Rating: 9
General Rating: Readers have come to expect a fast-paced thriller from Joshilyn Jackson and this doesn’t disappoint.
Skip factor: 0% skipping. (Um. This doesn’t happen often for me. I admit, sheepishly, that I normally skip a sentence or two or twenty.)
Who should read: Puzzle solvers who love thrillers, mysteries, a bit of romance, and one or two unique characters thrown in to coax an occasional smile out of us during all that fretting.
Summary: With My Little Eye is a hard-to-put-down thriller with an age-old actress-stalking protagonist and enough flare to make its storyline interesting. The writing is great overall. Perfect for suspense. Not too wordy. And just the right amount of dialogue.
There are lots of moving parts in this book to keep readers engaged. Actress Meribel Mills and her adopted daughter, Honor, flee Hollywood after a stalker sends “gifts” to Meribel. They move back to Georgia where Meribel once lived with her first husband. After a few weeks, Meribel feels eyes on her and believes her stalker has followed her. When a neighbor she meets in the coffee house, Cooper, befriends her and arrives at her apartment, dinner in hand, he finds a package at her door with several gifts. Meribel immediately knows the stalker has found her.
Enter several characters, ex-husband James, ex-LA boyfriend Cam, neighbor lady and daughter, back-alley homeless girl, and various others. Readers quickly jump on the who-dun-it wagon, pointing a finger from character to character, attempting to identify who her stalker, “Marker Man,” (because he signs his notes with flamboyant-colored, fruity-smelling markers) really is.
Without spoiling the plot, I’ll say the suspense the author created kept me turning pages. I tossed all my other books aside to quickly finish this one.
Jackson’s character development is exceptional. I loved Meribel; adored her daughter Honor (who was autistic, intelligent, clever, and humorous); liked Honor’s friends Sheila and Maxine; and felt the appropriate amount of suspicion for all others mentioned.
Because no book can be completely perfect, I’ll mention there is a not-so-believable coincidence. (Would the lives of Cooper and Marker Man intersect in real life?) Some unimportant deliberating and minor loose ends. (Prior marriage. Internet birthday party with LA friends. Meribel’s mother.)
Overall, a great read. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Would I read this author again? Absolutely. Again and again.
Read on!
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CJ Zahner is the author of The Suicide Gene, a psychological thriller; psychic thrillers Dream Wide Awake, Project Dream, and The Dream Diaries; and Chick Lit novels Friends Who Move Couches and Don’t Mind Me, I Came with the House. Zahner’s dream series novels were inspired by first-hand experiences. See the video of her 9/11 premonition here. Download her Beyond Reality Radio podcast here. Read her Shepherd link. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, or LinkedIn. Purchase her books on Amazon.