Wednesday 9 May 2018

Watch Me by Jody Gehrman

Kate Youngblood is a writer, a creative writing professor. But she's at risk of disappearing. Her husband left her for a newer, brighter model. But there is Sam. Sam Grist is a promising student, who needs nurture and direction. He's her challenge. But he wants more.

Is it creepy or romantic when someone watches your every move, notices everything about you and thinks it's all pretty perfect? Do you try to help, enjoy the attention, or run as fast as you can move?

Well,  none of the above matters if that person is your student, and you only have that job - your second novel tanked, so you cannot become involved with someone you teach. It ends.

And that's when your no seems not to count for anything.

I've been trawling bookshops for dark, twisty, psychological thrillers for a while now, and I think it's this book's fault. Jody Gehrman has nailed the questions around obsession and how we deal with it, and the dark side of our humanity. She's also got right inside Kate's head, in a way that sucked me in and had me gasping. Alternating between Kate and Sam's point of view, you go to some bad parts of both their lives. It's traumatic. It's always tempting to love (and understand) the villain more, but I adored Kate - I just got her, and felt her pain.

I couldn't get enough. I didn't want it to end, but I couldn't read it quickly enough. And I haven't read anything else like it.

5 stars

ISBN: 9781250144027

You may also enjoy Blacklands by Belinda Bauer. Or Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter.

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