Firstly I would like to thank the author publisher and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this Masterpiece! This is my first novel by Christine Dodd and I have to say it won’t be my last by a long shot this was an awesome read from start to finish.
I was hooked with this book from the first couple of pages and managed to finish it in a few days that’s how good it was. I did not read the first two books of this series but it is so well put together that it reads like a standalone. Two emotionally broken protagonists each battling their own personal demons and seeking solace and comfort in each other when they can in this thriller where real and imagined terrors are lurking and where you might actually find a monster under your bed if you looked hard enough. Jacob and Maddie's relationship is not one of instant need to have you kind of love which makes this more plausible and meaningful it’s a slow burn that burns so bright at the end. I love that we the reader are able to see the many levels of all the Major characters the sheriff is a complex soul that you can relate to. I am hoping that the next book in this series gives a more detailed description of her past or she at least gets her prince no matter how dark and dangerous he may be. This small town draws you in part of what I enjoyed about this book was the way that everyone either wanted to help each other or hurt each other it conveyed the atmosphere of a gossipy small town very well. This was a 5 star read for me but only because I can’t give it more. Job well done!
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Because I'm Watching
4.5 Stars

The small town of Virtue Falls, Washington is accustomed to strange people and occurrences. However, two of the town's newest residents are even more peculiar than usual. Jacob Denisov, a reclusive former POW with suicidal tendencies, and Mad Maddie Hewittson, the only survivor of a college massacre, meet and set in motion a dangerous sequence of events that will have deadly consequences for more than one of Virtue Falls' citizens.

A significant improvement over the first two books in the series. Jacob and Maddie's backstories are disturbing and fascinating, and one cannot help but sympathize with their pain and suffering. The fact that two such damaged people can form such a strong and special bond to help each other through the darkness only emphasizes the message of hope in the story.

The suspense plot provides an additional layer of tension to the romance and it is fun trying to work out which of Maddie's quirky neighbors is out to get her. There are several suspects to choose from and the revelation of the villain was quite surprising.

The secondary storyline revolving around Sheriff Kateri Kwinault personal and professional dilemmas also makes for entertaining reading and it will be interesting to see how things develop.

All in all, my investment in this series paid of with this book. Hopefully, the next installment will be just as good.
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What to say about this book? I feel like I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could which is not something that I feel very often. This is one of those books where you enjoy the entire journey rather than reading as fast as you can to get to the end and find out what is going on.

Most of the story is watching the police chief and the hero figure out what is going on with the heroine and watching the very damaged hero come back to life and decide to go on with it. I loved the hero. I loved how he was so far down that he hadn't even bathed in 3 months and how he was just existing until he worked up the courage to jump off a cliff. The author allowed him to really be in that spot and didn't just fix him as soon as he met the heroine.

The secondary characters were great without being caricatures. Loved the home repair guys. Even the town busybody was nuanced.

There were really three main characters. The second strongest character was Kateri the police chief. She has been in the other two books in the series as well. You watch her try to solve the mystery as well as deal with the other crimes in town while running for re-election to her position as police chief and dealing with her love life. She is a pretty strong character and I liked her better here than in the other two books. Not that I disliked her before, just that she's really developing as someone to care for.

The heroine wasn't as well developed. Perhaps the author felt that if we knew her better we would figure out what was going on too soon. I have to say that I knew what was going on practically from the first. The joy for me was watching the hero respond to her. So this is technically a romantic suspense but the romance part is almost not there. I think I would have bought into the romance a little better if we had seen her respond to the hero a few more times from her POV or something. Plus I really felt like she was helping him more than he was helping her. I was disappointed in his reaction to the rat poisoning incident. She had done so much for him mentally by this point that it rang kind of a wrong note to have him just wash his hands of her when he figured out she was doped up instead of trying to help some way even if he hadn't figured out yet that she was being gaslighted. This is the only part of the book which was less than stellar for me However the scenes where the two of them interacted were for the most part pretty riveting. I just wish they had had more page time together. They sure were two messed up people who found each other.

So read this book for the hero's journey. I have read almost all of CD's novels and while she is generally a wonderful author, I think she really hit it out of the ballpark with this one. ( )

From the attention grabbing first chapter until the novel's final word, Because I'm Watching by Christina Dodd is a spellbinding mystery set in a small coastal town in Washington. While this newest release is the third installment in the Virtue Falls series, it can easily be read as a standalone.

Madeline "Maddie" Hewitson is the lone survivor of a murderous rampage that took the lives of her close friends and dorm mates only to find herself in the public eye after she is accused of murdering her fiancé. Needing a fresh start, she moves to the small enclave of Virtue Falls where she manages to fly under the radar until a series of unexplained events earns her the nickname of "Mad Maddie". Terrified, sleep deprived and utterly haunted by strange occurrences, she meets her neighbor Jacob Denisov under inauspicious circumstances after she crashes her car into his front room.

Jacob is fighting a few demons of his own and while dismayed by the damage to his home, he is more upset that he survived the accident. Struggling with survivor's guilt and severe PTSD after he and his team are captured and tortured, Jacob hates being exposed to his neighbors. Forced to deal with workman rebuilding his house, he slowly rejoins the world of the living and finds himself utterly charmed by his vivacious neighbor. After a series of crimes begin happening in their small neighborhood, suspicion falls on Maddie but Jacob has plenty of doubts about her involvement. But if Maddie is not responsible for what is going on, then who is?

No one in Virtue Falls is willing to give Maddie the benefit of the doubt. Despite having lived there unnoticed for quite some time, everyone is quick to believe she is crazy when she begins hallucinating and experiencing mishaps around her home. After numerous calls to the police who discover nothing untoward during their investigations, Maddie is dismissed as a crackpot who has a few loose screws. She keeps to herself and forces herself to stay awake until daylight in an attempt to avoid the terrors that haunt her nights. Still surprisingly upbeat and positive despite the tragedies in her life, Maddie easily deduces that Jacob is even more tortured than she is. Not one to shy away from uncomfortable discussions, she is completely honest with him about her past and Maddie essentially forces him out of his self-imposed isolation.

Jacob is guilt-ridden over what happened to the young people in his care and he is working up the courage to take his own life when Maddie crashes into his house and his life. Although he does not want to become involved with her or his neighbors, he cannot ignore what is happening around him. Forced to see what is going on in the neighborhood as his house is being repaired, Jacob becomes curious about what is going on with Maddie. Although still on self-destructive path, he finally opens up to her about the demons that haunt him. These two wounded souls help one another truly begin to heal, but is their fragile bond strong to survive what happens next?

In addition to the storylines with Jacob, Maddie and the mysterious happenings in their neighborhood, there is plenty of drama going on in the small town of Virtue Falls. Sheriff Kateri Kwinault is the midst of a heated campaign for the upcoming sheriff's election. She also finds herself in the middle of an unexpected romance with a longtime friend and she is unnerved when her unresolved past with her father rears its ugly head. Cordelia Markham provides Kateri with some unsettling information about a series of troubling text messages but figuring out who is in danger is like finding a needle in a haystack. When the truth about what is happening with Maddie finally begins to emerge, will Kateri be able keep her out of harm's way?

With a cast of quirky characters and a baffling mystery, Because I'm Watching is a suspense-laden addition to the Virtue Falls series. With numerous subplots and plenty of secondary characters, the story is a little busy but overall, it is easy to keep track of what is going on. An astute reader will have a fairly good idea about who is responsible for what is happening to Maddie and why but Christina Dodd manages to throw in a few unexpected plot twists late in the novel. The conclusion is certainly action-packed and most of the storylines are fully resolved. An entertaining installment that old and new fans will enjoy. ( )

Breezily written, entertaining romance/suspense novel. The central character, Sheriff Kateri Kwinault, has real depth and complexity, and I would like to read more about her. The book has plenty of dry humor, but don't be deceived - it gets seriously scary at the end. I received a copy of this book in the Goodreads Giveaways program.