THEY'RE WATCHING by Michael David Wilson & Bob Pastorella
You'll recall that Night Worms was honored to share an exclusive Cover Reveal for THEY'RE WATCHING back in October. So we are more than thrilled to celebrate the book's release and success with a Side by Side Book Review from Mindi & Sadie.
Mindi's Review:
This book is a great example of how a reader can really dislike the protagonist, and still enjoy a novel.
Brian (the protagonist) moves to a new town to start a new job. He moves into an apartment building where he rather quickly finds a peephole into his neighbor's apartment next door. His neighbor also happens to be a beautiful woman who likes to dance nude every night, and Brian wastes no time in getting over the distasteful reality that he is spying on her, even though he repeatedly claims he isn't the kind of guy who would do that sort of thing. On his first night in his new home he is warned about the area, and he discovers that a lot of people mysteriously end up missing from the town. Even though he gets a threat on his first night there and then subsequently experiences enough weird things to make warning bells go off, he becomes so infatuated with his neighbor that he ignores everything else. Brian is the definition of bad choices, and while I didn't quite see that ending coming, I can't say I was totally surprised.
Even though Brian is a bit of dope, there are some other great characters in the book, most notably a private investigator named Ted. I have a feeling a lot of people who read this one will like Ted. And the tension is so high in this one that you find yourself unable to stop turning pages. I rather quickly stopped worrying about Brian, but that certainly didn't stop me from feeling a deep dread that this story wasn't going to turn out well for a number of characters. Brian has no clue who to trust, and that ends up being his downfall. It certainly made me feel paranoid every time he interacted with another character.
And about that ending...yeah, it's pretty great. So 4 stars from me. Mainly because I just couldn't find any sympathy for Brian and his plight. He certainly couldn't help himself.
Brian (the protagonist) moves to a new town to start a new job. He moves into an apartment building where he rather quickly finds a peephole into his neighbor's apartment next door. His neighbor also happens to be a beautiful woman who likes to dance nude every night, and Brian wastes no time in getting over the distasteful reality that he is spying on her, even though he repeatedly claims he isn't the kind of guy who would do that sort of thing. On his first night in his new home he is warned about the area, and he discovers that a lot of people mysteriously end up missing from the town. Even though he gets a threat on his first night there and then subsequently experiences enough weird things to make warning bells go off, he becomes so infatuated with his neighbor that he ignores everything else. Brian is the definition of bad choices, and while I didn't quite see that ending coming, I can't say I was totally surprised.
Even though Brian is a bit of dope, there are some other great characters in the book, most notably a private investigator named Ted. I have a feeling a lot of people who read this one will like Ted. And the tension is so high in this one that you find yourself unable to stop turning pages. I rather quickly stopped worrying about Brian, but that certainly didn't stop me from feeling a deep dread that this story wasn't going to turn out well for a number of characters. Brian has no clue who to trust, and that ends up being his downfall. It certainly made me feel paranoid every time he interacted with another character.
And about that ending...yeah, it's pretty great. So 4 stars from me. Mainly because I just couldn't find any sympathy for Brian and his plight. He certainly couldn't help himself.
*Look for my full review at SCREAM Magazine in 2021.
Michael David Wilson and Bob Pastorella are the co-hosts of a very successful podcast called THIS IS HORROR. They both talk so much about their experiences as writers, that it was only a matter of time this dream team would join forces on a collaboration. Michael David Wilson celebrated his debut novella THE GIRL IN THE VIDEO earlier this year. Check out my glowing five star review at Cemetery Dance. This is my first time reading the work of Bob Pastorella. It's my opinion that their two voices blended so seamlessly, I couldn't detect any obvious lines of demarcation.
The beginning of this book is perhaps one of the most gripping I've encountered this year. The story sucked me in immediately with its intensifying suspense and mystery. However, somewhere along the line, I began to feel a subtle shift in the pacing and the direction of the story that I'll get into with more detail for the SCREAM Review. My intention for this Side by Side with Mindi is to highlight the talents of both Michael David Wilson and Bob Pastorella and their inevitable rise to success if they continue on this trajectory. THEY'RE WATCHING is proof positive they have what it takes to make a big splash in the Horror industry separately of course and hopefully, in future collaborations. I'd love to know more about some of the climactic developments/revelations in this novella, so I'm suggesting an expanded universe with a spinoff story! Recommended for horror fans who love a suspenseful thriller and unpredictable consequences for unscrupulous behaviors.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars
Sadie Hartmann "Mother Horror"
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