The Book:
I Am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll
Published October 1, 2017 by Thomas and Mercer
Date read: April 6, 2021
The Characters:
Ella and her son Luke
Anna and Sarah
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realizes 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.
A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters—letters that make her fear for her life.
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.
Someone knows where Anna is—and they’re not telling. But they are watching Ella.
The Ending:
Anna and Sarah’s friend Tim was the abductor. When Ella went to visit Anna’s mother, she recognized him in a picture and knew he had been on the train. He had been following Anna to London, abducted her, and kept her in one of his family’s apartments.
Anna’s sister had been sending the postcards at first, angry at Ella for not stepping in. Tim found out and started sending more, as well as watching Ella’s house. Anna had met Ella’s son Luke at some kind of camp, and Tim was afraid that Anna was interested in him. He applied for a job at Ella’s flower shop to kill Luke. Ella and her PI got there in time to save Luke. Anna was dead.
The Review:
I enjoyed this quick psychological thriller. I read it back at the very beginning of April so my memory is kind of foggy–I’m desperately trying to catch up on reviews and be better about writing them right away. Luckily, I did write down the ending closer to when I finished it!
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.
I love a good unreliable narrator story, and the changing POV of this one made sure I never knew who to suspect. There were many twists and hints to the culprit along the way, which I missed while reading. The ending was satisfying and all questions were answered!
Overall, a very well-done suspense novel. I would certainly pick up another read by this author in the future.
