Just Watch Me

by Peter Grimsdale

You can't escape your past... When an ex-sniper loses his family, he finds himself in the cross-hairs of a massive conspiracy. A gripping thriller from the author of PERFECT NIGHT.When Dan Carter is forced to miss a much-needed family holiday, his wife and children go ahead without him. Within hours, their plane has disappeared over the Atlantic and his life is changed for ever.Stricken by grief, Dan goes in search of answers. Was this simply a terrible tragedy or something more sinister - something personal? For the Carters are not a normal family. Perhaps they never were...Shadows from the past gather around him as Dan edges closer to the truth, and a chilling conspiracy threatens to engulf him. But in a world where nothing is as it seems, who can he really trust...?

384 pages, Hardcover

First published August 6, 2009

About the author

I grew up in Sheffeld, attended a variety of schools including Bedales in Hampshire and East Brunswick High in New Jersey. I went on to Sussex and Georgetown Universities where I read American Studies and started writing short stories. I joined the BBC in 1980 and worked on everything from Crimewatch UK to a history of the Falklands War. I also did a spell in Enva Hoxha's Albania on a secret filming assignment about an MI5/CIA mission there that went horribly wrong. In 1984 I was sent to Sri Lanka for the Real Lives series to report on the uprising against the Tamils and the diary I kept of that time became the basis for Perfect Night. I moved on to Channel 4 where I was head of History,Religion and Features and indulged my passion for cars in several programme commissions. I also found myself in charge of Big Brother 3, the one that gave the world Jade Goody. After a brief foray into the brave new world of Yahoo (source of the sacking scene in Perfect Night), I returned to TV as a freelancer but determined to write. Perfect Night was the result. My two biggest infuences were and still are my wife Stephanie Calman (see Badmothersclub.com)and my agent Mark Lucas who showed what thriller writing was all about.
Just Watch Me came about after a bad day at Gatwick Airport discovering that my then five year old daughter's passport had expired and instead of heading for Tobago I found myself in Durham where the only passport office in the land would give me a replacement over the counter. Set in Britain Tobago and Afghanistan, it tells the story of a man who loses his family and has to go on the run while he tries to find out why.
My last two books Battlefield 3 - The Russian (with Andy McNab)and Battlefield 4 - Countdown to War have been written in association with Electronic Arts, publishers of the Battlefield global game franchise. To EA's great credit they gave me the space to develop an autonomous story using some the games' characters and situations as launch pads for stand-alone narratives. You do not have to be a 'gamer' (I'm not - there, I've confessed)to enjoy them, in fact you don't need to know anthing at all about the games or how it relates to the books. But if you find them via the games they should add to your appreciation of the characters who pass through.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am hooked. I forgot to take it on the tube yesterday, for my long commute to work, and felt anxious all the way about the lead character Dan.

The one thing I really appreciate about this book, aside from the gipping story, are the short snappy sentences. I am so bored of long flabby sentences in modern novels :-)

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last two thirds was ok, but not very believable. The first two thirds I felt like I was wading through it, hoping something would happen at some point. Mostly, I just kept asking myself, ”What is this book about?”

[Plum-crazy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good thriller about a family who have had to go into "The Scheme" which similar to the witness protection programme means they have to re-locate & change their names.
When his family are killed in a plane crash Dan discovers how little he really knew about his wife & finds himself in ever increasing danger. So that's it in a nutshell.
The storyline worked well in general & moved along at a good pace but I wasn't totally gripped by it. Something in Dan's character stopped me caring too much about him & I just didn't find some parts of the story entirely credible.
I do have a couple of niggles: I'm pretty sure I picked up an error of someone calling Dan by his old name when they should have only known him as Paul (page 156) - this did irritate me!
Also Frankland may have been ex-police but would he really have been able to access all the information he did?
Oh one more...for someone who was so fanatical about keeping things tidy as Sara was, I find it hard to believe she would go on holiday & leave the kitchen in a mess! But I'm just being picky...

Overall a good read & I'll happily read more by this author.

[Marnie Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man struggles to discover the truth after losing his wife and children in a plane crash.

A good story with believable characters and plenty of twists and turns - the ending was a bit sudden / too convenient.

Overall an entertaining read but rates 3.5 - due to the lack of any grounding in reality.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good