Kimura Kumi
Pushkin Press
10 April 2025
144
eBook - PDF
Contemporary Fiction
ARC via NetGalley
It’s early 2020, and with the world in chaos as covid spreads, two lonely people, both seeking to break with their pasts, meet and start sharing a home.
One is a former security guard who was captured on video knocking down a protester who died soon afterward; the other, a former teacher accused of driving a student to suicide.
In an oppressive atmosphere of tension and fear, the pair avoid direct contact and communicate through notes and their shared presences, close yet distant. Their odd connection, with neither affection nor trust, brings them a kind of privacy and safety they both need – but at what cost?
Someone to Watch Over Me is a bit of a time-capsule read in some ways, reliant as it is on the memory of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the situation the characters are in and the reasons for many of their thoughts and actions throughout the story. It focuses on the ideas of paranoia and isolation as the two characters, both of whom are struggling with personal trauma, end up coming together in search of connection. This was a quick and easy read on one level, but it was also atmospheric, with darkness shimmering around its edges. It was an interesting psychological study, and whether the connection forged between the characters is positive or negative overall is really left up to personal interpretation. It was certainly an intriguing and different read, and I am giving it four stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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