Beach read

Come July 6 and we get Gregg Hurwitz's new thriller They're Watching...or, as it is titled in the UK: Or She Dies.

As always, Hurwitz knows how to execute a great setup -- just think of the opening of his Trust No One (due in paperback June 29). They're Watching also kicks off in high gear; it then boomerangs back 10 days to the time when part-time teacher/disgraced screenwriter Patrick Davis gets the first in a series of anonymous DVDs demonstrating that he is being closely watched. Who is watching? Well, it could be anyone from his libidinous next door neighbor to a self-centered actor to the litigious movie studio to the police to.... Well, you get the idea.

And since there is no end to the list of suspects, there is no end to the misery that Patrick Davis can suffer as he watches his marriage crumble and his academic life collapse...and those, as they say, are the good times. Soon Patrick is caught up in murder, nefarious government plots and scheming corporate activities...or is it something more personal?

This is not a murder mystery with a plot in which the suspects are all introduced early on and gathered into the library for a final solution. This, as with all Hurwitz's novels, is clockwork thriller timed with enough surprises to keep you guessing almost to the end. They're Watching is great summer reading with a popcorn sensibility; it knows it's an entertainment set on the fringes of Hollywood and it exploits all the whiz bang rollercoaster excitement of a Saturday matinee.