I Am Watching You

Product Information

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. For me, this book serves two major stories — the mystery of the disappearance of Anna and the experience of parenthood with losing and having a child. I am not a parent myself but the book succeeded to feel these situations beautifully. 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? This book follows the case of a young girl who goes missing in London after a night out with a friend. It follows various POV's from a witness that saw her on the train the day she went missing to her friends, family and a detective investigating the case all leading to uncovering the mystery of her fate. A riveting thriller that sees Ella on a train bound for London, seated near he two teenage girls. Two young men enter the carriage and it soon becomes apparent that they are fresh out of jail. This doesn't deter the girls however, and they soon strike up a friendship. Ella becomes increasingly worried about them, but then stops herself from intervening at the last minute.

So, did I at least get a good payoff for my investment? NO!!!! When we finally find out what happened it was so ridiculous! It felt like it came out of no where, there was no build or set up to even think that would be the outcome. 😤😤😤 The kettle screaming angry clouds onto the mirror while I am planning the calls in my head all at once. A great opportunity to build the story through the characters and plots, build the tension and it does work so well.The writing was so tedious it was hard not to dnf, I had to sit through an entire chapter of how to make flower arrangements and another chapter explaining why a character has a deep hatred for flies!!!! WTF?! All bc I am stubborn and wanted to know what freaking happened to the girl!!

I listened to this audiobook at the beginning of January. As soon as I was done, I typed my review into a Word document. However, I can't find it anywhere now. I also deleted all of my notes (since I was done my review).

Memes

Then an anniversary appeal reveals that Anna’s friends and family might have something to hide. Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night—and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own. The ending. As usual, it is always nice to feel that I am wrong about the villain. This book gives me that. However, it feels like the author rushed to reveal the villain and did not give enough time to give more plot about it or explore his character. Final Thoughts 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. 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. 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.

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. It keeps you on the edge of your seat (somehow) as well as in the dark; so that you don’t know what happened until the end. Well, unless you can read between the lines and take hints OR unless you are super intuitive. Ella is on the train eavesdropping as we all do—except the tea she heard was exceptionally disturbing. Two fresh out of prison ex-convicts hitting on two teenage girls. Ella tries to forget what she heard, but that soon proves impossible when one of the girls, Anna, goes missing, and the two ex-cons are suspects. Already hated on by the media for being a bystander, Ella starts receiving mysterious hate mail. Why is this person so mad? And what really happened to Anna? 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. Ella was a mother and a florist. Upon the disappearance of Anna, Ella was reprimanded for not doing anything regarding what happened that night on the train.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 Next, I didn’t really find this book to be all that grasping or mysterious. By the end, I was a little confused and the last chapter just tried to bring everything together. The writing definitely wasn’t my favorite thing, but it did have it’s moments.

It’s not merely about solving a mystery of a missing girl but rather a tragedy that ties families together. It reminds us as well of the carelessness of the youth. THE WATCHER — An unidentified person who had been watching Ella and was involved with what happened to Anna. 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. I was really intrigued after reading the description for "I Am Watching You". If I was on a train or other public transportation and I saw young women getting ready to head off with men just released from prison...would I intervene? First of all, I would probably have earphones in and wouldn't hear their conversation. But if I did hear it? I'm honestly not sure what I would do. 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.

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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.