With My Little Eye: A Novel

“I wasn’t good at patience, but my whole life was now reduced to waiting. He was the watcher. He had the power. The watcher always had the power.”
 
Meribel Mills was a famous actress in the 90’s and is now just trying to live her life with her pre-teen daughter, Honor, who is autistic. Meribel decides to leave Hollywood to start over in a new town with her daughter. Her stalker has started to take things too far and she feels like she and her daughter are in danger. Soon she fears that her stalker has managed to follow her to Atlanta. There’s no shortage of potential suspects in Meribel’s life. An ex-husband she ghosted years ago, a handsome but maybe sinister neighbor in her apartment building, and a love interest from L.A.
 
This book starts out as a bit of a slow burn, but once the characters and their relationships are established, the pace picks up and this turns into a fast-paced, entertaining read. Although I never really warmed to Meribel, the insight into the stalkers mind was a bit disturbing (in that wonderful way), but also very realistic and creepy. I loved how the character, Honor, was written. The sections where we are in Honor’s thoughts with her and she is overstimulated and trying to cope are insightful and exceptionally well done. 
 
Sadly, some of the characters were flat. There were too many sub plots, and the ending was fast and felt rushed. I have read and loved, Never Have I Ever and Mother May I by this author, and really enjoyed the fast paced chapters in them, this one did not have that for me, but that won’t keep me from reading her future work.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

Good until the end…

Meh

This was the first thriller novel I've read. I read it in a span of two days and could not put it down. I loved the way the author introduced the personalities of the characters and could envision what they might look like. The adjectives used to introduce the settings of each chapter added more entertainment and made each chapter colorful. The main character and her daughter were fighting for a safe, happy, life. The author did a great job giving background to the career of an actress by providing a detailed description of downfalls and successes. The author proved that staying in constant community with others can help you remain safe and I respected the characters ability to adapt to change despite fears. Great read, very entertaining, and I would love to see it as a movie.

We read “With My Little Eye” for our May book club pick. I had high hopes because I REALLY enjoyed “Never Have I Ever” but this book was terrible, what else can I say. The characters were horrific—either they were literally horrific or just so damn boring. There was one twist halfway through that I enjoyed but up until that point nothing had really happened and the story stalled until the end. The chapters with Honor, the main character’s daughter, narrating were hard to read. Her character is autistic and I could not relate to the gaming language or her dialogue and in my opinion, it read poorly- the nicknames and grammar used in those chapters were very distracting. Meribel, former actress (main character), is beyond immature for her age and for a parent. Her obsession with her ex is wildly exaggerated and in my opinion hindered what could have been a stronger or more realistic plot line. It was a big turn off not having one truly likable character. Marker Man, her stalker, draws sick pictures, burns beds and streaks feces and threats on walls (or at least we are led to believe he does)——yet Meribel justifies this behavior to a degree if it’s possibly her ex because she’s still hung up on him and might still “love him.” Just no… she has the maturity of an insect. And THE REVEAL—— (blank) is MM!!! No just no! Best line in the book “I bought the damn picture of us, riding it together! I had a picture of me and marker man riding down a log flume in my phone!” Only part of the book that I had my mouth open —meh. Also, you never find out who the stalker really is—what, if any is his connection to Meribel? Why was he obsessed with her? Why was he disconnected from reality? But most importantly, what the hell did his obsession have to do with the main character other than she was a former TV star? There is no explanation. Nothing. There are a couple small decent plot twists you won’t see coming but they were not enough to carry this story. Tip: If you do decide to read it, make sure you know the word “paladin” and are well versed in its historical context. And FYI I don’t want to read about bees again for a long while. Thank you William Morrow for my gifted finished copy in exchange for an honest review. I like the author but this was a massive disappointment.