Book Review: Someone is Always Watching by Kelly Armstrong

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: Someone is Always Watching
Author: Kelly Armstrong
Publisher: Tundra
Publication Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780735270923

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Synopsis:
Blythe and her friends—Gabrielle, and brother and sister Tucker and Tanya—have always been a tight friend group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. But an act of violence has caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker . . . and unexpected bursts of aggression and disturbing nightmares have started to become more frequent in their lives. The strange happenings culminate in a shocking event at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened. Cracks in their friendship, as well as in their own memories, start appearing, threatening to expose long-forgotten secrets which could change the group’s lives forever. How can Blythe and her friends trust each other when they can’t even trust their own memories?

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Kelly Armstrong’s Someone is Always Watching is a YA thriller that, in my opinion, is one of those books that’s just ok. Not bad, not great, but somewhere in between. Following teens in their journey to get to the heart of their friend’s mysterious behaviour, it delves into the realm of scientific intervention, mental health, and personality. At the root of the story is an incredibly interesting concept (no spoilies here), but beyond that concept, the story itself falls flat, almost playing it safe in how far it goes to try to create a suspenseful and heart-stopping story.

It’s really hard to review this book without giving away too much of the plot, but I’ll do my best. Armstrong has a big reputation in the YA world, and I have only jumped on this bandwagon once or twice, but every time, I feel like she just misses the mark. This book had great potential in the first few chapters with creepy vibes, intense mystery, threat of violence, etc. But the characters catch on to the mystery quite quickly which completely deflates the suspense and eliminates that tension that typically drives a thriller forward. From then on out, you’re just reading to get final resolution, but it won’t have you on the edge of your seat.

In addition to a letdown of a plot, this book is full of a whole host of characters whose sole function is to drive the story forward. One of my biggest pet peeves is lack of character development and the insertion of unnecessary characters with no real purpose to the overall plot of the story. This book has characters whose only purpose is to provide one key element to push the story forward. We don’t get to know them as people, they are completely flat with no personality or development, and the worst crime of all is that they detract from the main point of the story. Their function could have easily been served by existing characters who could be written to be more robust and fully developed.

There is also this constant wariness surrounding one of the characters, Tucker. It’s repeatedly mentioned that he’s dangerous and should be avoided, though despite the reasons given by many characters for their hesitation towards him, I as a reader find it to be quite unbelievable that so many characters are so vehemently opposed to him based on his behaviour, and even his possibly violent past, given his constantly kind and stable character in the book. It’s one of those trope where he commits one grievous error (though completely understandable), and he’s painted as a complete and unredeemable villain. It begins to get annoying after a while that no matter how well he walks the straight and narrow path, there is no forgiving him for past deeds. There is a demonstrated lack of growth across all characters in the book, with the exception of Tucker and his best friend, the protagonist, Blythe.

I realize I sound like I really disliked this book, and that’s not entirely true. This book is easy to read, moderately entertaining, and for those looking for something simple and quick to entertain this summer, this book will certainly serve that purpose. I personally don’t think my life is any better or worse having read this one. In reading it, I was somewhat engaged by an entertaining concept, but slightly letdown by what feels like lazy writing. I hope you’ll enjoy it more than me!

Happy reading!