Watching You, Lisa Jewell
Rating: 8/10
Publishing: Atria Books, Imprint of Simon and Schuster, Inc.
ISBN: 9781501190070
Copyright: (C) 2018 by Lisa Jewell
This is the second book by Lisa Jewell I’ve ever read. Just like her previous, there is a fair amount of suspense and psychological themes that I found so interesting.
There are three perspectives within this novel: Joey, Jenna, and Freddie.
Josephine “Joey” is the main protagonist who is married to her husband, Alfie, and they both live in the same house with Joey’s brother, Jack, and his wife, Rebecca. Joey began her point of view by visiting her mother’s grave. In some parts, you will see that she talks to her deceased mother about how she’s living her life. It appears that Joey is unhappy despite that she loves Alfie, but it reveals that she has a job she’s unhappy with, and she and Alfie cannot afford to live in their place. As Joey’s side of the story progresses, she finds herself infatuated with the school headmaster named Tom. Joey has been secretly making rendezvous with Tom, even though he’s married to Nicola and has a son named Freddie, and soon, Joey began to have some doubts about her choices.
Jenna is a fifteen-year-old girl who goes to school with her best friend, Bess, and her headmaster is Tom. Bess has a crush on Tom while Jenna has realized that she already knew Tom before when she and her mom went on a trip. Jenna starts to suspect the secretive relationship between Tom and Bess. Jenna believed that Tom is one of those teachers who would have an affair with one of their students. In this case, with Bess. Jenna’s mom appears to have an unknown mental illness because she believed that she is being “gang-stalked” and she accuses Tom of being the suspect of invading her privacy.
Finally, there’s Freddie, Tom’s son. Freddie began his side to the story that he has been stalking girls, including Jenna and Joey. Freddie is in his early teens, so he may be stalking girls as a way to experience with them. Freddie went as far as taking photos of the girls and keeping them inside his computer. Suddenly, Freddie falls in love with a girl named Romola, and he, too, begins to stalk her whenever he goes out. Freddie bought gifts for Romola anonymously, and he went as far as following her to her house. Aside from Freddie stalking the girls that interest him, he has been suspicious of his own father. Freddie believed that Tom has been having affairs with other women and young girls just because of the photos he has been taking. Freddie knew that Tom is the kind of man that girls and women would fall for, and he hated that.
So all of these characters’ perspectives have a connection to the main point of this novel: that a murder has happened in Tom’s house. In between the chapters, you will read the interrogation recordings regarding the homicide. Joey is falsely accused of the murder because the tassel from her boots was left in the middle of the crime scene. I have to admit it, I thought that Joey will be arrested for the crime she didn’t even commit. It turns out she’s innocent.
To prevent spoilers, I will not reveal who was the murder victim and I will not reveal who murdered who. It’s best if you read this book and see for yourself.
Overall, I do like this book, but there are several things in this novel that I hate. I hate the idea of the infatuation between two married people that almost led them to have sexual adultery just to get it over with. This reminds me so much of “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte and it gave me some bad unfaithful vibes. I am one of those people who believe in monogamy and fidelity. I would never go that far into emulating the characters.
I even hate the idea that Bess is infatuated with Tom and the idea of teen rebellion. Bess is the same age as Jenna while Tom is middle-aged. Just reading about Jenna accusing of Bess for being intimate with Tom is just plain wrong. It reminds me so much of the old news I’ve heard about teachers having sex with their students. This is pedophilia we’re talking about. However, I am relieved to read that Bess is not being intimate with Tom and that she’s just having a schoolgirl crush on the teacher that means nothing. It turns out that Bess is just seeking help from Tom about helping Jenna whose mom is mentally unstable and Bess feared losing Jenna. In regards to teen rebellion, there are some when it comes to Bess. Bess stays out late after curfew and she appeared to be sexually active at a young age. Actually, Bess revealed that she has not been sexually active, but just inquisitive with sex for the first time, and she’s still a virgin. I may be relieved about that, but reading about teenage pregnancy has given me bad vibes about the real world. I just hate it when teenage girls become sexually active and then get pregnant afterward. It’s just a bad message in real life.
The last thing I hate about this book is the theme of stalking. Being a victim of stalking in both real life and in social media is something that I experienced. It actually triggers me.
I may have enjoyed this book, albeit I do not enjoy some of the themes of infidelity and students being “sexually” involved with the teachers. Even though these themes made me uncomfortable, I still give this a good rating. The suspense is good enough for me. I still enjoyed Lisa Jewell’s works.