2 Stars
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Date of publication: January 23rd, 2018
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Where you can find Watch Me: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Book Synopsis (from Goodreads):
“Riveting, chilling, and page-turning. Be prepared to stay up all night.” — New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline
For fans of dark and twisty psychological thrillers, Watch Me is a riveting novel of suspense about how far obsession can go.
Kate Youngblood is disappearing. Muddling through her late 30s as a creative writing professor at Blackwood college, she’s dangerously close to never being noticed again. The follow-up novel to her successful debut tanked. Her husband left her for a woman ten years younger. She’s always been bright, beautiful, independent and a little wild, but now her glow is starting to vanish. She’s heading into an age where her eyes are less blue, her charm worn out, and soon no one will ever truly look at her, want to know her, again.
Except one.
Sam Grist is Kate’s most promising student. An unflinching writer with razor-sharp clarity who gravitates towards dark themes and twisted plots, his raw talent is something Kate wants to nurture into literary success. But he’s not there solely to be the best writer. He’s been watching her. Wanting her. Working his way to her for years.
As Sam slowly makes his way into Kate’s life, they enter a deadly web of dangerous lies and forbidden desire. But how far will his fixation go? And how far will she allow it?
A gripping novel exploring intense obsession and illicit attraction, Jody Gehrman introduces a world where what you desire most may be the most dangerous thing of all.
Trigger Warning: Stalking, School shooting
My review:
I wanted to like Watch Me. But this book fell way short of the expectations that I had for it. I could not connect with the main characters. The plot, while fast-moving, failed to engage me. I had so many unanswered questions, it wasn’t even funny.
Watch Me is a story about stalking. Sam has fixated on Kate for years. Everything he did from the age of 19 was to get close to Kate. The closer to Kate he gets, the more unhinged he becomes. His fixation becomes deadly. Will Kate wise up or will she become Sam’s victim?
I did not like Kate. She was a witch with a b right off the bat. Normally I would have liked that. I like strong women who don’t care what people think about her. But Kate, she came across as a jealous, bitter woman. I couldn’t connect with her. Even more so after she started to get close to Sam. She knew there was something off about him but she ignored it. Also, she did the stupidest things. Like keeping her passwords in a journal in her desk at school. Where it can be found. Who in the world does that these days? She was also unaware of her surroundings. So, yeah, it is safe to say that I didn’t like her.
Sam started off with my pity. He had grown up under less than ideal circumstances. His childhood did affect him and it wasn’t for the better. I liked how the author didn’t bother to hide Sam’s stalking of Kate. Instead, I was given a ringside seat on how a stalker’s mind works. My pity of Sam did turn to disinterest towards the middle of the book. Sam became boring. Very boring. His character did perk up a bit towards the end. But it wasn’t enough.
The romance part of the book creeped me out. Kate was actually having feelings for Sam. Even though she had a feeling that there was something off about him. I felt dirty after reading those scenes.
The end of the book did creep me out. While events in the book did amp itself up in that direction, I didn’t expect them to happen. It also left a bad taste in my mouth because Sam did so much harm.
I would give Watch Me an Adult rating. There are sexual situations, language, and violence. The stalking scenes could trigger some people. The end of the book definitely would trigger someone. I would not allow anyone under the age of 21 to read this book. I would not reread this book and I would not recommend to family and friends.
I would like to thank St. Martin’s Griffin, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Watch Me.
All opinions stated in this review of Watch Me are mine.
**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**