Battle of the Books is a new series on Simply Angela where I read two books that feature similar plot devices and see which one I think is the stronger book. I’m hoping that this will be a fun way to tackle my TBR pile mountain, which is getting out of control. This will be a new monthly feature.
For the first Battle
of the Books, the featured books are Watching
You by Lisa Jewell and Such a Quiet
Place by Megan Miranda.
Themes featured in both books
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Murder
Ø
Idyllic neighborhoods
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People watching/being watched
Ø
Multiple points of view
Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighbourhoods in
Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not
the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But
it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching
you.
As the headmaster credited with turning around the local
school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his
new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly
charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s
teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for
MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around
his father.
One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same
street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems.
For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow
classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been
deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking
her.
Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her
diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher
named Mr. Fitzwilliam…
Publisher: Atria | Genre: Suspense | Source: Publisher | Rating: 4
How can you get away with murder when the entire neighborhood
is watching?
When someone is murdered in their kitchen, the neighborhood
of Melville Heights is in shock that something this heinous could happen in the
idyllic community but it soon becomes known that everyone there is hiding
something and someone has been watching.
As the lead up to the murder is looked back on, it soon becomes apparent
everyone has something to hide and everyone is a suspect.
I’m normally not a fan of Lisa Jewell’s writing but I found
myself fully immersed in this book. Was it the best? No. Was I shocked when the
murderer and the motive was revealed? Not really. Yet I did enjoy this one.
There a lot of characters in this one and they all revolved
around the new headmaster, Tom Fitzwilliam. There’s rumors swirling about the
reason he left his last position and one of his new neighbors seems to recall
Tom from her past and, while her recollections are written off as her mental
illness, she’s certain there’s something shady going on and she’s doing her
best to keep her daughter, Jenna, away. There’s also Joey, his next door
neighbor, and there’s no denying she’s more than attracted to the new
headmaster. She’s just returned home from working abroad and she’s not exactly
happy with her new marriage. As people come and go, Freddie, Tom’s son, sees
and records it all.
I found the majority of the characters to be likable but I
questioned their actions. They all had their own issues and most of them were
self-destructive. There’s a lot of false leads in this one, a lot of wrong
impressions. I had to dig around to find the truth buried underneath each story
as each perspective offered something new.
While the murder occurs at the start of the book, the
victim’s identity isn’t revealed until much later, so not only was I trying to
piece together events I was also trying to figure out the victim’s identity. I
did have an idea of what was going on from early on in the book and had a
feeling how this would end, which ended up being right.
There is a bit of repetition in this one as the characters
are recounting events that happened before the murder but I didn’t mind it in
this one as each account offers something new. It also has a slight mixed media
feel as there were snippets of police interviews throughout the book.
Overall, this was an interesting book told through multiple
points of view. I do recommend this if you’re a fan of suspenseful mysteries
that had a slight police procedural feel.
Welcome to Hollow’s Edge, where you can find secrets,
scandal, and a suspected killer—all on one street.
Hollow’s Edge use to be a quiet place. A private and idyllic
neighborhood where neighbors dropped in on neighbors, celebrated graduation and
holiday parties together, and looked out for one another. But then came the murder
of Brandon and Fiona Truett. A year and a half later, Hollow’s Edge is
simmering. The residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, confronted
daily by the empty Truett house, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that
implicated one of their own. Ruby Fletcher. And now, Ruby’s back.
With her conviction overturned, Ruby waltzes right back to
Hollow’s Edge, and into the home she shared with Harper Nash. Harper, five
years older, has always treated Ruby like a wayward younger sister. But now she’s
terrified. What possible good could come of Ruby returning to the scene of the
crime? And how can she possibly turn her away, when she knows Ruby has nowhere
to go?
Within days, suspicion spreads like a virus across Hollow’s
Edge. It’s increasingly clear that not everyone told the truth about the night
of the Truetts’ murders. And when Harper begins receiving threatening notes,
she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else becomes the
killer’s next victim.
What happens when the neighborhood watch has it wrong?
When a family is murdered in this idyllic neighborhood, the
residents are quick to post security camera footage on their community message
board convicting one of their own. Although when Ruby is released after just 14
months instead of 20 years due to the conviction being overturned and shows
back up in Hollow’s Edge, the close group of friends starts to realize one of
them is lying.
This was way too long and repetitive, especially when it was
filled with unlikable characters. It could have easily been turned into a
novella without losing any of the important content, which would have been more
enjoyable.
While this one was easy to read, it was very slow to start
and didn’t really pick up until the last bit of the book. I have a feeling if I
would have put this one down, I wouldn’t have picked it back up because it’s
not the most memorable of books. I can’t even remember any of the characters
other than Ruby and Harper.
What I do remember is the questionable actions of the
characters. Harper was constantly hiding evidence. Why was a cop allowed to
question Ruby when he lived in the neighborhood and had a relationship with
Ruby? Why/how was Ruby even charged for this crime when there wasn’t even circumstantial
evidence. I had a lot of questions that wasn’t answered.
The only bit of action in this book was the bit towards the
end and the reveal, which ended up being a massive letdown. I’m not a fan of
major reveals being something that could have been resolved with a simple
question and, sadly, that’s what this ended up being.
Overall, this one missed the mark for me. It was the first
Megan Miranda book that I’ve manage to finish but I just don’t think she’s an
author for me.
When I picked these books for the first Battle of the Books,
I knew from their descriptions that they were going to be similar. I didn’t
realize just how similar. Plot-wise they’re the same: a murder in a picturesque
community, close-knit neighbors, large cast of characters, and people
watching/being watched. There’s also a
lot of repetitiveness.
The difference comes down to the likability of the
characters and the delivery. The repetitiveness in Such a Quiet Place felt
more like filler whereas the repetitiveness in Watching You added information and filled in the blanks. The motive
in Such a Quiet Place was lacking
where the motive in Watching You was
believable.
While I’m normally not a fan of either author, I’ve dnf’d
the majority of the books I’ve started by both authors, I think that Lisa
Jewell delivered a more believable, readable, and enjoyable novel.
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