Watching from the Dark
A Novel
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4.3 • 7 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
You never saw him. But he saw it all.
When a vibrant young woman is murdered while on a video chat, a small-town detective wades into a circle of friends and lovers with dangerous secrets—from the acclaimed author of the “enjoyably chilling” (The New York Times Book Review) She Lies in Wait.
Aidan Poole logs on to his laptop late at night to Skype his girlfriend, Zoe. To his horror, he realizes that there is someone else in her flat. Aidan can only listen to the sounds of a violent struggle taking place in the bathroom—and then the sound of silence. He is desperate to find out if Zoe is okay. But then why is he so hesitant to call the police?
When Aidan’s cryptic messages finally reach them, Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens and his team take the case—and discover the body. They soon find that no one has a bad word to say about Zoe, a big hearted young artist at the center of a curious web of waifs and strays, each relying on her for support, each hiding dark secrets and buried resentments. Has one of her so-called “friends” been driven to murder? Or does Aidan have the biggest secret of them all?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the prologue of British author Lodge's gripping if flawed follow-up to She Lies in Wait, a panicky unidentified man makes an emergency call because he's worried that his art student girlfriend, Zoe Swardadine, has been attacked just out of range of the webcam on which he was waiting to Skype with her. At Zoe's flat, the Southampton, England, police find her dead in the bathtub, an apparent suicide, but a few forensic clues suggest otherwise. When Det. Chief Insp. Jonah Sheens and his team delve into Zoe's life, they discover that, though the vivacious young woman appears to have been widely loved, almost everyone in her circle including her boyfriend harbors secrets they're dead set on protecting. If anything, Lodge creates almost too many suspects, on whom she casts suspicion in turn. As a result, the big reveal feels about as arbitrary as Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick. Until then, fans of psychological thrillers will be more than content.
