Book Review: Everyone is Watching | Heather Gudenkauf

This is my spoiler-free mini-review of Everyone is Watching, a psychological thriller by Heather Gudenkauf. I had a lot to say about this book so feel free to head over to my spoiler-review to hear more about the ending and what I really thought of this book.

What is Everyone is Watching about? (official teaser)

The Best Friend. The Confidant. The Senator. The Boyfriend. The Executive.

Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.

When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show—someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are…

What were my thoughts?

I was interested in the premise. I love a good reality competition show! The live stream aspect is tough for contestants but fun for viewers (who doesn’t like a bit of voyeurism?). The premise reminded me of Big Brother mixed with Catherine Steadman’s The Family Game. A creepy property cut off from the world (except for the live streams around the globe) and a group competing for one million dollars? Let the games begin, as they say…

The book was fine—I’ll get into the spoilers on my full review so I can really discuss my thoughts. If you haven’t read the book and don’t want spoilers, you can stay on this review. I have seen glowing recommendations to try Heather Gudenkauf’s books and I had to wonder if this isn’t the best example of her writing. I didn’t necessarily dislike it, but it had more than a few flaws. Go in preparing to majorly suspend all disbelief. This book doesn’t just go off of the rails, it barely starts on the rails. But that is what makes it fun, right? Only sort of…

Overall, I found the characters to be bland and the twists to be beyond predictable. I get into detail about that over on the spoiler page, but if you don’t want spoilers just know that there isn’t much shock about what is going on. The hints dropped are not really hints, they are beacons lit on fire blazing right off the page at the reader. The premise was fun but the book was anti-climatic. I’ll definitely try another book by this author because I’ve heard great things, but this wasn’t great to me.