Ross Armstrong (1)

She’s watching you, but who’s watching her?

This book is quite hard to review as i don’t want to give anything away and spoil the twists that make this a great book. The reveals are brilliant and i certainly didn’t see what was coming!

If you like books like Girl on the Train and Gone Girl this one is for you.

It stands out from other books in the psychological thriller genre which is a rare treat as this book is told as a first person narrative, completely from our protagonist Lily. Almost reminiscent diary style but in a free-flowing form.

The book’s structure is another feature that makes this book stand out from the others in this heavily populated genre. Other than a prologue the book leaps back in time to over a month before ‘The Event’.
Of course we don’t know what that is because each day / section is prefaced as ‘42 days before it comes; 15 days before it comes‘. And so forth.
Then when we reach 9 days before it changes and Lily starts narrating forward.
It can get a wee bit confusing at times and will have you wondering what on earth is going on, but trust with me, don’t give up and you will be rewarded with the last section of the book!

There are hints through out that narrator Lily may not be entirely reliable, trustworthy, or even sane! She has a very unique take on things.

Lily is a quirky character, some of her thoughts and ideas are quite amusing.
I REALLY enjoyed the style of writing, and found Lily’s pondering’s to be surprisingly insightful and intriguing.

From the title of the book Lily is a watcher, she is a keen bird watcher but she also takes delight in watching her neighbours, so when a neighbour is murdered Lily becomes obsessed with finding the killer.

Lily is convinced she has seen things through her window that could help solve the case and takes it upon herself to investigate more with no concern for her own safety.
It is from there that the book starts to get interesting with plenty of twists and turns that keep you guessing and thinking down the wrong path entirely.

It’s not very often that a book comes along that throws you a massive curve ball but this book manages just that.

It is fantastically creepy with a thrilling atmosphere that you can’t help but get totally absorbed in and Ross’s ability to build up such a strong sense of dread, fear, suspense and confusion is just great!

This is defiantly a book i will be recommending to my friends and family and i will be watching out for Ross Armstrong’s next book 🙂
… (mehr)

This is an Amazon Vine review of a free book. I'm reviewing The Watcher by Ross Armstrong Here are my thoughts:

^^ Lily watches birds as a hobby but it's really an excuse to spy on the neighbours.When a neighbour is killed, Lily becomes obsessed with finding the killer.

^^ I wasn't hugely excited with this book, and although I read to the end keen to find a resolution, there was something about the delivery which didn't engage me as much as I had hoped.

^^ I liked the idea that The Watcher was
kind of Hitchcock themed, as it had similarities to Rear Window and hinted at The Birds, with the main character's love of bird watching.

^^ Nevertheless, I thought the way Lily gave each person she spied on a character name and made up fantasy lives for them, was done pretty well. Alas, it just was not gripping enough for me.

Overall: It wasn't my favourite read, as I found it a little flat, however, I did enjoy the final twist at the end, but not enough for me rate it higher than an "I liked it" three stars.… (mehr)

Clever, clever, clever. I read copious amounts of thrillers simply because it's one of my favourite genres, but as much as I enjoy them I always think there are 2 main problems facing authors - writing fully formed characters that we like enough to care about and not following a formulaic plot. Armstrong achieves this with the story of Lily, an unassuming inhabitant in a new build block of flats. Lily is a bird watcher and each chapter begins with her notes on what she's watching through her binoculars. Sometimes it's birds, but sometimes it's her neighbours. In amongst the new builds, the executives and the professionals are the old flats awaiting demolition, populated by tenants and squatters alike. When one of these neighbours is murdered, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out who the killer is. Her husband Aidan isn't much help, barely leaving his typewriter, barely speaking, so Lily is left to investigate alone. She is a thoroughly unreliable narrator - a technique I love in a book, because after all we are all only living our own reality. - but just how accurate are Lily's observations and who can she trust? A clever, dark and sad tale of a vulnerable young woman caught up in a series of events beyond her control.… (mehr)

I had read a number of good reviews about this book and so was keen to read it. However, at no point did I feel able to engage with either Lily, the narrator or with the developing plot. Instead of feeling drawn into the story, which was meant to be full of tension and menace, I constantly found myself being hyper-critical of the author's writing style and, at times, disturbing syntax. I was tempted to give up after the first fifty or so pages but, because of the rave reviews I persevered but now wish I hadn't wasted valuable reading time! A real disappointment.… (mehr)