Book Review - Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf

Title: Everyone is Watching
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery
Published: 2024
 
Description: The Best Friend. The Confidant. The Senator. The Boyfriend. The Executive.
 
Five contestants have been chosen to compete for then million dollars on the game show “One Lucky Winner”. The catch? None of them know what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.
 
When long-kept secrets begin to rise the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show – someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are…
 
Review: “Everyone is Watching” is a psychological thriller following five contestants in a reality game show, live streamed all over the world. The price: 10 million dollars. The contestants have been chosen at random, but that soon turns out not to be true, because some people have links. But who? And why were they chosen? Each one has a secret and they begin to surface as the game progresses.
 
We follow this story through several perspectives and it mostly takes place on the set of “One Lucky Winner’. Cat is the producer of the reality show and is sure it will become a hit. Her assistant Fern helps her out with the production. Fern has been loyal to Cat, even though she can be very mean. But Cat has once saved her from an abusive situation. Fern is one of the perspectives we follow.
 
The show has five contestants. Maire, referred to as The Best Friend, is a single mother dealing with one child that has health issues. She can’t pay for her treatments, so the show is her one way to eventually raise the money to take care of her sick daughter. Camille, known as The Confidant, is a therapist working in L.A. Richard, The Senator, is exactly what his title says, but why is taking part in a reality TV-show? Samuel is known as The Boyfriend. We don’t know much about him at the start. And finally The Executive, aka Ned, who is a successful CEO.
 
I was really interested in the premise, especially because you have no idea why these people were chosen. And at the start, you don’t know what the game really is all about. The games are challenging, both physically and mentally. It’s not always predictable.
 
The characters itself aren’t all that interesting, but their secrets are. And that’s exactly the reason why I couldn’t stop reading. I wanted to know what they were all hiding, who was linked to who and why they were the ones chosen to participate in this reality TV-show. We get flashbacks for these characters, slowly revealing what they are hiding.
 
Okay, the book is not completely credible. It played out a bit too perfect for my taste. But I did like how we were mislead a couple of times. They were not obvious red herrings. I didn’t expect some of the twists and reveals the story had. Definitely didn’t predict the person who eventually went home with the money. But that final chapter, although not a twist, was predictable.
 
Overall, “Everyone is Watching” is a fun read, I enjoyed my time with it. And I would recommend it for those who are interested in a good twisty game show trope.
 
Rating: 4/ 5