Alison Gaylin has long maintained a stellar reputation for well-rounded psychological thrillers that keep readers guessing and chilled to the bone. That said, her latest is a pure marvel and may be her finest effort to date.

WE ARE WATCHING does not just go down the rabbit hole; it takes every reader, along with the white rabbit, directly into Wonderland. The ideas are innovative and contemporary, and the way that Gaylin plays on both fears and personal paranoia is enough to bring about a nervous breakdown. With a storyline that toes the line between psychological suspense and horror, there is something for everyone here to enjoy.

"There is not a predictable second in this story, and no one is who they seem to be.... WE ARE WATCHING is beyond memorable, and I guarantee it will receive many awards in 2025."

It opens with a tragedy that, like everything else in this creepy novel, is tied to the entire narrative. Meg and Justin Russo run The Secret Garden, an independent bookstore in New York’s Hudson Valley region. They are driving their 18-year-old daughter Lily, a musical prodigy, to Ithaca College for her freshman year.

Along the way, with Meg at the wheel, a car drives alongside them. The passengers, who appear to be skinheads, make lewd gestures at Lily while snapping cell phone pictures of her, which makes Meg livid. While shouting at them, she loses control of the vehicle. They run off the highway, flipping in the process. Lily never makes it to Ithaca, and Justin does not survive the crash.

Three months later, Meg and Lily are picking up the pieces of their lives. Lily has opted to take a year off before attending college to pursue music, and Meg finally has come around to returning to The Secret Garden. Unfortunately, bad luck and tragedy seem to follow the Russos. Meg is faced with a strange and unruly customer, who has posted an unsettling video online that at one point features Justin. Claire makes a ruckus in the store, throwing books around and threatening Meg with the words “We are watching.”

Meg checks out Claire’s page and finds more disturbing commentary that not only seems directed at her and her family, but also references Prophesy, an obscure novel that Meg wrote when she was a teenager. She already knows a little something about paranoia as her father completely lost touch with reality after her mother passed away and now lives alone in a mansion within the Catskill Mountains as a hermit. Nathan had a brief touch with fame as the member of an ’80s rock group called Prism. A Canadian pop-rock band by the same name from that era had a hit with “Pearly Gates.” Between that song and Meg’s book, her family has reason to be worried as Nathan and Meg each receive ominous messages online and in their mailboxes.

There is not a predictable second in this story, and no one is who they seem to be. There are so many great moments and scenes that I would love to discuss here, but I will leave that present for readers to unwrap. WE ARE WATCHING is beyond memorable, and I guarantee it will receive many awards in 2025.