Murder. Corporate espionage. Hollywood. Environmental concerns. Unbridled action. How could this novel go wrong? It’s chockfull of everything that a reader of thrillers could ever want. And it delivers! They Were Watching, Gregg Hurwitz’s story of screenwriter Patrick Davis, whose encounter with a bad boy movie star leads to his getting embroiled in one of the most complicated and fascinating plots I’ve read in quite some time, is breathtaking. Every turn (and that’s also literally, since much of it takes place in the hills above Hollywood) leads to a twist. I found myself asking “what next?” so much that I kept reading, and reading, and reading, and reading. My nightly pre-slumber book sessions were tripled in time, reading until I could no longer stay awake. I had to finish this book, and despite the death of at least one character I had come to love, the ending was both satisfying and enjoyable. I’m glad I’ve discovered Hurwitz, and from a Facebook recommendation, no less. Facebook friends can post banality and triviality sometimes, but sometimes they can lead you to jewels, like Gregg Hurwitz. This was a thrilling book, the first part of this book develops slowly and very methodically, it creates a paranoia in you as the read. Hurwitz does a great job bringing you into these characters life, he catches you up on everything that had happened up to that point and you feel invested in these people very early. Then you add in the all the paranoia of someone who can see to enter your life at will and manipulate you any way they want. The plot pulls you along nicely from there, one of the great things Gregg Hurwitz does here is making you think like the main character, you understand his reasoning most time, you can sympathize with him and you could see yourself making the same decisions.I don't want to give away any plots details, there are alot of twists and turns and they are worth experiencing and I would have hated to have any of them ruined for me. But I do have to talk about the plot in general, not in specifics, to relay my one real complaint. At some point you are really left scratching you head, suddenly everything seems really stupid. At some point it is going to seem like the people setting the main character up are using a nuclear bomb to kill a ant hill. Hurwitz does a passable job trying to explain how there are billions of dollars at stake, to justify the level of the setup, but when you think about it still doesn't work. It still feels like someone burned down the barn to get rid of rats. That is my only complaint though, this would be a 5 star book without that complaint, because that complaint carrys on long after you close the book.
What do You think about Dan Sterft Ze (2011)?
It's currently on my Kindle behind 3 or 4 others; I'll get there soon, hopefully!
—Bien
A fun read- lots of suspense that keeps you turning pages.
—Tom
