4 solid stars
I was thrilled to have my wish granted for this title, and quickly dove in.
Following an embarrassing and possibly damaging termination from her job at a prestigious law firm, Cassie takes a job as a temp in order to pay bills and figure out her next move. It's mindless, thankless work, but as she's examining documents, Cassie stumbles onto an active email inbox and finds herself fixated on an executive at the firm. Documenting his every move, she begins to imagine what it would be like to be in his life, and before long, her obsession grows into dangerous territory. I really enjoyed this book. Cassie is not only unreliable, she's unlikable in the best possible way. Calculating and a bit detached, she lacks the social restraints to understand boundaries--morally and ethically. Her need to track Forest and his wife becomes an addiction. She can't function without the delusion, yet she's completely unaware how far down the rabbit hole she's gone. As we get access to her inner-most thoughts, her fear over getting caught trumps any debate she has about responsibility or reality, and in the end, what matters most is the goal--not the means she takes to get there. This definitely had a Kepnes feel, and in Cassie, we get someone who takes the simplest act of kindness to dangerous levels of involvement. I enjoyed her sarcastic and oftentimes cutthroat responses to the people around her; Cameron did a wonderful job creating a layered and humorous voice despite the oftentimes creepy and unpredictable nature of her actions. I had a small issue with the pacing and structuring, wholly set on the focus of the book being Cassie's pursuit of the Wattses and unexpectedly thrown into a possible murder mystery. It pivoted a bit too far, almost like two books put together--maybe in an attempt to cast Cassie in a better light or create an alternative psychological suspense angle--and while I thought it was interesting, I pegged the course early on and found the subsequent conclusion to be on the anticlimactic side. Overall, though, Just One Look was an entertaining, addicting, psychological suspense with humor and unapologetic candor. I'd recommend for fans of Kepnes, Obsessed, or stalker narratives with a female protagonist. Big thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.
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