Watching You by Michael Robotham

Description from Amazon:

I am the most important figure in Marnie’s life, but she doesn’t know it yet . . .

I am the one who watches.

Marnie Logan often feels like she’s being watched. Nothing she can quite put her finger on - a whisper of breath on the back of her neck, or a shadow in the corner of her eye - and now her life is frozen. Her husband Daniel has been missing for more than a year. Depressed and increasingly desperate, she seeks the help of clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin.

Joe is concerned by Marnie’s reluctance to talk about the past, but then she discovers a book packed with pictures, interviews with friends, former teachers, old flames and workmates Daniel was preparing for Marnie’s birthday. It was supposed to be a celebration of her life. But it’s not the story anyone was expecting . . .

 

This is the first Joe O’Loughlin book I’ve read in the series, and it’s easy to jump into and read as a standalone. I really enjoyed this one and was amazed it was written so long ago yet still feels so fresh.

 

You really are taken back and forth where you think something is real then it’s fake then it might be real again. Marnie is stuck in a terrible financial situation and resorts to something soul crushing to earn some money for her children seeing as her husband cannot be declared dead and his insurance paid out. Of course the kids don’t know what she is doing and her teen daughter thinks her mom is pretty much useless while her son is really ill.

 

But it seems that a lot of people connected to Marnie either turn up dead or something bad happens to them, so she is high on the list of suspects for her husband’s disappearance. All this while she is seeing Joe for depression. And he is about to find out some fascinating things about her. Marnie’s past didn’t stay there and it’s threatening to overtake her future.

 

This was a thriller of note and I kept wanting to read just one more chapter. As the clues are unravelled and you are sure of your guesses, more turns up. Marnie’s character was so well written that you could feel her anguish all the way through and the fact that part of the book are written from an unknown character’s POV makes the guesswork all the more fun.

 

This kept me engaged all the way through with fast-paced writing and great characters and one heck of a great plot! I love it when a book is described as a psychological thriller and it actually is one...