I See You - Clare Mackintosh

Okay, so someone who loves you gave you a gift certificate to a bookstore - nice! And you're debating what to spend it on. I have the answer and you will not regret it - you need to pick up, pre order, download or listen to Clare Mackintosh's newest novel - I See You.

Clare's first novel, I Let You Go, was a runaway success. (my review - I loved it!) There is always that little bit of me that wonders if an author can successfully follow up such a fantastic first novel. Well, as much as I loved I Let You Go, this new book is even better.

Set in Britain. Zoe rides the same train, sits in the same seat, sees the same travellers and walks the same route to work every day. Killing time one day, she peruses the local paper while riding the train. And sees her own photo in the personal ads section with a link to a website called FindTheOne.com. Stunned, Zoe convinces herself it's just someone who looks like her. But she keeps checking the paper and each day there's a photo of a different woman in the same ad. Digging deeper, Zoe finds that some of those women have been the victims of various crimes, including murder.

Ahh! What a great premise! Mackintosh provides plenty of suspects to choose from - pretty much everyone who is riding the train, her boss, neighbours, acquaintances - really it could be anyone tracking Zoe and the other women. (And at this point I stopped to wonder how much of a creature of habit I am.....) The watcher is given their own voice every so many chapters - and it's quite chilling.

Mackintosh keeps the reader on their toes, adding in another turn of events, another question and another suspect. And yes, I found myself shouting out loud at Zoe quite often - the equivalent of the movie watching 'don't go in the basement!'

I enjoyed the character of Kelly, a cop who joins the police investigation - she's flawed, driven and intelligent. Always my fave type of cop character. Mackintosh spent twelve years on a police force in Britain and her insider knowledge adds much to this character and the investigation.

Mackintosh ends things with one last twist after what I thought was the answer to the whodunnit. It's absolutely perfect - and nope, didn't see it coming! I See You is the first book out of the gate for me for 2017 and I know it will be one of my top reads for the year.

I See You is original and oh so addictive - it was a one day in my jammies read over the Christmas holidays. Read an excerpt of I See You.