I Am Watching You

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I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll ended up being one of those thriller reads that to me just wasn't as thrilling as I hoped it would be. There are a few reasons I could think of that kept me from completely becoming immersed in the story and on the edge of my seat like I prefer to be in this type of book. I thought maybe a part of that would be the simple explanation of the huge time jump shortly after the story began. Jumping a year into the future after a person goes missing seems to leave little hope for a good outcome so as much as I was still a bit curious it failed to really grab me just at that point early in the book. THE FATHER — Then, there’s Henry Ballard who is the father of Anna. Henry was a farmer and his own life was falling apart with the pile of bills he had to take care of and his marriage that was on the brink of separation. The story gives us a sense of the secrets Henry had been keeping relating to the disappearance of Anna. We’ve had a look at the CCTV, Sarah. From the club.’ It is the detective’s voice now – firmer. ‘Some of the cameras weren’t working, unfortunately. But there are some things we’re not quite understanding, Sarah. Also, we’ve had a call from a witness.’ But selective mutism is no easy fix; a child so anxious they are afraid even to hear their own voice in public.” I felt that it was told from too many points of view, which I usually like, but not in this case. Didn't help switching from 1st to 3rd person

This book has more than a few sordid details surrounding Anna's story. I loved all the guessing and secrets unfolding throughout the book, it really kept me interested the whole time. I have to say even though there were some clues I didn't guess the whole plot, so it was I surprise till the end for me. A year passes with an unyielding investigation. Everyone has secrets, and the search for answers continues when new leads are discovered. What really happened to poor Anna, who was behind it, and why? Could she still be alive? All the characters seem to have a questionable part in her disappearance. THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR — Matthew Hills is the private investigator hired by Ella. His main job was to help Ella figure out the person who sent her the threatening letters. Throughout the story, we can get a glimpse of her personal life as well as his investigating skill in handling the case. This, however, is just the beginning of the harrowing tale. The girl is missing, the two men are missing, Ella is receiving threats and everyone has secrets. Perhaps because I, too, live in a small community but all aspects in this story seemed quite real. The inter-connectedness of everyone, the secrets and lies. Told from multiple view points we, the reader, see how each person's involvement overlaps and the butterfly ripples were created. I also now see that there were so many clues along the way that I completely overlooked! Most likely I will re-read it just to spot them all!It’s not a fast paced book by any stretch. It’s more of a steady Eddie. I really wanted to see what had happened to Anna, but I wasn’t enthralled by this one at all. And I was dissatisfied by the ending, which seemed a bit of a rush job after all the lead up getting us there. Driscoll follows several people throughout the book. The chapters are titled "The Witness (Ella), The Father (Henry), The Friend (Sarah), The Investigator (Matthew) and Watching....no spoilers to who that is. If you are 90% or less done reading this book and you think you know what happens in the end, you are wrong. Unfortunately, it isn't because there is some genius twist ending that you never see coming. No, it is because you haven't even been introduced to the culprit, so there is absolutely no way you could know. My least favorite type of book is the kind where at the end they drop a whole bunch of information to wrap it all up. And that is exactly what this book did. I had a little trouble buying that everyone would blame a mother who didn’t call the parents on the fact the girl went missing. Other than that, though, I really liked the characters of Matthew in particular. Ella’s guilt seemed misplaced, but I’m not a mother and, happily, I’ve never been in the position of watching a teenage girl make terrible choices and then go missing. Ella was on a train when she noticed two men approaching two young girls. Later she knew, the men were straight out of prison. She was conflicted and was on the verge to intervene. Yet, she eventually decided to say nothing.

This book was part of my #21readsin2021 challenge, where I’m trying to get through 21 books I bought/received in 2020 but didn’t get to. Progress is slow but I’ve finished 9/21 of those reads! I’ll certainly have a similar list for 2021 though. First, I had a really hard time with the characters. The characters intrigued me in the beginning with the story and how things were progressing, but as I got further and further in, I couldn’t find a character that I liked or related to. There were so many point-of-views that I found myself confused and having to restart. While I enjoyed the writing quality, there was room for improvement on the voice of each character. See, the following line had me convinced Ella was of the unreliable narrator variety and in fact didn't even have a husband or child and had something to do with Anna's disappearance: When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls—beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard—has disappeared. It is the same detective as before, but with a different woman police officer this time and Sarah’s father alongside.THE WATCHER — An unidentified person who had been watching Ella and was involved with what happened to Anna. One year passed and Anna was still missing. The mystery of her disappearance is up until then uncovered and everyone from Anna’s circle hid secrets. It could not get any worse as Ella started to receive threatening letters. At which point my emotions begin to change and I am wondering instead how I came to be this out of touch, this buttoned up. This woman who evidently has not the first clue about young people. Or anything much.

In this book, almost everything happens “off-screen” so to speak, so—if you want the action this may not be the book for you. It wasn’t guilt anymore, but fear for her life. Someone was watching Ella. Who was it? Why? did happen to Anna? What do I Like about the Book? I Am Watching You is about Anna, a teenaged girl who goes missing after going into the city with her friend. A witness sees the girls chatting with 2 men on the train who are recently out of prison, and despite her instincts to say something, decides to keep to herself only to find out the following day that Anna is missing.Weekend Box Office Results: Five Nights at Freddy’s Scores Monster Opening Link to Weekend Box Office Results: Five Nights at Freddy’s Scores Monster Opening Typical female stereotype on LMN- woman falls for (and falls in bed with) a guy she doesn't know and doesn't know anything about. The plot is so weak and they couldn't fill the time slot with plot, so they threw in some softcore porn to try to keep our attention. Doesn't work- at least not for me. HOWEVER; some ppl just don’t want the details. The gory details or the interesting stuff. I don’t know all that many of those ppl, but this is perfect for ppl who want to skip the grit. :D Only that it has become important. You need to watch, you see, because it is extremely important to work out the difference between how people behave when they know they are being watched and when they don’t. The next day one of the girls, Anna, is reported missing, and Ella is beside herself, wondering if she could have helped the girl instead of turning away. Anna's friend Sarah is saying much about what had happened to them the previous evening and the police soon run out of leads. But what is Sarah hiding? Who else in the girls' families are keeping secrets? And who is sending Ella anonymous postcards?

striking, like a model or a member of a boy band. And it all reminds me of that very particular feeling in your tummy. You know. So I am not at all surprised or in the least bit disapproving when the men stand up and the good-looking one then leans over the top of the dividing seats, wondering if he might fetch the girls something from the buffet, ‘. . . seeing as I’m going?’ Next there are name swaps and quite”LIBRA Today you must leave it alone. Walk away from it. Be strong, be sensible and above all else, be less bothered. Practise the art of ‘not caring’. There’s your solution.” This book was not for me. I tried and tried to get into it, but I struggled a lot. I finished it and I feel like I didn’t really even read anything. I was pretty disappointed with all of the things that went on through this story. I Am Watching You is a novel that makes me ponder how far we should mind our own business. Perhaps, silence is not always golden. In the end this one was simply one of those books that to me was just an alright read that hadn't really grabbed me as much as I prefer. It wasn't that I didn't like it but more of one that I will find a bit forgettable once moving on from it since nothing really popped out to me or became overly exciting in my opinion. Perhaps other will enjoy it a bit more than I did with the style in which it was written though.