Though she’s been writing for a long time, I only came across Kelley Armstrong when I received an ARC for A Rip Through Time last year—and though I don’t usually read mysteries, I powered through it and loved it. I told myself I wanted to read more of her stuff, especially standalones, so when I was offered the chance to read Someone Is Always Watching, I jumped right in, despite the synopsis not necessarily drawing me in.

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?

I’m taking a bit of a different approach with this review than I have lately because I truly don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. I did not expect the book to go in the direction it did, and at first, I didn’t think I was going to like it, but as soon as some pieces started coming together, I was hooked! There are many red herrings and so many pieces that you have to put together that you’re constantly looking for clues. And then, to top it off, the characters are interesting as well. I really, really enjoyed it. I do wish we got a little bit more information at the end about the company their parents work for (it seemed not fully fleshed out), but that’s my only complaint, really. Kelley Armstong is an amazing storyteller.

*If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read the quote I’ve highlighted below.*

4 STARS

“We experienced trauma, and the experiment tried to erase that. But wiping our memories didn’t erase the trauma. It left it there, free-floating, stealing our ability to deal with it. You can’t deal with something you don’t remember.” —Kelley Armstrong, Someone Is Always Watching

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Tundra Books for the advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.