General Fiction | Book Chatter

Watching You
By Lisa Jewell
Atria Books, 9781501190087, August 2019, 352pp.

The Short of It:

Twisty and full of surprises.

The Rest of It:

Melville Heights is one of those pristine English neighborhoods with brightly painted houses and manicured landscaping. Newly married Joey Mullen and her husband are invited to move in with her brother and his wife. Her brother and wife are expecting their first baby and could probably use the help down the line. Although Joey loves being close to her brother, she also feels like their company is not wanted and feels out of place at times.

In the same neighborhood is a good looking man who happens to be the head at the local school. Tom Fitzwilliams has this sure way of carrying himself and Joey finds herself looking forward to their run-ins as innocent as they seem, until they aren’t so innocent anymore and she can’t ignore this feeling of being watched. Tom has his own family but Joey doesn’t know much about them except that his son spends a lot of time at home and doesn’t seem to have many friends of his own.

Then, there is a murder. A woman is found dead and the details of the event slowly unfold and become more complicated as various parts of the story are revealed. There is so much more to this story than just the murder. The dynamics of family, teens, married couples and the past all collide in a satisfying way. At times I could see where the story was headed, but in the end, there are surprises that I did not see and it made for a very enjoyable read.

I’ve read four other books by Jewell, see below, but this is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve read.

Invisible Girl
The Family Upstairs
The Girls in the Garden
Then She Was Gone

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Sanatorium
By Sarah Pearse
Pamela Dorman Books, 9780593296677, February 2021, 400pp.

The Short of It:

A quick, fast-paced read that will keep you guessing.

The Rest of It:

I knew nothing about The Sanatorium when I picked it up, except that it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and that an old mental hospital was at the center of the story. I’ve been pretty lucky with the books Reese has chosen for her clubs and an old mental hospital sounded like the perfect, creepy setting for a mystery.

The story opens with the sanatorium being completely renovated and in its place, is a fancy hotel located in the Swiss Alps. Elin has taken time off from her job as a detective to attend her brother’s engagement party. Isaac and Elin have been estranged for quite some time, but she can’t really say no to this celebratory event so she and Will, her significant other, make the trip and decide to put the past behind them.

Shortly after their arrival, there is an avalanche which cuts them off from the rest of society. No one can leave and no one can get to them either. This wouldn’t be much of an issue normally but a dead body has been found in the snow, and it’s not looking like an accident. As details emerge, more people go missing including her soon-to-be sister-in-law and Elin can’t help but get involved since she’s the only detective on the scene and the only one who can investigate at all since the local police cannot get to them.

I’ve read many stories where the characters are stuck in a remote location and everything that CAN hit the fan, does. Although the concept is far from unique, the execution here is a lot better than some of the books I’ve read with similar plots. As the story unfolds, just enough is given to you to make you question what is going on and who could be responsible for it. The pacing is very good and if you are wondering if the mental hospital enters back into the story, it does, but not in a big way. I was hoping for more mental hospital and less hotel, personally.

What’s good about this story is that Elin is dealing with something from her past and her story is woven quite nicely into this murder mystery. The two storylines complimented one another and did not compete which is rare. If you look at other reviews for this book, you will see that opinions are mixed but I enjoyed it and thought it was well done. For those of you who have read it, do you see a sequel in the works?

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…