Reviews tagging 'Death'

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

18 reviews

chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was my 8th Lisa Jewell book, and while I enjoyed it, it definitely wasn’t my favourite. 

Melville Heights is one of the nicest areas of Bristol, it’s certainly the last place you’d expect someone to get brutally murdered in their kitchen… Following four different characters, everyone has something to hide. 

Firstly, as someone who was born in Bristol and has lived here my entire life, I loved reading about it from a fictional perspective. It was really cool to actually be able to recognise and picture locations based on first hand perspective!

At the beginning, I found it a little hard to distinguish the characters, and who I was following at any given time, but by about 100 pages it wasn’t too bad. 

I really enjoyed Jenna as a character, she was definitely my favourite. In regards to the other three main characters, in my opinion, Joey was annoying, Tom was creepy (even if he wasn’t in a relationship with a student, and, as far as we know, had never been, the fact that he was in his mid thirties and in a relationship with a 19 year old was creepy…) and I didn’t like how Freddie was portrayed. 

Throughout the book, Freddie is depicted as some sort of teenage stalker, watching people from his window, taking photos of them. Later in the book, it becomes clear that he has Asperger’s (which would now be known as Autism Spectrum Disorder) which he doesn’t know about. As someone with suspected Autism, I don’t like how it seemed like the behaviour was written off and excused because he’s on the spectrum. 

I found the ending to be a bit meh, not bad but not as shocking as I would have liked. The very last page mentions a lock of hair, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out who’s hair this was and the significance of it until I Googled it, and I’ve read a lot of reviews where people said the same thing. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book but it wasn’t a favourite of mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Blood, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Stalking

kshy's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual violence, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

allieesq12's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Bullying

mckinleyelle's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Suicide, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Death

bg_okeyo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

The book was fast-paced, however, it had nothing to look forward to. The plot was pretty mid 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Death, Grief, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

Minor: Blood

haleybre's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicide, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Grief, Bullying, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicide, and Vomit

brynhayes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Gaslighting, Murder, Alcohol, Mental illness, Stalking, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Suicide

kimveach's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Even with figuring out "who dun it," I still raced through this thriller.  I tried listening to this on audio, but with characters named Jenna and Joey, I couldn't follow it.  It was much easier to read in print.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Suicide, Child death, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Toxic friendship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Bullying

grace33's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Bullying, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death and Stalking