Just One Look: A Novel

First of all, the story is told by Cassie Woodson, an unreliable narrator who is a crazy psycho reminiscent of the old Hitchcock characters. She has lost her job at a prestigious law firm and finds a temp position trolling through e-mails for a lawsuit at a new law firm. It pays the bills but doesn’t keep her mind occupied enough. For that, Cassie becomes engrossed in the emails between a partner at the new place and his wife. Forest Watts and his wife exchange emails frequently, discussing dinner parties and their daily lifestyle of the rich and famous. Cassie becomes obsessed with replacing Annabelle Watts in Forest’s life and schemes to do so. The book was pretty slow paced at first, setting the stage for Cassie’s cyber stalking and compulsion. Once Cassie started following the couple’s emails, the pace increased as did the tension, racing to a surprise ending. I would categorize this book as a psychological thriller with an unlikeable narrator, but I must say that I did somewhat sympathize with Cassie’s plight in life. She lost her job as a lawyer, was forced to come way down in the world as a temp, had no real love life and came from a dysfunctional family. So, although it is inexcusable that she was so evil towards Annabelle, conniving to replace her, it was also understandable. The one part that I really had a problem with were the emails themselves. I could not reconcile such private details being shared by a couple on work emails, so that made it hard for me to buy into the whole story. The plot was original but not particularly believable. The theme of the negative effect of social media on lives was prevalent and obvious. Fans of psychological thrillers and books like YOU will enjoy this book as long as you don’t expect a lot of realistic details. Disclaimer Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”