Different The blonde film student. The brunette paralegal. The red-headed artist. Different The first victim is strangled. The second is stabbed repeatedly. And the third is pushed out of an open window. Same In the city of Seattle, no single woman is safe. From afar he watches the ones he so desperately wants. Willing to do whatever it takes to prove his love. But should his latest obsession betray him, he will have no choice but to punish her. By finding new and brutal ways to teach her a lesson. And by finally loving her - to death.
OMG! IF YOU LOVE MYSTERY,THRILLER, WITH A HINT OF ROMANCE THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU, THIS IS MY FIRST BOOK READ BY KEVIN O'BRIEN AND IT WAS WELL WRITTEN AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT, I GIVE IT A 7/5 IF THAT IS POSSIBLE, THINK THAT KEVIN O'BRIEN AND CYNTHIA EDEN WOULD MAKE A GOOD DUO WRITER, THIS IS ALONG THE LINES OF DEADLY FEAR AND DEADLY LIES OF CYNTHIA EDEN. IMAGINE BEING TOLD IN ADVANCE THAT SOMEONE IS GOING DIE, THEY SEND YOU CLUES... YOU DON'T KNOW WHOM AND WHEN, IS IT A PURE COINCIDENCE? IT WAS INTRIGUING BY THE TIME I HIT PAGE 5! I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN, PLUS BEING IN A CAR ACCIDENT WELL MY HANDS AREN'T THAT FUNCIONABLE BUT THIS BOOK WAS READ IN TOTAL IN 13 HRS.STARTED REALLY LATE THE FIRST NIGHT, AND ALL DAY YESTERDAY MINUS MY SHIFT AND 30 MINUTES THIS MORNING.
Oohh I did like this murder mystery. Nothing quite like a clever serial killer to have me up all hours reading when i should be sleeping. And this really is a rather clever serial killer story.
The serial killer shares with Hannah, a video store worker, snippets from old movies which show murder scenes which he then copies when killing someone she knows. So poor Hannah is warned of the crime before it happens is a most freakish way - she kows someone will be killed and how but she doesnot know where, when or why. and what's worse, becauise of her own personal history, she is unable to go to the cops. The fact that the videos containing the muder previews appear in her bag, in her shopping trolley, at her front door in a secure complex and other places not easily accesible adds the threat that the killer is actually stalking Hannah too - and getting very close to her wihtout her even realising it.
I had an inkling of who the killer may be and I was sort of right but even thinking i knew did not make the rest of the book any less of a ride.
This wasn't a challenging read and i read the book in three sittings, but it was gripping. It would make a kick-ass movie too.
Serial killer books pose their own challenge to authors - there must be a theme which somehow links the murder victimes, and there must be some similarities in the actual murders too. Without those two elements, the reader has no chance of working out who the murderer is (which we all try to do to show ourselves how smart we are), and the murders will appear to be just a random collection of violent acts rather than the methodical process of victim collection. Finding unique but believable ways to make these links is one of the tricks to writing a believable murder. O'Brien does this marvellously in this book. I am surprised no real serial killer has ever done this. If i were planning on becoming a serial killer, I may have adopted this idea. As a wannabe murder mystery writer I am bummed O'Brien had this idea, and executed it so well, before I did.
Very clever, easy to read but totally gripping - this tale and author are going on my favourite list
I am not sure why it was difficult to get into Watch Them Die by Kevin O'Brien. I usually find that his books draw me in from the first chapter. Although I thought the book was fine, I always expect excellence from him. I will definitely continue to read his books. This one just did not show off his mastery of suspense writing. 3 stars
Hannah is an abused wife who is in hiding with her young son. When she starts getting tapes that mimic deaths that come to pass around her, she is terrified that the killer is her husband.
This was another mystery by an author that I'd previously enjoyed. The book was well written and interesting in that it was almost impossible to have a clear suspect in mind; there were a whole host of characters who seemed shady. However, I didn't really like or empathize with the main character, some of the plot points were really weak and the ending was terrible. I'll still read O'Brien's books, but I'd definitely take a pass on this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A stalker story taken to the nth degree - who's stalking who? Hannah and her 2 yr. old boy leave her abusive husband and family and no one knows where she is...yet. Having been part of Second City in Chicago, she naturally veers to a video store for work. She meets several people and is leery of their interest in her being paranoid about her husband finding her. Then people start to die, always with a video warning smuggled into her belongings. Parts were a little muddy towards the end but it was still an interesting concept. The video store is your clue that this was written awhile back.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is my personal 5 star rating system because I’m too lazy to write a review for every book.
5 stars -> OMFG. I couldn’t stop listening. I was engaged from beginning to end. The story & narrator was amazing. I 100% recommend this book & author. I was able to clearly follow each and every character.
4 stars -> It was pretty good. I would’ve rated 5 stars, But either the ending was lacking, I struggled to keep up with characters, or the story didn’t keep me fully engaged. The narrator was pretty good as well. I’m on the fence about recommending this book, It could go either way.
3 Stars -> It was boring at times & I missed chunks of the story. I most likely struggled to keep up with character developments. The only way I would recommend this book is if it was part of a series. The narrator was most likely average or just couldn’t fix a mediocre book.
2 Stars -> It was pretty horrible. I used it as background noise because I hadn’t had a chance to search for another book. The book either had a bad narrator, The character development was non existent, or the story was hot garbage. I would not recommend this book.
1 Star -> The absolute only reason I listened to this book was because i had no time to search for another one & I needed background noise. It was 1 step up from listening to the radio. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my worst enemy. Everything about this book was terrible. This is only recommended for people on death row and have absolutely nothing else to read.
absolutely loved this book from the beginning till the end 😍 the only thing that I slightly did not like was the killer's end, I just feel like his death was just so easy considering the crimes he has committed 🤷♀️ I would've preferred seeing him in jail for the rest of his life. definitely will be reading more of this author's books in the future
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
In the last 12 months, I've read almost all of Kevin O'Brien's books. While he's ranged from the somewhat disappointing (Final Breath) to the addictive (Viscous, Unspeakable, Tell Me You're Sorry), Watch Them Die fits somewhere right in the middle.
If you've read one O'Brien novel, you've pretty much read them all, as every single one revolves around the same basic plot, contains the same basic characters and throws in the same basic twist ending. Obviously all the red herrings are in full effect and everyone is a suspect. No surprise there. But what is surprising is how long O'Brien waits to reveal the bad guy in this one. I'm usually pretty good at figuring things out about half way or so through these novels, yet in Watch Them Die, I'll admit I still kept questioning everyone up until the end. And even though the climactic conclusion was a bit on the weak side, and I wasn't a huge fan of who he had chosen to be the antagonist, I still have to applaud O'Brien for keeping me engaged all the way up to that pivotal reveal.
The problem is, aside from the constant rehashing and recycling of plot/character/unsurprising-surprising twist, that for some reason, this book quickly dates itself. Video stores? Pay phones? Even in 2002, these were on their way out. Reading about them now, in 2015, makes them seem archaic and old fashioned. True, I can't wholly fault the author on that, but I've seen much better examples of older novels still being able to hold their own, even in this day and age. It's not a huge deal, but for a "modern" thriller, this just didn't feel all that modern at times.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I haven't read any of the authors other books. He's now on my list of authors-to-look-for. The little slips of levity, often provided by Mr. O'Brian are a great addition to the story. It makes you smile just a little before turning back to worry and suspicion. Stephen King did this often and this is a major reason I like his writing so much. It's also a lot like real life. It is obvious that Kevin has a talent for writing from both of the female and the male's characters' perspective.
Now for my only criticism; I just hate books where the characters appearances are all gorgeous. Life is not like that. Like Mr. Brian's Joyce, often you do have a character that is not in the top 10 range in physical appearance. But it would be nice to see a few more relatable characters, maybe even main characters, that are just average looking. All readers could relate. By the way, who wrote the blurb on the back of this book? It's wrong and the book is better than the blurb leads you to believe.
.25 star for the premise. otherwise this novel was awful in every sense of the word. how this has been rated so highly on Goodreads is beyond me. terrible structure, several grammatical and continuity errors, too many red herring characters, a true lack of character development and a horrendous ending that came out of nowhere that made zero sense. this is quite possibly the worst book I've read this year. ugh.
This author was recommended to me and I am so glad. I loved this book however "stalker" books always make me really uneasy because it could happen to anyone. This was definitely a page turner and I wasn't sure who "did it" until the very last page. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
One of my guilty-pleasure are these pop-fiction mystery thriller books, and Kevin O'Brien is great. This one is expecially fun because of it's many movie references. Not only a good read, but I added a bunch of excellent films to my netflix queue!
I really enjoyed this one. The main character is stalked by an unknown man after she's made a new life for herself and her son after escaping a rich, abusive husband, and moving half-way across the country.
My second Kevin O'Brien book and I think I've found my new favorite author. He is so great at making you think and letting you believe you're right until he throws more at you that makes you question everything you thought you already knew! On to the next Kevin O'Brien book!
I found this book in the Romantic Suspense section, but it's not romantic whatsoever unless you find the murder scenes exhilarating. Still, it's a very good suspense/murder/mystery book. I somehow managed to read this all in one day.
Another great book by Kevin O'Brien!! The plot line is dark & twisted, numerous suspects for serial killer. Very tense, who can Hannah trust? hard to put down!
In 'Watch Them Die', Hannah has moved to a new place with her son under new identities in order to prevent her abusive husband from tracking them down. However, a whole new world of trouble greets her in the form of a videotape in which a man murders a woman in bed. Soon, she realizes she's next in line…
This story started off promising - a serial stalker / killer, a protagonist with a dark past that's racing to catch up with her, a series of murders inspired by famous movies.. I really liked how the author incorporated various death scenes into this book and made this aspect the focal part of the killer's M.O. They were interesting to read about and lent a somewhat creepy yet surreal feel to the book. Unfortunately, other aspects failed to live up to this.
Despite numerous suspicious deaths occurring in the space of days, the police didn't seem to be doing any actual investigation. They should've dropped by the video store where Hannah works to question them about a couple of victims. Hannah was never interrogated, much to my disbelief. If the author had bothered to write realistically, the police would've easily found that the recent victims were all linked to her as they either knew her or had come into contact with her.
I had plenty of issues with Hannah. Okay, she understandably didn't want to go to the cops as she was on the run but in the process, she made many stupid decisions. She supposedly couldn't trust anyone yet she was quick to trust Ben (whose good looks were reiterated) and confide in her colleagues about her history and the possibility of being a stalker / killer's target. Bear in mind she was careless though her own child's life was also at risk.
In addition, she even allowed Ben to stay the night at her home. How did she go from not trusting him to that? It wasn't like he'd done anything to prove his innocence to her. Needless to say, the insta-love between Hannah and Ben was ridiculous and unconvincing - zero chemistry and connection. I was amazed that almost all the male characters were head over heels about her, considering how little personality and brains she had.
Along the way, Hannah acquired a little army of helpers who were willing to put their lives on the line to help her. Come on, a woman who's tight-lipped about her past and has people around her dropping dead like flies.. that'd make others run the other way. Plus, I was frustrated at her for not at least giving an anonymous tip to the cops. That might've helped prevent some deaths. Instead, she watched every video sent by the murderer and thought, "Oh no! Someone's going to die soon."
Another detail that bugged me to no end was Hannah not bothering to create new names and looks for herself and her son. She still kept her first name and called her son Guy - a nickname her husband knew about. Would it have been so hard to think of another name or to dye her hair? Anything really.
The identity of the murderer was disappointing since . With the pool of suspects, there were several different outcomes that the author could've chosen instead. To make things worse, it didn't make sense that the killer took forever to go after Hannah.
Overall, 'Watch Them Die' was a dragged-out murder mystery with a dim-witted main character accompanied by a host of stereotypical characters. The only nice touch was the movie element.
Ridiculous. The characters are so overly dramatic and emoting, that the villains are cartoonish and the love stories are soap operaish.
However, the mystery itself showed much promise. I was kept guessing for most of the book, as to the culprit. The villains seemed cunning, and the good guys seemed to think and act with relative intelligence and forethought. ...Until the final chapters. Suddenly, all previously smart characters turn into complete idiots. The good guys miss blaring clues, put their loved ones in danger, act without urgency, and walk right into obvious traps. The villains have, for years, gotten away with their schemes, through meticulously plotting and planning. But, for their grand finale, they make sure their victims have a very clear understanding of how, when, and where they will die. Then, these previously sly villains, proceed with no forethought, contingency planning, or escape route.
I was disappointed. The author obviously spent time trying to craft a creative mystery, but chose to play the idiot card, in order to create the illusion of suspense, at the finale.
I have to be in a mood to read Kevin O’Brien’s books. I picked up Watch Them Die a while back and let it sit a while. I’m still filling in the missing books of his I haven’t read. While I’m a fan, I save his women-in-jeopardy stories for times when I’m ready for them. They’re quite intense, and in a way, remind me of several female author’s works, especially Carol Davis Luce, who I got hooked on several decades ago.
This one involves a maniac recreating movie murder scenes, and there’s a lot of nostalgia for the old video stores of yesteryear, something millennials will probably not be able to relate to.
The writing was top notch, with solid third-person limited and past-tense writing. The narrative was fairly brisk and the story moved. The creep factor and tension never let up.
This was a fun and intense thriller, and I was not only glued to my seat, but was able to close the book with a smile on my face. Highly recommended.
Safely ensconced in Seattle for 3 years after escaping her abusive husband, a new identity, and a new life with her son, Hannah thinks things are going fine until she finds she's being watched. Then she receives a video that shows the death of a woman following the same sequence as a famous movie. But she can't go to the police as she'll be wanted for kidnapping. Then people around her start to die.
This was a fast-paced fun thriller with a movie theme that has the main character working at a video rental store. There's a lot of nostalgia with that theme reading the book today. There's quite a few possible suspects making guessing who done it lots of fun. The characterization is a bit flat, I didn't connect with anyone but it's a fun quick thriller.
This definitely does its job keeping you up at night, with clever murders and an interesting whodunit and why, but it's so long some parts actually drag (establishing the very many red herrings, the elapsed time between when you can reasonably figure out the murderer's identity and game plans and the final confrontation), and the ending was a bust-- trite and simultaneously improbable, some aspects too easy, and disappointing. While there are some interesting characters and relationships, not a single one develops-- everything is static even after these catastrophic events, with the slight exception of Hannah and Ben, which is unsatisfactory.
One of the first thrillers in a while that's given me that thriller feeling and raised my heart rate. Very good. It made a lot of movie references that I didn't know. Kept me on my toes and second guessing everything. I was a bit scared at several parts. I like that Hannah wasn't dumb. She really did the best she could with what she had. Very good ending overall. How O'brien discussed homosexuality within the book was weird but it is an older book so I'll let him off the hook.
This book had me on the edge of my seat and ever time I thought I knew who the killer was NOPE; they got murdered. It was my first Kevin O’Brien book and it definitely turned me into one of his biggest fans. It was super full of suspense. Wondering where this author has been all my life. This book read like a movie. 5 stars!
Kevin O'Brien does what he does best: keeping the suspense at unbelievably high levels. Thoroughly enjoyed this book, have only read a couple of his books, this one hands down was the best. Looking forward to his other books....Putting author on my must read list.