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Seymour Tapes
Dr Alex Seymour seems to have it all - with a solid marriage of twenty years, two teenage children, a new baby and an unblemished career as a London GP, his life seems perfect - but then a simple trip to the local supermarket changes things irrevocably. As he witnesses a shoplifter foiled by a combination of the owner's beady eye and the surveillance camera under the counter, Alex Seymour starts thinking about the reality and the fragility of his own seemingly perfect domestic situation, and what he does not see. With a son he suspects is stealing, a daughter whose first boyfriend may be going too far, and a wife he thinks is being unfaithful, Alex needs something to help him find out the truth and put him back in control. Enter Sherry Thomas, the mysterious Managing Director of Cyclops, and the catalyst for Alex Seymour's descent into a world ruled by cameras, tapes, lies and deceit, with devastating consequences. A gripping novel of suspense that mirrors modern preoccupations with su
- GenresFiction
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
32 people want to read
About the author
Tim Lott
25 books48 followersTim Lott is the author of seven novels and a memoir, The Scent of Dried Roses, which won the PEN/J.R. Ackerley Prize. White City Blue won the Whitbread First Novel Award and his young adult book Fearless was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Award. Tim lives with his family in north-west London.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 2, 2018
didn't enjoy this book at all
May 21, 2015
Like many of us, Dr. Seymour is not very secure in his world. Does his wife really love him? Is she having an affair? Is his daughter crossing sexual boundaries with her boyfriend? Is his son stealing from the family? Well, unlike most of us Dr. Seymour does something positive about his concerns. He goes and visits the cool-as-ice Miss Sherry Thomas at 'Cyclops' - her security camera shop - and gets kitted out to secretly spy on his family at home.
Joy and happiness.... A good dose of voyeurism and a flowering of insight into the private truth of things, appears to set Dr. Seymour up as a new man. Family relationships improve, and he soars in popularity amongst his nearest and dearest, as they are stunned by the sudden appearance of an intuitive insight that he has never shown before. Omniscient dad is a good dad.
But things are decidedly odd between Dr. S and the security camera lady. Sherry Thomas is not just running a business, she is fueling a passion for lives lived on video. She wants to know more and more about Dr. Seymour's family, and he doesn't know how to extricate himself from her remorseless enthusiasm.
In the end he decides to confess all to his wife, and therein lies his downfall, but not in ways that you would expect. The story turns from being a psychological family tale into being a whodunit, and the crossover for me was a bit odd.
In the book the story is told retrospectively, and in itty bitty chapters (following interviews with with Mrs. Seymour, and descriptions of segments of the video film.) It works better than it sounds - but even so I was not very gripped. I wish the book could have stopped with Dr.Seymour spending the rest of his life happily watching his family secretly on video. Were I living with more than a cat I would order a camera immediately.
Joy and happiness.... A good dose of voyeurism and a flowering of insight into the private truth of things, appears to set Dr. Seymour up as a new man. Family relationships improve, and he soars in popularity amongst his nearest and dearest, as they are stunned by the sudden appearance of an intuitive insight that he has never shown before. Omniscient dad is a good dad.
But things are decidedly odd between Dr. S and the security camera lady. Sherry Thomas is not just running a business, she is fueling a passion for lives lived on video. She wants to know more and more about Dr. Seymour's family, and he doesn't know how to extricate himself from her remorseless enthusiasm.
In the end he decides to confess all to his wife, and therein lies his downfall, but not in ways that you would expect. The story turns from being a psychological family tale into being a whodunit, and the crossover for me was a bit odd.
In the book the story is told retrospectively, and in itty bitty chapters (following interviews with with Mrs. Seymour, and descriptions of segments of the video film.) It works better than it sounds - but even so I was not very gripped. I wish the book could have stopped with Dr.Seymour spending the rest of his life happily watching his family secretly on video. Were I living with more than a cat I would order a camera immediately.
November 23, 2014
2006 bookcrossing journal:
This is a clever little book. I won it on an online competition on Penguin Books. Had never heard of it before I started reading, but I really enjoyed it. Very addictive.
The basis of the book is that the author is writing up an account of a period in the Seymour family's life based upon interviews with the wife and children, and the 'Seymour Tapes'. These tapes were recorded by the father. After seeing a local corner shop catch a shoplifter through security tapes, he "sinks" into the paranoid world of security and survelliance. Big brother. He visits a security shop run by American Sherry, who seems madder and madder as the book goes on. He starts with cameras at his surgery (he is a G.P.) but with a wife he thinks may be having an affair, a son who might be stealing and a young teenage daughter who might be sleeping with her boyfriend, he starts watching his own family. And at the end of the day, who can you trust?
Very addictive, very well written, with shocking ending.
This is a clever little book. I won it on an online competition on Penguin Books. Had never heard of it before I started reading, but I really enjoyed it. Very addictive.
The basis of the book is that the author is writing up an account of a period in the Seymour family's life based upon interviews with the wife and children, and the 'Seymour Tapes'. These tapes were recorded by the father. After seeing a local corner shop catch a shoplifter through security tapes, he "sinks" into the paranoid world of security and survelliance. Big brother. He visits a security shop run by American Sherry, who seems madder and madder as the book goes on. He starts with cameras at his surgery (he is a G.P.) but with a wife he thinks may be having an affair, a son who might be stealing and a young teenage daughter who might be sleeping with her boyfriend, he starts watching his own family. And at the end of the day, who can you trust?
Very addictive, very well written, with shocking ending.
January 8, 2016
Wooow que libro más bueeeno!
Tiene una trama interesante, como el voyeurismo, tema que yo nunca antes había leído, la inserción de la tecnología en nuestro diario vivir y del ultrajado, ya, derecho a la privacidad.
En la historia, Tim Lott (Autor y personaje) acepta la petición de la viuda Samantha Seymour, para escribir e investigar la muerte de su marido, el doctor Alex Seymour.
Alex había conocido a Sherry Thomas, una vendedora de artefactos de vigilancia, cámaras, micrófonos, sensores, etc. dudando de la inocencia de su niñera ante las grandes cantidades de dinero que desaparecian en casa, instala cámaras. pero esto se le escapa de las manos, al observar a su familia más de cerca, descubrir sus secretos y mentiras.
Sin duda volvería a leer algo de Lott, me fascino este librooo! Fácil de leer y con una trama inusual.
Gracias al pololololo por este book
Tiene una trama interesante, como el voyeurismo, tema que yo nunca antes había leído, la inserción de la tecnología en nuestro diario vivir y del ultrajado, ya, derecho a la privacidad.
En la historia, Tim Lott (Autor y personaje) acepta la petición de la viuda Samantha Seymour, para escribir e investigar la muerte de su marido, el doctor Alex Seymour.
Alex había conocido a Sherry Thomas, una vendedora de artefactos de vigilancia, cámaras, micrófonos, sensores, etc. dudando de la inocencia de su niñera ante las grandes cantidades de dinero que desaparecian en casa, instala cámaras. pero esto se le escapa de las manos, al observar a su familia más de cerca, descubrir sus secretos y mentiras.
Sin duda volvería a leer algo de Lott, me fascino este librooo! Fácil de leer y con una trama inusual.
Gracias al pololololo por este book
September 9, 2023
Clever but a bit too nasty
January 25, 2023
No sé si se trata de algun tipo de libro documental de algo que paso en la vida real, porque así lo parece a pesar de que no pude encontrar nada en internet, o si simplemente fue escrito de ese modo para que pareciera un caso real, pero francamento no funcionó.
El libro es sumamente aburrido, siento que tenían una buena historia que pudieron sacarle mejor provecho. Me costo acabarlo, de hecho me obligue a ello. Tenía la esperanza de que en cualquier momento diera un vuelco inesperado de los acontecimientos que justificara toda la lata aburrida de entrevista y videos.
Pero bueno, igual para los gustos los colores, y seguramente este estilo tendrá su público que logre disfrutar del contenido.
El libro es sumamente aburrido, siento que tenían una buena historia que pudieron sacarle mejor provecho. Me costo acabarlo, de hecho me obligue a ello. Tenía la esperanza de que en cualquier momento diera un vuelco inesperado de los acontecimientos que justificara toda la lata aburrida de entrevista y videos.
Pero bueno, igual para los gustos los colores, y seguramente este estilo tendrá su público que logre disfrutar del contenido.
January 21, 2019
(live lu en français)
J'ai toujours du mal à donner un avis sur ce type de livre parce que je suis partagée. C'est un livre qui se lit vite et facilement. Je me suis sentie trahie par la fin et le développement des personnages.
(tw mention de viol) utiliser le viol d'une femme pour justifier sa "folie" mais sérieusement ?
Les personnages auraient pu connaître un développement bien plus subtile et intéressant. Les personnages féminins sont typiquement les mauvais personnes écrits par des hommes. Au delà de ces considérations, j'ai trouvé la fin un peu gore et sans grand intérêt.
J'ai toujours du mal à donner un avis sur ce type de livre parce que je suis partagée. C'est un livre qui se lit vite et facilement. Je me suis sentie trahie par la fin et le développement des personnages.
(tw mention de viol) utiliser le viol d'une femme pour justifier sa "folie" mais sérieusement ?
Les personnages auraient pu connaître un développement bien plus subtile et intéressant. Les personnages féminins sont typiquement les mauvais personnes écrits par des hommes. Au delà de ces considérations, j'ai trouvé la fin un peu gore et sans grand intérêt.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2025
La verdad me mega decepcionó, es un libro que adquirí liberadamente por su portada, pero con el pasar de cada página yo solo me revolvía y revolvía y todo para que en las últimas 5 páginas se viera lo interesante de todo el misterio.
Rescato que tiene situaciones interesantes de analizar, pero no es algo que volvería a leer :/
Rescato que tiene situaciones interesantes de analizar, pero no es algo que volvería a leer :/
June 19, 2017
Pretty clever novel with a twist too. Big brother is watching, how good for us is that?
June 3, 2023
Slightly disturbing but very compelling and at circa 250 pages the perfect novel length
November 7, 2012
This is real return to form and a modern classic. The sort of book that you wish you knew other people who had read it, apart from the bitch of a wife that you have who you are no talking to at the moment.
The book concerns a simple, middle class family. The father (Alex) is a doctor, the mother (Sam) is in PR and they have two teenage kids and a newborn baby.
Despite outward appearances, the family is in meltdown. There are financial problems, Sam is maybe having an affair with a neighbour, the daughter is starting to get heavy with a boy and the lad is stealing. Work is not much better, where he is receiving unwanter advances from Pamela - who he sacks - and is subsequently blackmailed through an untruthful sex allegation with a patient. Alex thinks that he is losing control.
The book opens with a magnificant hook. The bizarre and sadistic death of Alex is talked about as though you (the readers) should be aware of this fact.
In fact the lines between reality and fiction are blurred further, as Tim Lott is a character - asked by sam to research and write up the story - chosen because she liked the honesty exhibited in the Scent of Dried Roses.
Alex decides that he needs to understand what is going on in his own house and slowly gets seduced by the the mysterious owner of Cyclops Surevellience Systems (CCS), a young American that helps Alex bug his family and also bugs alex himself.
Alex's power soars. Because he always knows what is going on, he is able to difuse rows and act as a god like figure. He feels that his status in the family is increasing and then puts it to the utilimate test - by enrapping his wife and potential lover - leaving them bugged whilst the house is alone.
His fears are apparantly unfounded - there are advances from the fella but they are categorically rebuked by Sam. Alex is happy and thinks that the survellience kit can be returned.
This is when the woman from CCS has a fit and (in the weakest part of the book) it is revealed that she is a bit of mad woman. It is her that kills Alex with a hammer and then skins his dead body, live on the Internet.
Then a couple of amazing things happend. The book is wrapped up, you think, then the kids visit Tim and another couple of revelations occur - 1) Sam knew she was being bugged and played Alex for a fool. She really was having an affair with Mark. 2) She was a criminal psychologist and could have recognised how unstable Mrs CCS was and could have been complicit in his murder.
This is clever stuff that gets the reader thinking about many things - The rights to Privacy, Big Brother Culture, the meaning of truth and its all written in a largely identifiable set of circumstances that Lott is famous for - the disappoint of existing and the lack of control that people have over their lives, even when the play by the rules.
It does however, beg the questions as to why Alex Wanted the book to be written in the first place - especially as she is less than squeky clean at the end of it.
A great book - easily a contender for my book of the year. Confronting issues in an entertaining manner.
What happens next
The book concerns a simple, middle class family. The father (Alex) is a doctor, the mother (Sam) is in PR and they have two teenage kids and a newborn baby.
Despite outward appearances, the family is in meltdown. There are financial problems, Sam is maybe having an affair with a neighbour, the daughter is starting to get heavy with a boy and the lad is stealing. Work is not much better, where he is receiving unwanter advances from Pamela - who he sacks - and is subsequently blackmailed through an untruthful sex allegation with a patient. Alex thinks that he is losing control.
The book opens with a magnificant hook. The bizarre and sadistic death of Alex is talked about as though you (the readers) should be aware of this fact.
In fact the lines between reality and fiction are blurred further, as Tim Lott is a character - asked by sam to research and write up the story - chosen because she liked the honesty exhibited in the Scent of Dried Roses.
Alex decides that he needs to understand what is going on in his own house and slowly gets seduced by the the mysterious owner of Cyclops Surevellience Systems (CCS), a young American that helps Alex bug his family and also bugs alex himself.
Alex's power soars. Because he always knows what is going on, he is able to difuse rows and act as a god like figure. He feels that his status in the family is increasing and then puts it to the utilimate test - by enrapping his wife and potential lover - leaving them bugged whilst the house is alone.
His fears are apparantly unfounded - there are advances from the fella but they are categorically rebuked by Sam. Alex is happy and thinks that the survellience kit can be returned.
This is when the woman from CCS has a fit and (in the weakest part of the book) it is revealed that she is a bit of mad woman. It is her that kills Alex with a hammer and then skins his dead body, live on the Internet.
Then a couple of amazing things happend. The book is wrapped up, you think, then the kids visit Tim and another couple of revelations occur - 1) Sam knew she was being bugged and played Alex for a fool. She really was having an affair with Mark. 2) She was a criminal psychologist and could have recognised how unstable Mrs CCS was and could have been complicit in his murder.
This is clever stuff that gets the reader thinking about many things - The rights to Privacy, Big Brother Culture, the meaning of truth and its all written in a largely identifiable set of circumstances that Lott is famous for - the disappoint of existing and the lack of control that people have over their lives, even when the play by the rules.
It does however, beg the questions as to why Alex Wanted the book to be written in the first place - especially as she is less than squeky clean at the end of it.
A great book - easily a contender for my book of the year. Confronting issues in an entertaining manner.
What happens next
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
released-or-to-release-without-read
May 13, 2009"Dr Alex Seymour seems to have it all - with a solid marriage of twenty years, two teenage children, a new baby and an unblemished career as a London GP, his life seems perfect - but then a simple trip to the local supermarket changes things irrevocably. As he witnesses a shoplifter foiled by a combination of the owner's beady eye and the surveillance camera under the counter, Alex Seymour starts thinking about the reality and the fragility of his own seemingly perfect domestic situation, and what he does not see. With a son he suspects is stealing, a daughter whose first boyfriend may be going too far, and a wife he thinks is being unfaithful, Alex needs something to help him find out the truth and put him back in control. Enter Sherry Thomas, the mysterious Managing Director of Cyclops, and the catalyst for Alex Seymour's descent into a world ruled by cameras, tapes, lies and deceit, with devastating consequences. A gripping novel of suspense that mirrors modern preoccupations with surveillance, tabloid voyeurism and morality and gives us Sex, Lies and Video Tape in fiction form for the 21st century." (From FantasticFiction)
May 20, 2012
Una muy buena novela que apela a ese lado de 'vouyeour' que todos tenemos. Precisamente ese es el tema central de una historia, profundamente absorbente, que se plantea por el escritor como la ficticia investigación de un caso real en el que él es cronista oficial.
Un thriller social en el que las cosas no son exactamente lo que parecen, por más que sean narradas a través de las imágenes de diversas cintas de vídeo, y que no deja indiferente. A tal punto que tengo que decir que hacía mucho que un personaje no me provocaba tan profundos sentimientos de repulsa como uno de los que por aquí se pasean... ¿Cuál? Estoy segura de que cualquiera que lea esta novela, lo sabrá ;)
Un thriller social en el que las cosas no son exactamente lo que parecen, por más que sean narradas a través de las imágenes de diversas cintas de vídeo, y que no deja indiferente. A tal punto que tengo que decir que hacía mucho que un personaje no me provocaba tan profundos sentimientos de repulsa como uno de los que por aquí se pasean... ¿Cuál? Estoy segura de que cualquiera que lea esta novela, lo sabrá ;)
February 12, 2016
The reviews on the cover of this book remark on how 'funny' this novel is. Did they actually read it? This book is sad, it's about manipulation of emotions, the degradation of a family, the loss of trust in ones own feelings and mostly madness, nothing funny about that. Despite this I found the way he wrote the book refreshing. It's in the form of taped interviews which are transcribed for us to read. The premise of the novel is: when is voyeurism or the use of cameras in everyday surveillance taken too far, how much should we be watching? Worth reading just for the format.
March 31, 2016
The subject matter - surveillance: who does it, why, the effect on those watched as well as those watching - is fascinating, but I just didn't care much about the main characters. The violent and very sudden incident depicted towards the end detracted from the psychological drama and was superfluous, but the book is nonetheless thought-provoking
May 19, 2014
NTNU ENG2303 Literature and Nation, Spring 2014
Not a book I would have picked up if it wasn't on the reading list for one of my English literature-classes, but a VERY interesting read! Makes one think about the surveillance society we're really living in today.
Not a book I would have picked up if it wasn't on the reading list for one of my English literature-classes, but a VERY interesting read! Makes one think about the surveillance society we're really living in today.
January 27, 2010
An intriguing and thrilling look at privacy, the family and CCTV in today's modern "reality-TV obsessed" society. I would highly recommend this book as its a good story too!
January 7, 2014
I really enjoyed this. It's a great story, well told, in an interesting format and with an unexpected ending.
March 7, 2016
Não me lembro bem da história mas sei que gostei.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews