The Watcher

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He’s not off-the-radar, as it were, and so is soon referred by his GP and family friend, to see a psychiatrist. Martin is reluctant to undergo therapy, though. He cannot understand why he did what he did, but worries about doing it again, or something similar, so eventually agrees to help. That night, while Anna is asleep, he sets up her presents. He wraps some stuff, puts the food in the fridge, and he leaves the big present unwrapped. As well as Martin’s telling of the tale, there are excerpts from his diary as well as medical reports and telephone call logs from Dr Somerville. Both accounts greatly contradict each other and you read it wondering who exactly to believe.

This book throws more questions at you than answers. Ordinarily I’d find this frustrating; not that I need everything wrapped up perfectly, but a nice conclusion to a story is satisfying, most of the time.This book is labelled as a horror novel, but it really isn’t. Yes it has a couple of horrific scenes and is pretty disturbing throughout, but it’s definitely leaning more towards the fast-paced thriller label.

Dr Somerville is convinced Martin is unwell and being in therapy is the best course of action available. Well, he would wouldn’t he? I’m sure the dollar signs were lighting up right before his very eyes. Rightly or wrongly, this book is considered a "horror classic". Originally published in 1982, Penguin Books re-released it this year with a brand new eye-catching (pardon the pun) cover: Great husband as he is, he decides to surprise Anna on her birthday with a pile of presents, and a secret, mysterious box containing something truly wonderful. Anna is obviously troubled by his behaviour, but believes he’s in the best possible hands to try and help him with his troubles. He has a ton of stuff to bring home, several boxes, champagne, caviar. He’s going all out for her birthday.Martin Gregory is a regular guy. He has a loving wife, 2 dogs affectionally referred to as ‘the boys’, a good job, everything that many would consider to be perfect. Here, there is none of that. Right up until the end I didn’t know if Martin was genuinely crazy or whether this whole series of events was dreamed up by Somerville. It’s never explained and I sure didn’t get any subtle clues either way. Perhaps they were there, perhaps not. Maybe it is up for the reader to decide exactly what’s going on, and different people will have different interpretations on what actually happened. And isn’t that a great thing? Martin Gregory is in a hurry. He has arm loads of presents for his wife’s birthday. Martin just makes the train. The next morning Martin surprises his wife with a gift that she will not soon forget. Martin slaughters their dogs and leaves their corpses for his wife. Martin then leaves town.

While reading The Watcher, there was one true holy shit scene. Not because of something horrific, but because of just how well Maclean crafted, and wrote it, and laid it all out on a silver platter -- with a big, pretty bow. The narrative switches between first person past-tense to first person present-tense, sometimes paragraph to paragraph. At first I wondered whether the editor had had a day off at this point, but the switching really enhances the irrationality of Martin’s mental state. It doesn’t ‘flow’ like you’d expect, but reading the story told by a supposed mad man would never be coherent, would it? This review teeters on spoilery, but knowing a little about the plot will not hinder any enjoyment gained from this brilliant book.This book is going to stay with me for a while. Try as I may, I don’t think I’ll ever work it out. But am I really supposed to? I really can’t recommend this enough. Crazed mad man, or dude manipulated with psychotic precision? You decide. As I said, the plot is very different from what I expected. For me the first half of the novel dragged on a little bit and it didn’t really wow me, but the second half was really creepy. It’s not even what happens in the story but how Martin acts – as he’s getting more and more paranoid and mentally unstable, us readers feel less and less insecure because we have literally no idea what he’s capable of or what he might do next.