Reviews

Watching You Without Me by Lynn Coady

mollconn7's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

geekyandrea's review

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ginabyeg's review against another edition

3.0

I feel like Lynn Coady is a strong writer, but I’m not sure it’s in the genre of mystery. She writes compellingly about caring for another with a disability and both the main character and her disabled sister are believable characters. However, the mystery/suspense aspect of this story felt lacking in dynamic. It seemed odd to know from the outset who the antagonist is. I feel like a good suspense would have drawn the reader into the liking the antagonist the way that the main characters are drawn in. In this case, even the protagonist wasn’t a big fan of him. The series of incidents in the novel are predictably tied to the antagonist; we are kept reading simply to find the details of exactly how. And more importantly, is justice served in the end? In this case, I was not satisfied in the ending. Towards the end she writes that life isn’t like the movies and endings don’t always have as satisfying a closure as we’d like. Her statement comes across as a justification for what I felt was a weak ending. Satisfying endings is a key reason we like stories; they’re meant to lift us from reality in some way.

maashaaxo's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

daliafarra's review

5.0

4.5 stars. Absolutely amazing writing and the story had a very sinister feel to it, without going overboard. A real page turner.

myza's review against another edition

5.0

This was an excellent book. Parts of it made me so angry at both Karen and Trevor (for very different reasons) but I could not put it down. I love the way the book was written and I could hear the Nova Scotia accents in my head while I was reading it. Would definitely recommend!

niarastitt's review against another edition

4.0

Listen.... this book took me forever to finish because I kept letting my rental at the library lapse lol but the second half of it is SO GOOD. This book is about grief, family, and the people you allow into your family unit (and the consequences if you do). I loved it, even if I don’t quite understand the ending.

Coady writes the antagonist so well - he’s disturbing and charming, infuriating and sympathetic. And the protagonist finalllllly comes to her senses about him in the last 100 pages or so. The suspense is done so well, especially because you have to write well to make domestic life suspenseful (who knew summer barbecues could have so much tension??). 3.5/5 stars.

eososray's review against another edition

2.0

There is nothing technically wrong with this book. It is well written, there is a strong story, it could be engaging but for me, it was not interesting. I could not stand watching the inevitable happen. It was awful to read, like when you are yelling at a fictional character not to go in there, because you know bad things are going to happen. This is how I felt and it did not work for me.

jprice94's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

sankitch87's review

challenging sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0