The Watcher: A dark addictive thriller with the ultimate psychological twist

Product Information

The series is based on a 2018 article for New York 's " The Cut" by Reeves Wiedeman, which chronicled the experience of Derek and Maria Broaddus after they received threatening letters upon moving into their home at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey in 2014, [5] which continued until they sold the home in 2019. [8] The character John Graff was based on John List, a mass murderer and longtime fugitive who murdered his family in his Westfield home in 1971. Similarities between John Graff's character and the List murders include his career as an accountant, attending Lutheran church, and murdering his family members and live-in mother, along with leaving music playing in the house and planning an alibi that would cause the bodies to remain undiscovered for several weeks. [9] But the more she interferes, the more that she seems to be making trouble for herself and there is a real sense of fear as to just how far she is willing to go to prove that she saw the perpetrator. And those around her are noticing the changes in Lily too and start to question her motives. Real estate agent Karen is a fictionalization for the "The Watcher" — but next door neighbors Mitch (Richard Kind) and Mo (Margo Martindale), who watch the house from lawn chairs, are likely inspired by a detail from the New York Magazine story.

My favorite character in this novel is “The Watcher”, Margaret. Margaret is such an interesting person both internally and externally. She is known as the bony girl with loose brown hair but now she isn’t. I thought she was going to end up being one of those weak characters because of physical appearance but she really is a strong person. She went through abuse from that unintelligent beast her dad and had the braveness to confess. Her confessions took place at the end of this story after she is getting beaten over and over and over again and also receiving help from others like the police but in my opinion this is what made Margaret my favorite character in “The Watcher”. “The Watcher” sure is one brave soul.Dean continues to discuss the case with Theodora. It is still not clear who The Watcher could be. Nora discusses her troubled marriage with her friend, Karen, who suggests that the couple should have more sex. Later, Dean meets a man named John in his house, who claims to be the building inspector. Their conversation takes a weird turn. Afterward, Dean learns there is no building inspector in their area with that name. Nora tries to listen to Karen's advice, but Dean is too distracted because of what is going on in and around their new house. Dean is called by Theodora. She asked Chamberland if she could look at old files about the house. Doing so, she finds out about a family massacre committed by John Graff, a former owner who also received Watcher letters. Listening to her story, Dean thinks the man named John he met earlier might be John Graff. As Jasper Winslow discovered the bodies two weeks after the murders happened, Dean wants to confront him about the case, but Pearl will not allow it. Nora finds another letter from The Watcher. He’s not off-the-radar, as it were, and so is soon referred by his GP and family friend, to see a psychiatrist. Martin is reluctant to undergo therapy, though. He cannot understand why he did what he did, but worries about doing it again, or something similar, so eventually agrees to help. La trama es floja, rebuscada y con aires de telefilm de sobremesa. Es muy larga y repetitiva, uno siento que lee y lee y no avanza en nada. I will state up front that this book is amazing. It is nothing like what I was expecting. The synopsis above doesn’t do the book justice; there’s just so much going on that it’s hard to put into words. Callie: Oh, I know. I could never either. But just say you could, okay? It's like that with my parents, see? Understand?

It’s the sense of isolation and unease as Lily’s life spirals out of control, which permeate the fabric of this book creating a really different form of tension and nail biting suspense. Here, there is none of that. Right up until the end I didn’t know if Martin was genuinely crazy or whether this whole series of events was dreamed up by Somerville. It’s never explained and I sure didn’t get any subtle clues either way. Perhaps they were there, perhaps not. Maybe it is up for the reader to decide exactly what’s going on, and different people will have different interpretations on what actually happened. And isn’t that a great thing? Watchers is a 1987 suspense novel by American author Dean Koontz. Along with Strangers, Lightning, and Midnight, Watchers is credited with establishing Koontz's status as a best-selling author. [1] Plot summary [ edit ]Until one day Lily sees something suspicious through her binoculars and soon her elderly neighbour Jean is found dead. Lily, intrigued by the social divide in her local area as it becomes increasingly gentrified, knows that she has to act. But her interference is not going unnoticed, and as she starts to get close to the truth, her own life comes under threat. Find sources: "Watchers"novel– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( October 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) It is about a girl called Margaret, who is an abused, and lonely. Always watched people playing around on the beach, and she never play, just watch them and write it in her notebook. Evan is a boy who worried the divorce will happen to his parents. And Chris is trying to fit in his family. All of these three characters have sharing the common teenager problem in the book. People try to get in the society, try to protect their family and continue their lives. Whilst we watch her, watching others, a pattern of unreliability and instability emerge, it’s clear something is wrong in Lily’s life. Her job is unsatisfying and she is only going through the motions her husband appears to be becoming a recluse, a shut -in, and even though Lily loves him it grows harder for her to connect with him. Great husband as he is, he decides to surprise Anna on her birthday with a pile of presents, and a secret, mysterious box containing something truly wonderful.

Readers are ultimately offered a resolution, which was okay, though I’m not a fan of the ubiquitous pre-conclusion scuffle / crisis we so often find in thrillers. This book is going to stay with me for a while. Try as I may, I don’t think I’ll ever work it out. But am I really supposed to? Rightly or wrongly, this book is considered a "horror classic". Originally published in 1982, Penguin Books re-released it this year with a brand new eye-catching (pardon the pun) cover:Anna is obviously troubled by his behaviour, but believes he’s in the best possible hands to try and help him with his troubles. The story starts off with a woman named Lily who lives with her husband Aiden in a new-build apartment. The community in which she lives is going through a process of gentrification. Lily, as an avid bird watcher, uses her hobby to spy on her neighbours' lives. One day, she witnesses suspicious going ons and then an elderly neighbour dies. This leads her to figure out what exactly happened and as she comes closer to the truth, she realises that nothing is as it seems. The narrative switches between first person past-tense to first person present-tense, sometimes paragraph to paragraph. At first I wondered whether the editor had had a day off at this point, but the switching really enhances the irrationality of Martin’s mental state. It doesn’t ‘flow’ like you’d expect, but reading the story told by a supposed mad man would never be coherent, would it? Wiedeman, Reeves (October 11, 2022). "Taking Another Look at The Watcher What we know about the case four years later". The Cut . Retrieved October 22, 2022. This book is so weird. It started off very to the point and made sense, but then got very confusing and strange.

Fleming, Mike Jr. (December 5, 2018). "Netflix Wins Heated Auction For Film Rights To Dream House Nightmare Tale 'The Watcher' ". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved January 27, 2022. The Watcher is an interesting psychological thriller especially with reference to the main character voice. There were things I both loved and didn't love about it but overall I found it highly intriguing and addictive.There was however a change to this 9 days before ‘it comes’ when Lily starts working forward – to fill us in on several days we missed. We later learn why she does this, but it’s initially a bit disconcerting, as is the occasional toing and froing from one day to the previous evening. I struggled to get into the plot line, get a realistic feeling of the characters, which I think may be why I really didn't like or enjoy the book full stop so based on this I would normally say 1*.