Someone Is Always Watching

By: Kelley Armstrong

Narrated by: Erica Anderson

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

2024 The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence - Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book, Nominated

Their lives are a lie. Their memories may not be real. A new young adult psychological thriller by #1 NYT bestselling author, Kelley Armstrong.

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?

©2023 Kelley Armstrong (P)2023 Tundra Books

Critic reviews

"A must-purchase rollercoaster ride that will have readers wondering if people and memories can be trusted." —STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal

"The mysteries on top of mysteries will keep the pages turning in this plot-driven thriller. . . . Mental potato chips, happily devoured." —Kirkus Reviews

"Armstrong explores fascinating questions of personhood, identity, and the role of memory in creating a sense of self. . . . [F]ans of mind-bending psychological thrillers will find a lot to love in this labyrinthine read." —Publishers Weekly

Interesting, to say the least…

Erica Anderson read Blythe’s parts perfectly, but she lost me multiple times with other characters, especially the male characters. I listen to a lot of books, but there were parts in this story that were difficult to get through based on the monotone make voices that droned on and on.

Story was unique, but characters are young and self-obsessed, it must work for the YA audience. Started off with a bang; I didn’t love the characters. I do love this author. Check out her other series, The Casey Duncan series, narrated by Therese Plummer. Absolute excellence!

Immediately interesting story!

This was a very enjoyable audio book. Full disclosure I have been a big fan of everything from Kelly Armstrong that I've consumed. This story was no let down! I love the way she creates hidden worlds within the real world, it is the exact type of fantasy that I crave from a book! On Instagram I believe she posted that this is a stand alone novel which is sort of disappointing because I really liked the story and wanted it to continue. On the other hand, it wraps up pretty nicely so that I won't spend the next three years wondering what the characters are up to, so if there ever were a sequel it would just be a nice surprise!
I would recommend this to anyone who is fascinated by mysteries and mental health complications. As someone who has experienced some struggles here and there, and as the sibling of someone with severe mental health battles, I appreciated the subtleties and respectful nature of the way the characters were presented.

Absolutely amazing!

This book completely captivated me. I could see everything play out in my head while listening to it. So many twists and turns, trying to figure out what is true and what isn't, who could be trusted, who will betray. A must read!

Ridiculous

SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING starts off average and quickly goes down hill. Have you ever heard the term from the sublime to the ridiculous? That’s SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING.

Not what you’d expect

I’ve read almost all of Kelley Armstrong’s books. This one is no where near as good as her normal work. The characters are all whining and it drags on.

Very disappointing don't waste your credits

I hated the narration and the story was very amateur. I love everything Kelley Armstrong does and was so disappointed in this. I know I am too old to be the target audience but the dialog was immature, the story was flat and the characters were terrible. The narrator was the absolute worst part. She would pronounce things differently like "starry" instead of story. The first few times they said starry I thought it was an inside thing that the characters invented until I realized she was saying story. The voices were monotone and so slow. She made a 15yo sound like an 8yr old. Just terrible. don't waste your credits or money on this.

The voice actors didn’t really hit it with this one.

Convoluted narration, ultimately an interesting story but between the weird voices and skipping around, took a lot away from it.

Lots of Potential, Not Done Well for Avid Readers

NO-SPOILER REVIEW:
Okay, I spent a long time thinking about how to review this book. This book did nothing for me. Like yes, it was interesting, but it was NOT good.

The concept was captivating, but it was executed very poorly. The title grabs your attention, and the first couple of minutes start off interesting enough that you’re captivated. But after a while, it doesn’t feel like you’re captive in the story anymore, more like you’re stuck. And you’ve made it this far, so you might as well finish.

Unfortunately, I figured out all the “twists” done to the very last reveal a couple of chapters in, so the entire book was just me waiting for the characters to catch up to what I figured out almost immediately. There was so much potential in different settings or characters that just never got used. Every character was predictable and one-dimensional. The author doesn’t describe her scenes well, either. There were so many scenes where the author would forget to mention what’s going on outside of the dialogue. I’d be listening to a scene and have to rewind to figure out, “When did she say they got out of the car?” *re-listens* “Oh, she didn’t, but they’d have to be walking outside for this to make sense”. And I want to imagine the scene in detail, not abstractly! Are they sitting, standing, who’s in the front seat and back? What can they see from where they’re sitting? Woah, that was a big reveal, how is the main characters taking this new load of information? Oh, apparently she doesn’t have to process it, because she responds right away!

If another author could take this exact same concept and rewrite it, that would be great. Maybe add some twists you can’t predict from listening to just the first three chapters would be nice.

Then, onto the narration. I think this narrator actually has a different accent but is attempting an American one. For the most part, it wasn’t bad at all, but there were enough times that the narration would take me out of the world completely that I have to write about it.
Words like “story” are pronounced “starry” or “tempels” is “tampels” and it DID bother me. Also, if it’s a noun, the stress should be on the first syllable (SUR-vey). If it’s a verb, it’s on the second syllable (sur-VEY). Just think that’s a useful but of info to know in the narrating profession!

Then, lastly, I’m sorry, but I hated the voice actress’ take on all the guys’ voices. She made me hate all the guy characters except for Callum and maybe Andre. They all sounded whiny or fake or like they’ll have throat cancer by the time they’re in their 30s. Focal fry is not a personality trait. And the nasality in Devon sounded like a stereotype of a character. Actually, Syd, Tucker, Devon and Tanya all sounded like stereotypes or like they were cartoon characters on an early-2000s kids show. I really struggled to like any of those characters because of that, and if I ever met people who spoke like that in real life, I’d avoid them at all costs.