The Watcher in the Wall

By: Owen Laukkanen

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

A heart-pounding new Stevens and Windermere thriller from the award-winning author of The Stolen Ones and The Professionals.

Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint BCA-FBI violent crime task force have handled shocking cases before, but this one is different. Stevens' daughter, Andrea, is distraught over a classmate's suicide, but what the two investigators find is even more disturbing - an online suicide club of unhappy teenagers, presided over by an anonymous presence who seems to be spurring them on. Soon it becomes apparent that the classmate wasn't the first victim - and won't be the last, either, unless they can hunt down this psychopath once and for all.

©2016 Owen Laukkanen (P)2016 Recorded Books

Genuinely scary stuff. You are warned.

Where does The Watcher in the Wall rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the top 25%. Mr. Laukkenan and Mr. Ballerini are two very talented men, and each of the four books in this series is well-written and very well-performed. I do feel the responsibility to alert readers that this book is very violent and scary, and the subject matter is, frankly, repulsive. Not to give away too much, but our heroes are chasing a truly sick bastard who "works" on a suicide website. He gets teenagers who are interested in talking about the topic, and he malevolently steers them towards actually killing themselves. Everyone has webcams, and his real agenda is to have the complete suicide act recorded by the camera, for both audio and video. Then, if you can believe this, he sells the complete footage to some scumbum who resells them to truly disturbed individuals. This kind of thing may very well be not your kind of reading, so I wanted to warn you. The book is very well written and performed, but the material at hand is frightening and disgusting.

What did you like best about this story?

I think Mr. Ballerini's narration soars above everything else about the book. He is so adept at this kind of work that you just take it for granted that he will entertain and inform you in the best possible ways. The material itself is provocative, and certainly is worthy of discussing with friends and family members, if you choose to do that. Parents are likely to get truly freaked out by the possibility that predators of this sort are getting access to kids and teenagers via the web.

Which scene was your favorite?

I don't really have a favorite. I would say that the climax of the book is extremely well-written, and it is often very hard to write an ending that is as good as the 300 pages that precede it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No. This author doesn't have that power, at least not for me. He is an excellent writer, but just not an emotions-grabber.

Any additional comments?

If you are OK with the topic, then it is really worth your while to listen to this book. These two men have great gobs of talent, and it is always fun to read the work of people with such fantastic skills.

I hate it when authors make a story drag.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The narrator was excellent but the story dragged on and on.

What could Owen Laukkanen have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Plotted it better.

Which scene was your favorite?

I cannot think of many

Do you think The Watcher in the Wall needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No

Any additional comments?

I have liked this author's books in the past. And i will give him another go. But for me it was painfully constructed.

Edoardo Ballerini was the only thing that kept me listening as he is so good. I wish he would do Game Of Thrones :(

Not the author’s best

Several major technical flaws bothered me i.e. doctor patient confidentiality, seemly oblivious attempts to intercept a potential victim etc.

Worst case scenario of the affects of child abuse...

First, Edoardo Ballerini does a Fantastic job narrating this book. He seems very connected with the characters and gets all the little nuances.

This book is really good. The protagonists are from the Windermere and Stevens series which is always an interesting read. The books often reference previous books but don't necessarily need to be read in the order the books were written. Each can be read as a stand alone.

The antagonist in this book is a grown man. As a child, both he and his sister were severely abused by their father. His sister hung herself- with his encouragement! Father goes off to prison for his bad deeds and the son found his niche for life.
Spring forward 20 years and there's a psycho on the internet encouraging depressed teens to kill themselves while he watches (and records without their knowledge) and promise that he is a teen who will also commit suicide right after them. I can't say anything else or it will spoil the story for anyone who wants to read this book.
This book is fast paced with plenty of suspense.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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Tough at first, but engaging later

Overall I ended up liking this book, but I found the opening chapters really tough to listen to - it's one thing to know that teen suicide is an ongoing problem, it's another to have it folded into the story so vividly at the beginning.

Pretty tedious

Completely implausible, characters were annoying and the reader even more so. This was a waste of a credit.