While Nobody Is Watching

May 1, 2021
In this engrossing psychological thriller, a woman is beset by intense PTSD symptoms and by a stalker who invades more and more of her carefully constructed life. Lindsay Ryan served for 13 years in the Irish Army; her last posting, as part of a UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights, ended with an improvised bomb that killed two and blew apart Lindsey's psyche. She now lives in the city of Cork, working at a community center for at-risk youth. Lindsey believes she's being watched. A series of ransom-like notes with cut-out letters left on her door, and photos taken of her at a community-center campout, all with escalating threats, confirm her suspicions. Dunne's portrayal of Lindsey's efforts to keep PTSD at bay, which include both positive and incredibly self-destructive actions to get her out of her own head, is masterful, combining sensitive characterization and great plotting, with the stalker's moves throwing Lindsey more and more off-balance. Dunne, herself an Irish Army veteran formerly attached to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Lebanon, brings a great deal of background credibility to the story.

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