Second Life

Narrator Susan Lyons attempts to infuse energy into Watson's plodding thriller about a married woman who cheats on her husband with a stranger she meets online. When the affair turns ugly, Lyons ramps up the intensity of her performance to mirror the protagonist's desperation. However, the barely audible differences between characters in Lyons's delivery of dialogue, combined with the author's limited use of dialogue tags, make conversations difficult to follow. Additionally, the plot drags, creating, at best, apathy for the main character. Those reaching the story's conclusion will appreciate Lyons's delivery of the plot twists but aren't likely to care about the outcome. J.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

April 27, 2015
Julia Wilding, the narrator of bestseller Watson’s overstuffed second novel (after 2011’s Before I Go to Sleep), lives a comfortable middle-class life in London with her husband, Hugh, a cardiac surgeon, and their adopted son, 13-year-old Connor. In Julia’s younger and wilder days—she’s a recovering alcoholic—she was an art photographer, but now she’s content to take family portraits. Then tragedy strikes. Julia’s younger sister, Kate, is murdered in Paris, and she throws herself into catching Kate’s killer. Though the sisters used to be close, a difficult childhood and Kate’s often unpredictable ways came between them, but not before Julia and Hugh stepped in to care for Kate’s son—Connor is actually their nephew. Julia’s quest for answers leads her to a sleazy online dating website, where she initially masquerades as Kate and meets a mysterious man, Lukas, who may or may not have known her sister. Soon she’s embroiled with Lukas, as well as with Kate’s roommate, Anna, both of whom have the requisite secrets, which are unspooled at a glacial pace. Agent: Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh Literary Agency (U.K.).

May 15, 2015

Sisters Kate and Julia are so close that Julia adopted her baby sister's son Connor, after Kate gave birth at age 16. Kate's brutal murder leads Julia to uncover the shady acquaintances she never suspected her sister kept and a darkly erotic secret life she finds irresistible even as it starts to destroy her family's ability to trust her. VERDICT Watson's second thriller (after the best-selling Before I Go To Sleep) offers an exciting mix of sex, murder, and mystery to please adrenaline junkies. [See review on p. 78.--Ed.]

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015

Watson's debut, Before I Go To Sleep, has sold a half million copies in hardcover, paperback, and ebook combined in 42 territories since its 2011 publication and won the Crime Writers Association Award for Best Debut Novel. Here, when Julie discovers that her murdered sister had been living a second life in a dangerous corner of cyberspace, she hunts there for clues to the killer. Instead, she finds a sexual playground that gives her fantasies free rein, which maybe isn't so smart. With a 350,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
Anticipation will be high for Watson's second novel after the runaway success of his well-crafted, compelling debut, Before I Go to Sleep (2011). But expectations may need to be tempered for this uneven psychological thriller. Julia, an upper-class British photographer married to a surgeon. is devastated when she learns that her sister, Kate, has been murdered in Paris. She feels guilty about their last months of dissension, when Kate was demanding that Julia give Kate back her son, Connor, whom Julia adopted when Kate was unable to care for him. Now Julia is determined to find out what happened, especially when she learns that Kate was active in online chat rooms specializing in Internet sex. But she herself is soon pulled into a relationship that begins to feel dangerous and threatens the stability she has found with her husband and son after a dysfunctional adolescence. After a slow start, the second half of the novel picks up the pace, but Julia's naivete about the repercussions of her affair is hard to overlook. Still, Watson's many fans will be eager to pick this up.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Be prepared for demand based on the success of Watson's debut, which sold more than four million copies in more than 40 languages and was recently adapted into a movie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)