Book Review: WATCHED by CJ Lyons

For the last four years, sixteen-year-old Jesse Alexander has lived in fear. A cyber-stalker called “King” has already ruined his life, and the lives of many other kids, and now he has control of Jesse. Unless he submits to King’s demands, and the demands of King’s clients, terrible things could happen, not only to Jesse, but to his Mom and little sister. Of course, they have no clue why Jesse has to leave his laptop on every night, or why he must answer his phone, even if it goes off in the middle of a test. Jesse feels trapped, owned by King, locked into a life of humiliation and slavery with no way out. Until the a brown envelope arrives for him containing a phone and a note that simply says: “I can help.”

Yes, this is unusual–two book reviews in as many weeks. And this is not a book I thought I’d be raving about. King is the vilest kind of cyber-stalker: one who preys on children–kids who, in a moment of foolish carelessness, send pictures to friends that they ought not to have sent, or make a video they believe will only be seen by a few. Kids who can be controlled by threats to make the pictures public, or kids who can be easily manipulated by threats to their family if they don’t comply with King’s wishes.

I thought this would be an uncomfortable read, and it was. But Lyons makes it compelling by focusing on the kids. It’s their story, not King’s. This is about their fears, their desires, and their heroism. There are two main characters, Jesse and the person who sent the phone. CJ’s narrative switches between the two with Jesse’s story in the first person, and phone-sender’s in the third. I think there’s more to this than simply a device to help the reader keep track of who’s story we’re reading. Jesse’s situation is very personal and on-going; the threat to him is not just from without, but it’s from within, too. Phone-sender, on the other hand, has been through the ordeal, with the damage already done. But phone-sender is no less trapped, and is as much reaching out for help as Jesse. This a clever use of perspective to add to their characters.

The story is a thriller, so there are lots of moments of suspense. Despite the nature of the story, Lyons avoids any explicit discussion of what King demands of Jesse (or any of his other victims). Instead, you get the idea through implication, which is emotionally much more powerful than if she had spelled things out. The story is mostly about Jesse and phone-sender’s attempt to put an end to King, and free those who, like Jesse, are still trapped.

There’s a lot of depth and layers to this story that I’m not going into because I don’t want to spoil it. But if you’re a teen or a parent, this is a book you really ought to read. There’s some profanity, and, of course, the subject matter is a little mature for young teens. But with so many of our kids online, using social media, chat rooms, sending pictures, and so on, we need stories like this to help them develop wiser heads than we, as parents, ever wanted to think they would need. Books like this shouldn’t be necessary, but sadly they are. And I commend CJ for taking on this subject and doing it in way that is extremely readable, highly engaging, and very thought-provoking. An easy five Goodreads stars.