Watching

by Julie Hodgson

Watching. Watching. Always watching. Since her beloved husband passed away, all seventy-two-year-old Hazel has are her memories, the radio news and the view from her window – across the beautiful, leafy suburb … and directly into her neighbours’ lives. Just what is Alan doing digging in the garden? And where is Carol, his wife? She has witnessed his violence, through the window, and now she fears for Carol’s life. But Hazel is an old lady, and she knows that things aren’t quite right with her mind. Her memory is failing her, and when she receives a note from her dead husband, accusing her of murdering him, she begins to wonder if she is also losing her grip on reality. Hazel’s discoveries, as she tries to make sense of things, force her to face not only the uncomfortable truth about her neighbours and the violent consequences of her interference but also the twisted, bloody truth about her own past

104 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2018

About the author

I actually had no idea that Amazon-owned GoodReads, So I have shifted ll my books to Storygraph.

I'm so very tired of this money-making monopoly!

Reviews

[Asher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watching by Julie Hodgson is a psychological suspense thriller that follows the protagonist Hazel, as she watches the outside world from her own window. The story weaves back and forth between past events in Hazel's life and the life she finds herself in now, wheelchair bound and mostly alone with her thoughts, a bit of music that plays like theme songs for certain sequences, the news she waits patiently for between songs to listen to, and a couple whose questionable married life she witnesses from her window. She drifts in and out of reality, haunted by memories of a distant and abusive mother and her married adult life, from which her deceased husband has left her a cryptic note from the afterlife: Why did you kill me?

Julie Hodgson has written an excellent piece of fiction with Watching. Hazel, through her memories and vantage point, is a fully developed character and the story itself is almost instantly engrossing. The point of view is Hazels, and as the story progresses the reader begins to observe the unravelling of her psyche as she slips into moments of memory loss that leave her in places and situations she has no recollection of getting into. This works wonderfully in making Hazel something of an unreliable narrator and she twists and turns in surprising ways that play well into a fast-moving plot. I think this novella will bring a lot of pleasure to readers who have enjoyed the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Lehan, and Paula Hawkins.

Review written for Readers' Favorite.

[Meemo Mcdougal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting.