Wednesday 2 January 2013

ERICA SPINDLER - WATCH ME DIE (2011)


Blurb..........

In Erica Spindler’s thrilling psychological drama Watch Me Die, one woman’s journey to recovery becomes her worst nightmare…

Stained-glass restoration artist Mira Gallier had it all. A career she loved. An idyllic marriage. A bright future in her favorite city. Then Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and Mira lost everything—even her husband, swept away by floodwaters, never to be seen again…

Years later, Mira has finally healed and is ready to start over. But her fate is once again altered by forces beyond her control. Instead of a killer storm, she faces a psychopath determined to shatter her life once more. First, church windows that she restored are vandalized—with haunting religious scripture—and a priest is found dead at the scene. Next, New Orleans is rocked by a series of murders that seem to be linked to her…and the police can’t help but wonder if the murderer isn’t Mira herself.

As Mira begins to unravel under pressure from all sides, she has no one left to trust. One by one, the people in Mira’s life are targeted—and soon it’s clear that the killer has been saving her for last. And now there’s nowhere left for her to run…

Well this turned out to be a bit of a surprise package. My wife must have read this 2 or 3 months ago, and to be truthful I have been trying to avoid it. You see I read one of Spindler’s books previously and I can only just say now that I’ve recovered from it; Breakneck in January, 2011..........not a pleasant experience from memory.

Anyway this was fairly good and to give the author some praise she steadily cranked up the tension throughout the book. Short, sharp chapters helped keep the narrative flowing at pace, and with a hundred-odd pages to go, I conceded to my wife I was really enjoying it, and whilst having some suspicions as to who the killer was, I wouldn’t have bet on it.

I continued to enjoy it, and even got up an hour earlier than usual - 5am not 6am, to finish the last 30-odd pages. When the protagonist had been revealed maybe 45 pages from the end, the book did slightly lose its hold on me.....but hey I enjoyed it far more than anticipated. Give it another couple of years and I’ll be ready for a third Spindler read!

4 from 5   

Another second-hand book purchase from Willen Hospice! (Not many authors get rich from me reading them! I’ll try a new one next time!)

1 comment:

  1. Glad you got a payoff for being open-minded, Col. It sounds like a good story, and the pacing pretty much worked, too - always a plus. That's the way it is with some authors - one book doesn't exactly inspire, but another is good.

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