I Am Watching You By Teresa Driscoll

As someone who is now well into their senior years but has been a voracious reader for more than 7 decades I love all kinds of books on a wide variety of topics. I love both non-fiction scientific topics to fiction thrillers with different twists and turns. This is why when I saw this 287-page soft cover novel (I am watching you by Teresa Driscoll) while browsing on Amazon I purchased the book.

I enjoy unusual plots and mysteries that force you to think about the character’s motivations as the story flows. The short chapters are great because it keeps you turning the pages to find out what is going to happen next.

This story begins when a woman, Ella Longfield, while on a train, when sees two men who begin flirting with two girls on the same train. She hears them talking and discovers the two men just got out of prison. She is considering possibly notifying the police about these two suspicious men but decides not to do anything because it is none of her business; however, when one of the girls turns up missing, she regrets not doing anything at the time. There are also some other family secrets that reveal themselves later in the book that makes this a page turning read.

I never give away too much information when reviewing any novel, but if you like a well-written book with an interesting and compelling story, you may want to check out this novel.

Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never trust a politician: A critical essay about politics and politicians).

There are elements that are very good in Teresa Driscoll’s book, “I Am Watching You.” At the same time, there are other aspects of the book that were bothersome.

The book is composed of short chapters, with a number of characters relating the story. The main character is Ella, identified in her titled chapters as The Witness. Ella was on a train ride and thus became one of the last people to see Anna before she disappeared. She was also able to describe the two young men who had approached Anna and her friend, Sarah. Anna’s disappearance and probable murder haunts Ella throughout the book, as she blames herself for not doing anything to protect the young girls, who are both 16 years old.

Other characters are introduced, and some are painted as the potential guilty party. Ms. Driscoll makes the guesswork murky as many of the characters have secrets that may or may not be connected with Anna. The overall plot is good, and the author continues to keep us questioning who might have been involved right up to the book’s end.

What bothered me about the book was the writing style and some plot specifics. Ms. Driscoll has a habit of using partial sentences, and while these can be effective, they lose their power when used excessively. At first, because the story started off with Ella relating everything in first person, I believed it to be more of a stream-of-consciousness thought process. However, when the author moved to subsequent chapters (everything else in third person), the phrases and partial sentences continued. While it would have worked for Ella to tell her story in that manner, having every character think the same way seemed to blur the characterizations. The other stylistic device used over and over was the introduction of a secret at the end of almost every chapter. Again, this can be a powerful tool, but when used constantly, the story becomes more bothersome than exciting.

Most of the story is told a year later, and the investigation into Anna’s disappearance is still being worked on by the police. When the guilty person is finally revealed, it was difficult to believe that the police would have neglected to perform a full investigation (the author tells us at the end that police only did a “cursory” investigation on the person). I hesitate to say more as it would potentially become a spoiler, but for me, this became a fatal flaw and made the ending feel forced.

Coupled with the writing issues described a few paragraphs ago, I ended up with mixed feelings the book. I thought this could have been a great story, and there were elements – characters, a good plot idea, a number of misleading side stories, good dialogue – that might have added up to a fantastic read. Unfortunately, the writing style and the inefficient police investigation brought this down to a better-than-average tale. Three-and-a-half stars.

Adoro il modo in cui è scritto, le note di sarcasmo e le riflessioni della protagonista che ti portano proprio nella sua testa, i personaggi sono ben caratterizzati, mi ha coinvolta veramente tanto. Personalmente ho preferito prenderlo in lingua originale, è molto scorrevole. Voglio decisamente leggere altro dell’autrice

I won’t spoil it but I wasn’t impressed with the ending. I enjoyed my time enough through the story and the author’s writing is interesting.

Worth reading……a bit boring in the beginning but over all awesome, thriller is cool i wish the ending was different

At its core this book is fantastic! It took me a bit to get into it but once I did it was a great ride. I’m still unsure if I am happy with how it ended (and the slow start) which is why I can’t bring myself to give it five stars. I also was a bit disappointed in the lack of “thriller” feel. Yes, there is obviously a stalker, as it is titled, but I didn’t really FEEL the intensity. HOWEVER, I would absolutely recommend it. Book reviews are subjective and at its core it’s a very good read.

Well.. ordered this for a friend and she hasn’t read all of it yet because she said it’s kind of boring! But as I told her ,I just believe that it’s not her type of book. I took the book to read it and so far it’s really interesting!