The Watcher
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
‘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
Reviews
‘Addictive and eerie, you’ll finish the book wanting to chat about it’ – Closer Magazine, Must Read
‘A twisted homage to Hitchcock set in a recognisably post-Brexit broken Britain. Tense, fast-moving and with an increasingly unreliable narrator, The Watcher has all the hallmarks of a winner.' – Martyn Waites
‘Ross Armstrong will feed your appetite for suspense’ – Evening Standard
‘Unreliable narrator + Rear Window-esque plot = sure-fire hit’ – The Sun
‘Brilliantly written…this psychological thriller is definitely one that will keep you up to the early hours. Five Stars.’ – Heat, Book of the Week
‘A dark, unsettling page turner’ – Claire Douglas, author of Local Girl Missing.
‘Creepy and compelling’ – Debbie Howells author of The Bones of You
‘The Watcher is an intense, unsettling read… one that had me feeling like I needed to keep checking over my shoulder as I read.; – Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me
About the author
Ross Armstrong is an actor and writer based in North London. He studied English Literature at Warwick University and acting at RADA. As a stage and screen actor he has performed in the West End, Broadway and in upcoming shows for HBO and Netflix. Ross’ debut title The Watcher was a top twenty bestseller and has been longlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bird and people watcher Lily Gullick, the narrator of Armstrong's uneven debut, uses binoculars to observe her neighbors in nearby flats in London. She names them, invents stories about them, and talks to her husband, Aiden, about them. Lily lives in a new apartment building, while older buildings across the street are slated to be demolished and their residents "rehoused" elsewhere. Lily tries to befriend Jean, a resident resisting demolition, and when Jean is murdered, she becomes obsessed with finding the killer. Only gradually does the reader get a clear picture of Lily as she reveals more about herself and her troubles with other people, including the police. Alfred Hitchcock fans will appreciate the many nods to the famed director, from the obvious Rear Window scenario to Aiden's planned book on Hitchcock, but this novel, with no memorable characters other than Lily, fails to generate much suspense.)
