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    The Watcher
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    The Watcher
    Unavailable
    The Watcher
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Watcher

    Written by Ross Armstrong

    Narrated by Catherine Steadman

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘An eerily atmospheric reworking of Hitchcock’s Rear Window’ – The Guardian

    She’s watching you, but who’s watching her?

    Lily Gullick lives with her husband Aiden in a new-build flat opposite an estate which has been marked for demolition. A keen birdwatcher, she can’t help spying on her neighbours.

    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.

    But can Lily really trust everything she sees?

    ‘Ross Armstrong will feed your appetite for suspense’ – Evening Standard

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateDec 29, 2016
    ISBN9780008197940
    Unavailable
    The Watcher
    Author

    Ross Armstrong

    Ross Armstrong is an actor and writer based in North London. He studied English Literature at Warwick University and acting at RADA. He's performed on stage with the RSC in shows such as Oppenheimer in the West End and with the Donmar in Hamlet on Broadway, as well as numerous TV appearances including Foyles War, Jonathan Creek, Mr Selfridge, DCI Banks and the upcoming series of Ripper Street. The Watcher is his first novel.

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    Reviews for The Watcher

    3.5/5

    26 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Great listening, it kept me wanting to hear more
    • 3/5
      This is an Amazon Vine review of a free book. I'm reviewing The Watcher by Ross Armstrong Here are my thoughts:

      ^^ Lily watches birds as a hobby but it's really an excuse to spy on the neighbours.When a neighbour is killed, Lily becomes obsessed with finding the killer.

      ^^ I wasn't hugely excited with this book, and although I read to the end keen to find a resolution, there was something about the delivery which didn't engage me as much as I had hoped.

      ^^ I liked the idea that The Watcher was kind of Hitchcock themed, as it had similarities to Rear Window and hinted at The Birds, with the main character's love of bird watching.

      ^^ Nevertheless, I thought the way Lily gave each person she spied on a character name and made up fantasy lives for them, was done pretty well. Alas, it just was not gripping enough for me.

      Overall: It wasn't my favourite read, as I found it a little flat, however, I did enjoy the final twist at the end, but not enough for me rate it higher than an "I liked it" three stars.
    • 5/5
      Clever, clever, clever. I read copious amounts of thrillers simply because it's one of my favourite genres, but as much as I enjoy them I always think there are 2 main problems facing authors - writing fully formed characters that we like enough to care about and not following a formulaic plot. Armstrong achieves this with the story of Lily, an unassuming inhabitant in a new build block of flats. Lily is a bird watcher and each chapter begins with her notes on what she's watching through her binoculars. Sometimes it's birds, but sometimes it's her neighbours. In amongst the new builds, the executives and the professionals are the old flats awaiting demolition, populated by tenants and squatters alike. When one of these neighbours is murdered, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out who the killer is. Her husband Aidan isn't much help, barely leaving his typewriter, barely speaking, so Lily is left to investigate alone. She is a thoroughly unreliable narrator - a technique I love in a book, because after all we are all only living our own reality. - but just how accurate are Lily's observations and who can she trust? A clever, dark and sad tale of a vulnerable young woman caught up in a series of events beyond her control.
    • 2/5
      I had read a number of good reviews about this book and so was keen to read it. However, at no point did I feel able to engage with either Lily, the narrator or with the developing plot. Instead of feeling drawn into the story, which was meant to be full of tension and menace, I constantly found myself being hyper-critical of the author's writing style and, at times, disturbing syntax. I was tempted to give up after the first fifty or so pages but, because of the rave reviews I persevered but now wish I hadn't wasted valuable reading time! A real disappointment.
    • 3/5
      This novel's narrator, Lily, is a bird watcher who begins to observe her neighbors through her binoculars as much as she observes birds. In due time, of course, she observes a neighbor's death and begins to suspect another of murder. I struggled with the writing in this book - while sometimes poetic, the combination of an edgy writing style that required un-encrypting and an unreliable narrator were enough to confuse a reader. Otherwise, a decent mystery and somewhat similar to The Girl on the Train.
    • 4/5
      Well, this book wasn't what I was expecting at all! Lily Gullick, the main character, is a bird watcher and lives in a block of flats by a reservoir. In true Hitchcock style she ends up watching the people in neighbouring blocks and sees things that she wishes she hadn't.Lily is the ultimate in unreliable narrators and finds herself in all kinds of bizarre situations. The story starts quite oddly and I did wonder at the beginning if I was going to like it but then I found myself pressing the button on my Kindle as fast as I could as I got more and more engrossed in Lily's rather kamikaze search for her neighbour's killer. It did take me a while to get to grips with the way it was written. It was like I didn't fully understand what was going on and who Lily was addressing, as she is telling her story to a third party rather than to the reader. But then I started to get a bit suspicious and all of a sudden it all slotted into place. A lot of things made sense but still there was this unreliable narrator and right up the end I didn't know what was real and what wasn't.The Watcher is definitely a page turning psychological thriller. Sometimes quite comical with some heart-stopping moments in there, this is probably one of the most unique books I have read for a while. I actually quite liked Lily and I thought the way the author combined her search for a killer with bird watching techniques and ways of recording sightings was really clever. Being a nosy parker myself, I could sort of understand how interesting she found it to peer into her neighbours' lives, although it did all get rather out of hand!It's a riveting read and it's a little bit bonkers. It's an accomplished debut novel from a writer with an unusual style.
    • 4/5
      The Watcher - Ross ArmstrongIf I’m grumpy today, Ross Armstrong, it’s all your fault. If you hadn’t written The Watcher I might be properly refreshed after a good night’s sleep. But because I simply could not put the book down until I had finished it I am now tired, bleary eyed and …………….grumpy. So if it affects my review you’ve only yourself to blame!As I read the opening blurb I yawned a little as the premise is not a new one, its been done before so I wondered how and if this writer might deal with it and make it different and engaging. The ‘how’ might cause me to offer spoilers which I must try not to do but the answer to the ’if’ query is, yes, he does make it different up to a point.Opening paragraphs made me think Rear Window meets Girl on the Train but the prologue was tantalising. Crucial with a thriller because if it isn’t you can so easily lose your reader. What I also found interesting was a male writer with a first person female protagonist. Probably down to past experience but alarm bells go off in my head. However I think a very good, convincing job was done here. Much has been said and written about the differences between the male and female mind so it is always interesting to see how a writer deals with the exchanges and interactions and responses from a mind set that is not their natural one. The structure of the novel written in the form of one person addressing has been done before. If done well it works, be it diary, letter, journal etc, it is intriguing to wonder who the recipient is, and it also allows the writer to convey aspects of the narrative that wouldn’t work with direct unfolding of events. I liked the chapter headings which piqued my curiosity but ultimately they didn’t deliver with the impact I was hoping for. The novel began slowly, scene setting and allowing the reader to adjust and relax? Not for long. The pace accelerates and without wishing tor reveal too much it seems to mirror the pace of our heroine’s mind. Lily is yet another troubled character that seems to populate the so called psychological thriller so much in vogue at the moment. But without an unreliable narrator there would not be quite so much of a story. And do we enjoy reading about flawed characters because they make us feel better about our own quirks?Once could examine the story deeply and find some social comment but there’s no compulsion to. It can be enjoyed as a darn good, debut thriller. I did piece together what had happened to a certain extent which pleases me but there were also some twists that were unexpected. That also pleases me. The conclusion isn’t one that ties up all the ends neatly. If you look for that in a novel it might disappoint but on the other hand if you want to go away thinking about what you’ve just read you’ll be delighted. I appreciate that I received an uncorrected, proof copy but I found mistakes in abundance and I do hope these are spotted and dealt with accordingly. It would be a shame if they find their way into the finished product.Thanks to Real Readers for giving me the opportunity to meet another promising novelist.Consider my appetite whetted.