I See You

Synopsis

When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it’s there. There’s no explanation: just a grainy image, a website address and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it’s just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that.

Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make…

Synopsis source: Goodreads

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Review

I have been on a real thriller kick lately, but some of the ones I have read have left me anything but thrilled. The premise of this one sounded super creepy, and wasn’t what I was expecting at all! I was expecting a suspenseful police procedural as they try to find out what happened (emphasis on the past tense) to Zoe. The synopsis doesn’t give a lot away, so I was pleasantly surprised that the entire book was NOT about investigating Zoe’s murder. It’s more sinister than that, and Zoe plays an interesting role in the invesitgation.

The story is told in three POVs: Zoe (the target), Kelly (the cop), and the voyeur.

Zoe is a divorced mom of two grown children who still live with her, struggling to make ends meet. Her partner, Simon, lives with them and there is the typical tension there between him and Justin, her son, and Matt, her ex. However, he adores Zoe and has been wonderful to her and her kids over the last four years they’ve been together.

Kelly, a member of the rank and file police force that watches over the London Underground, is hoping to get back into the more serious investigative work from which she was demoted. When Zoe is transferred to her one day, freaked out by the occurrence of her photo in an advertisement in the paper and the unlikely coincidence that the woman who was just featured in the paper about the theft of her keys on the subway was also featured in this same advertisement two days prior to the theft of her keys, Kelly begins to look into it, even though it’s no longer her case. As things progress, and a murder is linked back to these same advertisements, Kelly maneuvers her way onto the investigative team assigned to it.

It’s a race against time as they try to find out who is behind the advertisements and who is deliberately setting up hundreds of unwitting women as prey in this cat and mouse game.

There are many interesting psychological aspects to this book as it relates specifically to crimes against women. For example, the tendency of people not to believe women when they report feeling watched or threatened, the brush off that is given to them in those circumstances, by both friends and family as well as law enforcement. Then there’s the “is it all in my head” conundrum of the victim, causing them to question their instincts and their own memories of what happened. Lastly, the author also covers the surprising decision of some victims not to support prosecution for these crimes committed against them and the reasons behind that decision.

I really enjoyed Zoe’s moxie and Kelly’s growth throughout the book too! I really liked Nick, Kelly’s immediate superior, and would like to see more of him and Kelly as an investigative team, but alas, this is a stand alone book and not a series.

The ending was a little out of left field and was a total surprise to me, and if I’m being honest, was a bit unbelievable, and that was really my only problem with the whole thing, but it can be kind of a big problem, casting the rest of the otherwise great book into a different light, hence my 3.5-star rating.

One thing about thrillers like this though is that they make for GREAT discussion, making this a great pick for our Books, WIPs, + Sips Book Club!

Join the Discussion!

Whether you agree with my assessment or not, I hope you’ll join us on Tuesday, April 26th at 7pm CST on Instagram Stories Live. We will be chatting and getting to know this month’s co-host, working on some projects, sipping some bevies, and talking all about I See You. Allow me to introduce my co-host for the evening!

Amber is a co-founder of the Crochetmous Crew, a Facebook community dedicated to encouragement, community building, and crochet.Amber has an amazing husband, AKA the Guapinator, 2 fantastic kids, 2 tremendous bonus kids, 5 energetic grandchildren, and a cutie-patootie Yorkie-mix named Osito!

Find Amber on amberblissthis.com | Ravelry | Pinterest | YouTube | Bliss This Instagram | Bliss This Edits Instagram | Bliss This Facebook | Bliss This Community on Facebook | Bliss This Edits Facebook | Crochetmous Crew on Facebook

4/26/22 Update! Be sure to watch the replay of this discussion, available now! Don’t worry if you haven’t read it yet, we save spoilers for the very end and give you warning beforehand so we don’t ruin it for you!

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