Watching You: A Novel

Content Warning: This novel includes domestic violence, stalking, child abuse, the sexual abuse of minors, bullying, and death by suicide.

The next morning, Joey stands in the yard and stares at Tom’s house, overwhelmed by a mixture of guilt, lust, and jealousy. She visits the cemetery and confesses her feelings to her mother.

Jenna is concerned when Bess misses multiple days of school. Upon her return, she confronts her friend, and Bess says that she might be pregnant.

Joey doesn’t see Tom for several days. When Alfie requests Joey’s phone to take pictures of the Fitzwilliams’ walls, she offers to do it for him. She experiences a thrill from entering Tom’s private world. She meets Freddie, and Nicola guides her about the house, which is surprisingly shabby inside. The longer she stays, the less Joey likes Nicola, whom she mentally criticizes as racist and small-minded.

Bess continues to miss school, and Jenna struggles to locate her outside of school as well. She tracks her to a friend’s house, and the friend’s parent mentions that Bess was picked up by her father. Jenna knows this can’t be true because Bess doesn’t know her father.