will make sense even if you don't think while you are reading. 

The best and most disturbing part in the book is the end, where Tom and his son find a hair in a memory box and it mixes up everything.

#watching You #Netgalley 
Many apologies for late review, however not been too well with heavy flu. I enjoyed the book full of suspense where you could feel the tension, I absolutely love books like this where your heart pund faster, you hold you breath, and most of all feel the characters as if you really reall know them. I definitely rate this as a must read, I have read a couple of Lisa jewlell, books previously, they just get better and better.

Melville Heights is the place where people aspire to live one day because if you do then they have pretty well made it in life. The houses are breath-taking but when the story opens a body has just been discovered in one of the properties and the police have been called. There is no doubt that someone really wanted this person dead.
The story centres round the people who live in this exclusive setting and it soon becomes rather clear that money doesn’t solve all your problems. There are quite a few characters in this story but they are all so very different that there isn’t any confusion where they all belong. Tom Fiztwilliams is the newish head teacher brought into a failing school to work his usual magic to bring it back into line. He is a popular guy with pupils and parents alike, well apart from a minority who see him as too good to be true enigma.
There is also a bit of a crazy lady that believes he had followed her to Bristol so she is determined to out him for the stalker she believes him to be. This is such a busy book with a little bit of fatal attraction going on in the street, abuse and more than one teenager in  desperate need of help in one way or another.
It wasn’t long before I was totally engrossed in this book, trying to work out if mad ramblings were true, what had happened in the past and just loving Freddie, the head’s son, the more I got to know him. Freddie has to be my top of the class character in this book. For me it was him that really swings this into a top class read. The more I found out about him the more the penny dropped.
I loved how the author included so many current topics in this story that different families were having to deal with. It felt so real with today’s society, cut backs and stigmas.
There is so many shocking twists that really threw me, just brilliant with a solid back story that just kept in the back ground. A brilliant read. Totally belting!
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.