REVIEW: I See You

“If it’s just the two of you. Just you, and whoever’s behind you. Whoever is chasing you. How fast could you run then? It doesn’t matter how fast. Because there’s always someone who can run faster.”

Why Did I Read This Book?

This was Beth’s Book Club’s Bonus Book for the month and I was so happy because I just love a good thriller. I had never read any of Clare Mackintosh’s books before but when this book was announced as the bonus book, everyone was raving about her and her other novels. After the last thriller we read being a little bit disappointing, I was hoping for good things from this book.

What Did I Think?

I think that I See You has everything a good thriller should have. I was hooked by the first chapter and I just wanted to keep reading so I could gather all the clues I needed to work out the culprit. 

Now that I know the ending, I think there are little (tiny, I must admit) clues that Clare Mackintosh hides in the book. Once I finished the book, I could not believe the MASSIVE twist at the end, but since looking back on the book and discussing it during the book club meeting this morning, I can now see the little hints telling us who it was. 

The book is told from both Zoe’s and Kelly’s perspective. This was a little confusing at first and it took awhile for my brain to get around the fact that chapters were being narrated by different characters. Zoe is terrified after seeing her picture used in an advert for a dating agency. A dating agency with a very different agenda, as the women pictured in the newspaper adverts are either robbed, raped or killed days afterwards.

This is where the character of Kelly plays an important role. With a police background and a job in helping to solve and prevent transport crime, Kelly is ultimately the only character who believes Zoe’s story and seems to be the only one taking her seriously. 

This part of the story really annoyed me. How the people closest to Zoe didn’t believe her. How her husband and children just thought she was being overdramatic or going crazy. How her boss told her to take some time off work because her mind was elsewhere. If something creepy like this was happening to me, and it was being investigated by the police, I would expect my family to operate as my support network and take my allegations seriously. 

I believe that Kelly’s narrative was important to the story because it wasn’t for her, would the investigation have ever gone ahead? However, I did find myself skim reading her chapters in order to find out what happened next in Zoe’s. 

Clare Mackintosh also does a really great job of offering different perspectives of how victims of abuse, violence and criminality think. You may just assume that every victim wants justice, but some just want to try and erase that memory/event from their story. To move on and live life how they want without having to fight for justice every waking moment.

“Every victim deals differently with what’s happened to them; some are hell-bent on revenge, others want justice, some are looking for closure and some…some just want to move on.”

My opinion of who the culprit was changed throughout the book. I got a dodgy feeling from one of the characters from the very first chapters and events in the book were just providing more and more ammunition for my thinking being correct. I was even boasting to my boyfriend that I could be a police detective because I had guessed it right. Yet how wrong I was. Not only once but twice. 

I really did enjoy this thriller and if you like a book that keeps you guessing, that makes you change your mind with every chapter, then this is for you. I love the way that Clare Mackintosh writes and I cannot wait to read her other books to see if they are just as good.

“Variety is important. Even the finest steak becomes dull when you eat it all the time.”

I See You

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.