Title: Watch Me
Author: Jody Gehrman
Publication: January 23, 2018
Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 320
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
For fans of dark and twisty psychological thrillers, Watch Me is a riveting novel of suspense about how far obsession can go.
Kate Youngblood is disappearing. Muddling through her late 30s as a creative writing professor at Blackwood college, she’s dangerously close to never being noticed again. The follow-up novel to her successful debut tanked. Her husband left her for a woman ten years younger. She’s always been bright, beautiful, independent and a little wild, but now her glow is starting to vanish. She’s heading into an age where her eyes are less blue, her charm worn out, and soon no one will ever truly look at her, want to know her, again.
Except one.
Sam Grist is Kate’s most promising student. An unflinching writer with razor-sharp clarity who gravitates towards dark themes and twisted plots, his raw talent is something Kate wants to nurture into literary success. But he’s not there solely to be the best writer. He’s been watching her. Wanting her. Working his way to her for years.
As Sam slowly makes his way into Kate’s life, they enter a deadly web of dangerous lies and forbidden desire. But how far will his fixation go? And how far will she allow it?
A gripping novel exploring intense obsession and illicit attraction, Jody Gehrman introduces a world where what you desire most may be the most dangerous thing of all.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Bone chilling. If I could leave just a few words for Jody Gehrman’s novel Watch Me, it would be those. From the moment it started, I was completely creeped out. The story follows both Kate Youngblood, professor and author, and Sam Grist, student of Kate and completely obsessed with her.
Kate is single after an ugly divorce, slightly self-conscious, and has a weird attraction to things that are bad for her. Sam Gist is 100 percent crazy. That about sums him up. From the moment I met him, which half the book is his part of view, I was completely freaked out. He is the exact definition of stalker. Author Jody Gehrman writes Sam in a way that had me looking over my shoulder as I read. I was convinced she had stalked someone to prepare for this novel. Likely untrue, but completely convincing. There were so many red flags going off in my head while reading Watch Me. I was constantly screaming at Kate as she made poor decision after poor decision in the beginning, and then screaming encouragement as she started to put Sam’s creepy pieces together. Then I found myself biting my nails and pulling out my hair as the story came to a climax with a blood pressure raising, intense finale.
The only thing I did not love about this book was sometimes I felt the monologues droned on. While I enjoyed them for character development and seeing the inner workings, there were many points I felt the same thought was being repeated, or the same idea was being repeated to fill space. Maybe that was the point of making the inner workings of a sociopaths mind more visible and adding an edge of crazy to his ramblings, but I felt they were a bit much at times.
I liked Kate’s character because she was vulnerable, hard on herself, and had selfish thoughts at many times like most people do. She was realistic. I felt I could compare to her in ways, even if we were not a lot alike. Sam’s character was eerily spot on. As a fan of crime shows, true crime, and psychological thrillers, I found his characteristics to be perfectly aligned with the personality Gehrman was going for. The details she added to her characters helped make the story. The inner ramblings I got to hear as she switched from Kate’s point of view to Sam’s made them all the more interesting and intriguing. I wanted to know more. At times I wanted Sam to stop thinking because he thoroughly terrified me.
Having never read any of Gehrman’s work before, I’d definitely be interested in checking out her other work. She will be added to my must read suspense writers list. Word of advice … Don’t read in the dark. I was covered in Goosebumps and double checked the locks on my doors from beginning to end.
STAR RATING: 4/5
Watch Me by Jody Gehrman is available January 23rd on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and check your local bookstores. Add Watch me to your Goodreads To Read list and leave feedback for the author when you are finished. You can get more information from author Jody Gehrman on her website HERE.
