I See You by Clare Mackintosh – a review

As anyone with any vague interest in the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival will know, Clare Mackintosh really was the author of the weekend, her debut novel I let You Go having won the 12^th Crime Novel of the Year. Therefore it would have been criminal of me (I know it’s a clichéd pun but the old ones are often the best!) not to have picked up her newest novel to get signed at the festival. I See You was therefore on the top of my to read pile when I got home and I picked it up that night. Well that was my fatal error, as I couldn’t put it down after that.

I See You begins with Zoe seeing her picture in the classified section of the newspaper. Her boyfriend and teenage children say that it’s obviously a mistake and must just be someone who looks like her. Even her friends are insistent it is just a mistake. Zoe however isn’t convinced and soon finds out that she is not the only person being targeted with photos in the paper. We then meet Police officer Kelly who has been working on a case involving pick pockets on the tube. She believes that there may be some link to the newspaper picture and tries her hardest to be able to investigate.

It’s a difficult book to review without giving away any of the plot, and I think it is definitely a book that is most exciting to read without knowing what is going to happen. Suffice it to say I thought this novel was excellent. This really was a book that I couldn’t put down. Each time I thought I had guessed what was going on another twist would be thrown in and I would realise how wrong I was. The ending was good, although at first I was left a little flat by it, but once I’d finished everything suddenly made sense.

There is an interesting mix of characters, all of whom seem to be living normal mundane lives. It is this ‘normality’ that makes the whole premise of this book all the more disturbing. We are all creatures of habit, and have certain routines that we follow every day whether it be our walk to work, or where we buy our lunchtime sandwich. Yet that routine is exactly what makes Zoe a target in this book. Do you know who is watching you?

This was a fantastic novel that more than lived up to the award winning I Let You Go.  I definitely recommend I See You, if you are a fan of a twisty psychological thriller, best not read whilst on the tube though.