Book Review: "Watching John" by Christina Patterson

I saw this book on Facebook Reels, I know it's a new one for me. Immediately I was kind of interested because I was thinking about my next psychological thriller read anyway. I mean, what harm could it do? As long as it didn't shake me like Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry which absolutely terrified the living shite out of me, I'm sure I was going to be okay. Reader, this is a lie. I am not okay. Some of the themes in this book are pretty heavy. You have been warned.

Our narrator works in a computer repair shop when a wealthy man brings in his computer, requiring it to be fixed. This man is well-known amongst the area as are his family. The Washington DC area's big elites are frankly, untouchable. Yet, when our narrator takes his computer into the repair shop he finds striking and horrifying images and videos on there with an elite network of people, some even dead long ago, connected to what is essentially a CSA ring. The author drops us immediately into this story and honestly, we are horrified but not surprised. In the 21st century, we're used to rich people being absolutely terrible human beings - we're also used to them having 'rings' of abuse. But nonetheless, it is still frightening that some normal human being has discovered it.

Our narrator decides to take things into his own hands and confront this man. Yes reader, he stabs the guy. The problem he has now is that the rich guy didn't die and now, our narrator is just paranoid beyond belief. The claustrophobia of the novel as police begin to populate it here and there is something else. It's written very simply but it works. The chapters are short and yet, it still maintains an atmosphere of dread. We then learn the story about Claire. Claire is the narrator's sister who took her own life after years of CSA at the hands of their step-father, something their mother did nothing about. The author turns from telling us a psychological thriller to telling us a story of grief as the narrator gets deep into the missing piece inside himself because of his sister's death. He remembers things like the nickname she gave him, the way she would ask to sleep in his bed to protect herself and even the way they phoned each other the night she died.

Again, the author does a great job of teaching us about the motivations of our narrator, telling us the grief-ridden story of his sister. I know, it's never great to use female abuse as the motivation for a man to become a 'better person' but in this case, we don't actually know whether he's becoming a better person. Maybe he's becoming a more bitter person, but better is definitely subjective. As we move through the book, we are definitely confronted with that idea about complex morality. One thing that Dave, the store manager says to our narrator is that he shouldn't go chasing this guy because then that will drag him down to the level of the elites in this business. He states that morality is a slippery slope and these things aren't always the same. I can understand this but any good and willing person would want to do the same thing to people who abuse kids. The fact that the intended victim lived afterwards though, that really makes you wonder about things.

The terse writing of the book definitely works. It creates a sense of paranoia and we get the feeling we are only being told things that we're allowed to know. I don't know about you, but there is something almost frustrating about not having every single bit of information. But then again, this frustration fuels the psychological thriller in ways that only work if the author does it with purpose. I feel like there's a lot of purpose here. It's not just about pacing, it's about perspective, it's about teaching us about morality and its complexities.

I know I haven't told you everything about this book but if I reveal everything it will really spoil the book. Just take my word on it, it is a brilliant book with so many different layers of meaning.