The Watcher Review

* Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review* 4 stars!!! When I first started reading this book, I seriously had no idea what to expect but I have to say the story took me completely by surprise. The story starts off with a woman named Lily who lives with her husband Aiden in a new-build apartment. The community in which she lives is going through a process of gentrification. Lily, as an avid bird watcher, uses her hobby to spy on her neighbours' lives. One day, she witnesses suspicious going ons and then an elderly neighbour dies. This leads her to figure out what exactly happened and as she comes closer to the truth, she realises that nothing is as it seems. I found Lily to be a very captivating character. As the story is told solely from her POV, you get a direct perspective of how she views things. Not only this, but we also catch a glimpse of the inner workings of her mind. Her thoughts, eccentricities and the like. I also found her to be pretty quirky and liked her dry sense of humour. The pacing of the book was pretty fantastic as well. Without divulging too much, I would say the reveals and plot twists were shocking and not too mention rather surprising. The book definitely had me on the edge of my seat especially towards the end. The plot devices and clues left by the author throughout the story kept me guessing what really was going on. This to me makes for a great read because I never faced a dull moment while reading. My only negative with the story would be that there were some chapters that delved purely into Lily's mind and at times, this distracted me from the bigger story. I also wish there was more interaction with minor characters and I would have liked to see the police a bit more involved in the story. However, these are small negatives which can be easily overlooked. Overall, I would say I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. As someone who loves to read YA fantasy, this was a great break from that. I would recommend it to those who love psychological thrillers and mysteries.

#mystery #adult #psychologicalthriller #RossArmstrong #suspense