The Watcher: A Novel of Crime
Who would want to kill Carla Roberts, a quiet, retired divorcée with few friends and presumably no enemies? And what could Carla possibly have in common with ­middle-aged wife and mother Gillian Ward? If there were a connection, surely Samson Segal would know about it. An unemployed 30-year-old living with his brother and sister-in-law, Samson is enamored of the Ward’s close-knit family and spends a large part of his day watching Gillian. When Gillian’s husband is murdered, Samson is a prime suspect. He’s protected by an unlikely source—Gillian’s lover, who is her daughter’s tennis coach and a former police officer dismissed for sexual misconduct. In Link’s skilled hands, seemingly disparate story lines come together in a nail-biting climax. This is the second novel (following The Other Child, 2013) by a best-selling author in her native Germany to be released in the U.S. Fans of Tana French’s twisty crime novels will devour this suspenseful read. --Karen Keefe