Watching Edie
by Camilla Way Edie is pregnant and alone when suddenly Heather is back in her life. And for Edie, this is not a good thing. Sixteen years earlier, Edie escaped from the small town of Frenton to get away from Heather and the memory of one terrible night.
Heather meets Edie in high school when she moves to Frenton, the town where Heather lives with her parents. Edie, the wild child, is nice to overweight, studious, socially awkward Heather and soon Heather is obsessed with her. In the beginning, the reader learns that Heather's parents moved to Frenton to escape gossip in their former town.. Something happened to Heather's little sister and somehow Heather was involved. Edie lives with her mother who doesn't seem to care what Edie does. Heather is thrilled to have beautiful Edie as her only friend and fantasizes that they will always be together. But as Edie starts making new friends and becomes involved with Connor, she begins to ignore Heather. Connor is bad news. He is abusive to Edie and soon Edie is involved with sex, drinking and drugs. Heather will do anything to save Edie from Connor and soon the story takes a dark turn.
The story alternates viewpoints from "Before", when they were teenagers, to "After", the present time. As it slowly unfolds, we begin to see how obsessed Heather really is with Edie. When she suddenly contacts Edie after sixteen years, Edie is distraught and ignores her phone calls and letters. However, Heather seems to have the knack of showing up when Edie needs help. After the birth of her baby, Edie is sick and Heather is only too happy to help. It is easier for Edie to let her help because she is too sick to cope. Suddenly Heather is taking care of her baby and taking over her life. As Edie slowly gets better, she begins to see what Heather is doing and she wants her to leave. Heather says that she has nowhere to go because her parents have kicked her out but Edie insists that she must leave. When Edie's apartment is ransacked and she sees Heather following her, she is terrified for the safety of her baby.
What really happened all those years ago that caused Edie to flee from Heather and Frenton? Is Heather as mentally unstable as her mother tells Edie she is? Did Heather harm her little sister? The author pulled me into the story with its twists and turns and I didn't expect the ending. If you like psychological thrillers, you will enjoy Watching Edie.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to review.
