Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

41 reviews

sarah_tani's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Bullying

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Adult/minor relationship

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

lewindhorst's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Murder

kyleighwhitsell's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, and Stalking

crochetparrot's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.0

quick thoughts:
- lisa jewell has never met a teenager, particularly one from 2017
- some basic grammar editing needed which is always a bugbear of mine
- aspergers is… a choice, and did anyone autistic actually read this before publication
- it’s sad 
- i like how the characters wove together and it was a fairly simple pleasing solve
- someone find archie a nice wife
- read it in 2.5 hours, my overall review is It’s Perfectly Fine 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Domestic abuse

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

annagerman's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

Mostly disappointed.
This wasn't bad per se. More like very average. The writing was OK, not cringey but also not particularly engaging. 
The teenaged characters were the most interesting and relatable. The grown-ups were either very dumb and annoying, or simply oblivious. 
The plot was very predictable, and I didn't like that most of the "twist" relyed on pure chance.
Also I didn't really appreciate how the themes of mental health, neurodivergence and domestic abuse/violence were handled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Addiction, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy

emmaf3's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

It was really good but I honestly wasn’t hooked onto the book until the middle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Bullying

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