Someone Is Watching You by Tess James-Mackey Review

Title: Someone Is Watching You

Author: Tess James-Mackey

Genre: YA Thriller

Publisher: Hachette/ Hodder Children's Books

Pages: 320

Release Date: 2 February 2023

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Hello fellow book lovers, today I'm sharing with you all my review for Someonee Is Watching You by Tess James-Mackey. An atmospheric and plot twistingly creepy YA Thriller that takes toxic friendships and teenage insecurities to a whole (and rather terrifying) new level!

Synopsis

 An abandoned prison. A deadly game. How far would you go for a dare?

Nia would do anything to win the approval of her boyfriend Scott and his friends, especially mean girl Olivia. When Olivia dares Nia to explore an abandoned prison, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to prove herself. Facing dark tunnels, distant noises and creepy mementoes left behind by incarcerated criminals will surely all be worth it.

But it isn't long before Nia and her little sister, Kayla, find themselves trapped inside. And then Kayla vanishes.

Suddenly, this feels like more than a game gone wrong. Someone is hellbent on making Nia and Kayla the prison's last inmates ...

Review

This was such a creepy and thoroughly addictive thriller that really enjoyed! It takes the universal teenage need to belong and twists it into a ferociously intense and gripping tale of toxicity, bullying and that (universally relatable) teenage conundrum of wanting to be liked.

Given the atmospheric and deeply unsettling location, it’s no surprise that I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails to the quick and hoping that Nia and her adorable little sister would survive.

The opening scene was definitely quite dark and really sets the tone for what’s about to take place. I loved the overlying sense of dread that surrounds Nia (and all her dubious actions that lead her to the prison.) the it was soo deliciously intense!

I can’t say I was all that fussed about popularity when I was Nia’s age , but her the struggle with insecurity is definitely something that’s universal (we’ve all felt it at some point in our lives.) And for me, that made Nia such a relatable protagonist. It was also what scared me the most! Deep down we all wonder what we’d be willing to do in certain scenarios (or at least I do) and to see how easily (and quickly) a situation can escalate to something far darker was incredibly spine-chilling.

Also, as a history nerd, I loved that it’s based on an actual former prison—and definitely helped in upping the creep factor for me (I did a Google search and the tunnels look especially daunting.)

I LOVED the pacing, which was surprisingly quick despite nearly every page dripping with suspense and tension-filled moments of reflection that gave us snap shots into Nia life in the months and weeks before the book takes place—scenes which really made me love Kayla and want to wrap her up and protect her at all costs.

I can’t say anything else without spoiling any of the plot, but I know that if you love pacey, YA thrillers and Karen McManus’s One Of Is Lying then you definitely don’t want to miss Tess James-Mackey’s chilling and utterly suspenseful debut.

And a huge thank you to Jasmin at Hachette Children’s for the wonderful proof.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

About The Author 

After growing up in rural Shropshire, Tess James-Mackey set out to explore the world and find her place in it. She quickly rushed straight back to Shrewsbury when she realised she'd been where she belonged from the start. She now lives in a quiet suburb with a noisy partner and daughter, two extremely noisy cats, and a less noisy tortoise.

She spent years mucking out and getting trampled on by horses, before finally deciding she might prefer a less precarious office job. Between analysing insurance risk, she writes teens into terrifying situations inspired by her lived experiences.

When she's not allowing her mind to wander to dark and twisty places, she pursues more wholesome activities, like growing mediocre vegetables in her garden, camping with her daughter, and even riding the odd horse.

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