It is so disappointing when you have an author that you have read almost all of their catalog and have really enjoyed their books, only to read their newest release and just be so let down. That is how I feel about Heather Gudenkauf's newest release Everyone is watching. I remember a time where I could not get enough of her books, The Weight of Silence, Little Mercies, These Things Hidden, and Missing Pieces were all such great reads, well written with complex characters and plot. Everyone is Watching seemed like it was gonna be another one to add to the LOVE it pile, but it fell so flat for me. I was entertained and finished it all in a matter of days, but there were no complex characters in Everyone is Watching, in fact there is not one character that I was could even remotely feel something towards. I mean Marie was probably the most likely character, if I had to choose, that I liked. But only because she was a mother to a sick child. Then the ending.. what was that all about!? It was sloppy, rushed, and tied with a child's bow who is just learning to tie their shoes. 

In Everyone is Watching, you meet a rag tag cast of characters who receive an email invite them to join a new and mysterious reality show, One Lucky Winner, where the winner could walk away with 10 million dollars. Only known as The Best Friend, The Boyfriend, The confident, The assistant, The Executive, and the Senator. It becomes clearer throughout the book that this was no random selection of contestants, but a cruel and calculated move to bring them all together by the creator of the show Cat James. Cat wants to remain behind the scenes and not have anyone know that she is the developer, having her personal assistant Fern take over hosting duties. What are the rules to this game you ask, there are no rules, along with no set time that the show will air. Instead mysterious social media alerts will be sent out letting viewers know to tune into the challenges, that are dark, twisted, and could possibly cause serious harm to the contestants. But it becomes clear to the challengers that something is afoot. Where is all the crew? The Cameras? The creator of the show? Is there even a 10 million dollar prize? Tune in to One Lucky winner to find out. 

Like I stated earlier, despite there being a gaggle of characters, they all fell flat. There was not enough positive background to make you like the characters, and I get it the point of these characters are to be flawed, to be non likeable, untrustworthy, due to them having ties to the creator. But you would think that Heather Gudenkauf would want the reader to be left with someone in the story that they liked or what was the point of reading this? And that is exactly how I feel. I spent all this time reading your book and NOT ONE character was redeemable at the end. Even when a character at the end did something that could be considered redeemable, I audibly said "that's it, after all that, that is what you leave this other character with"!? 

I will still read Heather Gudenkauf's novels, as this is the first one that I didn't enjoy, I just hope this is a fluke and that her future books move my soul like the ones I have previous read. Don't get me wrong, Everyone is Watching is entertaining and if you don't care about deep plots, or richly written characters and you only care to be mildly entertained, then go ahead and read Everyone is Watching. Just know you will not get anything out of it other than mild entertainment.