Under a Watchful Eye

I swear Adam Nevill's books need to come with tasting notes!

One thing I absolutely love about all of Nevill's work is his ability to truly assault the senses with descriptions of pestilence, corruption, decrepitude and pure filth. It's a factor in so many of his books and he captivates brilliantly the sights and smells of squalor and illness. It's a factor in many of his books but in 'Under A Watchful Eye' it's pushed to 100% and I love it!

'Under A Watchful Eye' is the story of a fifty year old successful horror writer called Seb Logan who is struggling to complete his latest book. Things start to go very bad for him when he encounters an old flat mate - an alcoholic ex-student from a privileged background who exploited him in his youth. Things start to go even worse when this person is no longer involved with his life...

The book is very clever, and dare I say quite playful in it's structure, plot and characterisation. I can imagine elements really getting on the nerves with some readers but I recognised the playfulness and had a lot of fun reading it (if novels about filth encrusted astral projectors and elderly cultists can be considered playful...).

Nevill is clearly having fun with his audience. The author of the story is the same age as Nevill, is set where he lives and describes a working class author who has worked hard, wrote a bunch of novels whilst working multiple dead end jobs before making it big with a novel (which turned into a film). For fans of Nevill this isn't exactly subtle!

This is a book written by an author, perhaps for other authors and one for his fans. For instance, the notion that now Logan has lost his edge, or is even a sell-out is a theme in the book (Logan's last book is often referred to as 'not very good'). Logan complains to his agent about one star reviews on Goodreads and suggests they are all from the same person. There is even a nod to the successful author needing to knock back multiple endorsements and literary 'can you just' favours which I am sure successful authors get a lot of and aspiring authors would grasp at eagerly. Nevill even sets the book in Birmingham and the English Riviera on the Devon south coast which are places he has been to before.

The 'Easter Eggs' are even more explicit in this one, and I always look forward to finding them. So we have a name check of everyone's favourite band from 'The Ritual' - 'Blood Frenzy', but in this story there are a number of logical links to people from 'Last Days' which really make sense in the book and add to the richness of Nevill's little universe.

So is it scary? The first half - definitely. The central premise of 'someone from your past who you don't want to see turns up back in your life' is really effective and the reader is thrown in at the deep end. Ewan, Seb's former flatmate is brilliantly characterised and when I think back to my youth I can see people like him who invade your home and you can't really get to leave. I think many of us can identify those acquaintances who enter into your friendship circle who you can't get rid off. Nevill is a bit older than me, but I can see a lot of the 'Brew Crew Punks' from the mid-90's in Ewan. Often stinking - (yep Stenchcore was a thing) and treating homes and shared spaces like a rubbish tip, often with pretensions of grandeur and also from privileged backgrounds. I remember squatting in the mid-90's and a room being given over to the 'dog toilet' so I kind of know what is being described with this unwanted guest. Empty cans of cider and takeout trays have never been so evocative! You just know that Nevill has lived in some right dumps in his youth, with people who don't give a shit about some basic courtesies like putting things in a bin. Yeah - that horror of the person you used to hang out with coming back is very real! That notion that you probably owe them a courtesy but you know you will get robbed or exploited is very real!

The second half of the novel gets into more 'traditional' horror mode. There were times when I lost my way a little - particularly during 'dream sequence' writing, because I struggled to follow when Seb was awake or dreaming. I am sure the disorientation is deliberate but it did detract from my enjoyment of the novel a little. I felt the book was lagging a little towards the end of the second act, but at the same time I can't deny that I had spent most of the afternoon reading and really didn't want to put it down.

The third act really made me smile and where it went was quite clever and again tapped into that notion of breaking down the wall between art and reader with a few clever winks. The third act bumped this from a 3 to a 4 but there is part of me that wants to leave this positive review up but score it a 1 just to annoy Seb Logan.

Scary and suspenseful, Nevill fans will love it, new readers may find it a little pretentious rather than clever. Recommended.