He’s not old,” Bess replied. “He’s mature. Like wine. Like Cheese. I love him. I actually love him.” A cult of personality builds around Tom Fitzwilliam, although once disillusioned, Joey wonders what she saw in him. What do you think enables someone to have such a widespread draw? Have you known anyone who amassed that type of adoration in your own life? Are there other examples from popular culture who Tom reminded you of? For those readers that fancy themselves part-time literary sleuths, this is one sure to keep you guessing. Lisa Jewell—and just about the entire cast—put in quite a bit of work, the goal being to throw readers off the scent. Unfortunately, I figured things out earlier than I would have hoped to. Don't worry, the answer is not blatantly obvious and in no way did figuring things out hinder my experience. In fact, of the four Jewell novels I’ve read to-date, this is the one I struggled the most to set down for any length of time. Meaning, I had to force myself to put it aside to play pretend at being a functioning adult. The book opens with a murder scene. We know someone was killed - now we have to figure out who and why. Jewell is skilled at diverting our attention and making us question everyone. As we begin to meet the inhabitants of this community we realize the killer could literally be anyone. There is so much going on here and nothing is quite what it seems from the outside looking in.

The story is about a group of very different people living in theMelville Heights neighborhood in Bristol, England. It’s an upscale neighborhood so while it’s perhaps not the place where criminal activity is expected, everyone sure has a secret. While there are several characters throughout the novel, there are four main ones:Tom Fitzwilliam, the local school headmaster that everyone seems infuriated with, including his neighbor JoeyMullen who develops an obsessive crush. Then there’sTom’s teenaged son Freddie who adopts an odd hobby of spying on the entire neighborhood. Lastly, we haveJenna Tripp, who also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. This title keeps popping up whenever I browse the kindle bookstore. Guess I must have read similar titles before. So far I have resisted, but whenever I see a positive review my resistance is weakening 🙂 Jenna Tripp lives in the lower area of the Heights her mom has been known to think that there are spies everywhere and that they are watching her and Jenna and filming them. Her reasons are confusing, you will have to read for yourself. Fictionophile’s OCTOBER 2023 #BookHaul #Bookbloggers #ForthcomingTitles #TBR #AnticipatedReads October 31, 2023This story is told via a few different points of view. While I'm not normally a fan of too many different narrators, it works in this case. We get to see different perspectives from each of the characters, so we're always on our toes trying to figure what the truth really is. The atmosphere in here is dark, but mildly quirky, as well. It’s creepy, and some of the implications about the characters made me squirm a little. While the cast is moderately large, the author did a great job of minimizing the chore of keeping up with all of them individually. Jewell, adeptly withholds key information from readers, keeping them completely in the dark, until just the right moment. And what about Freddie, Mr. Fitzwilliam’s teenage son—is it possible he’s guilty of more than just watching all of his neighbors and chronicling their every move?

While it is normal for people, and particularly for schoolgirls, to get crushes on someone they shouldn’t become involved with, in Watching You some of these “crushes” appear to be unhealthy. Where is the line between infatuation and obsession? Who are some characters that you think fell on the infatuation side of that line? Who became dangerously obsessed? Looking at examples, what do you think distinguishes them?Nicola Fitzwilliam– Tom’s wife. Much younger than her husband, Nicola seems besotted with him and does everything to please him – often to the detriment of her relationship with her son. Nicola is watching Tom. There is spying in the neighborhood by his son, there are women in love with Tom, and there is a neighbor, Mrs. Tripp, who thinks Tom is the cause of numerous strange things happening to her and has remembered something about Tom that happened a few years ago.

WATCHING YOU is definitely a study in human nature with nosy neighbors being the focus. It seemed that everyone was spying on someone with Freddie being the major one. Everyone seems to be watching people, especially Jenna's Mom who is convinced that someone is stalking her. Her mental health has recently been deteriorating. Tom FitzWilliams is the headmaster at the school and is very well liked. Joey Mullen is his neighbor and is very infatuated with him and thinks it's a secret but Tom's teenage son, Freddie is one of the characters that watches people and finds out that Joey is behaving strangely around his father. One of Tom FitzWilliam's students, Jenna who lives in the same street that he lives on, thinks that he isn't what he seems to be since he has taken interest to her friend and classmate. Everyone in the village sure appears to be infatuated with Tom! What is it about this guy? Sounds like a guy I need to meet! Baah! (JK!) How did Joey’s mother’s death impact her and her decision making? Why do you think she married Alfie? Why did she become so obsessed with Tom?This novel has many themes in addition to it being a crime thriller. It tells of conflicted teenagers in the age of advanced social media. It explores people who feel ‘trapped’ by their choice of marriage partners. It gives credence to the idea of ‘grooming’ adolescents by adults in positions of authority.