Watching You by Michael Robotham

First Sentence:  When Marnie Logan was fourteen she dreamed of marrying Johnny Depp of Jason  Priestly and living happily ever after in a house with a Gone-with-the-Wind staircase and a double-fridge full of Mars Bars.

      

Psychologist Joe O’Loughlin’s patient, Marnie Logan, is trying to put her life together after the disappearance of her husband, Daniel.  She trying to have him declared dead so she can access his bank account and life insurance for her, and her daughter’s survival.  Otherwise, her only choice has been to perform as a call girl.  As Joe, with the help of ex-cop Vincent Ruiz, works to help Marnie, he starts to realize that other people around her have disappeared/been murdered.  Is it Marnie, or is there someone else?

      

Robotham immediately captures the reader’s attention with a very creepy opening.  He also creates very vivid characters.  Marnie is interesting in that one doesn’t really like or trust her.  Ruiz is the classic tough copper; you’d definitely what him on your side.  Yet it is Joe who is the most interesting.  He is not without his own baggage, which makes him human; and has a degenerative medical condition.  It is Ruiz who describes him best—“You’re made differently from most men.  …You understand more than most people.  You look harder.  You care more.  You let things bruise your soul and question what’s wrong with humanity,…”.

      

The plot is suspenseful, increasingly so.  There is a major, very effective, plot twist one does not see coming.  But one also questions whether it is true.  Robotham also includes fascinating information on the psychology of stalkers versus voyeurs. 

      

“Watching You” is a wonderful, suspenseful read with a shocking turn, and an ending that leaves you questioning. 

WATCHING YOU (Psy Suspense–Joe O’Laughlin-England-Contemp) -  VG

Robotham, Michael

Mulholland Books – Feb 2015