Someone Is Always Watching: 11/24/24

Someone Is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong (2023) is Saved by the Bell meets The Stepford Wives (1972), set in a town similar to Eureka. Not necessarily in the nuts and bolts of either plot but certainly in general vibes.

Blythe witnessed Gabrielle freak out in high school and murder the principal. She was hit over the head by her friend only to wake with no memory of what happened and Gabrielle away at hospital. Yet there are niggling inconsistencies in everyone's story and she begins to suspect something else is going on.

In her core friend group, there are also the twins: Tucker and Tanya, and Devon and Callum. Together they feel like they have the know how to find Gabrielle and figure out what's really going on. If they can stay alive long enough to solve the mystery.

Of all the Kelley Armstrong novels I've read recently, Someone is Watching reminds me of her earliest works, namely, Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising. This time, though, the big secret isn't paranormal powers. It's children who have witnessed death at a young age and are being used as lab rats by the adults who claim to love and care for them.

This novel also sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. Because of the relationship of the teens to the adult scientists, it's a scarecrow/minotaur traveler scenario (99). Their destination is uhoria (CC), both in an unknown past as well as an uncertain future. Their route there is the Blue Highway as represented by the roads that run through their town (33).

Five stars

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