You Watched in Silence

By: H. Lee Justine

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

In this shivery blend of queer psychological thriller and horror, evocatively set in the secluded islands of the Pacific Northwest, You Watched in Silence combines the bite of Jessica Knoll with the twists of Verity and the atmospheric tension of The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Caitlyn believes her world is falling apart when her best friend cuts her off—until she gets a message from the only person who can put it back together. Family vlogger Bella Greene—the celebrity influencer she and her ex-best friend were obsessed with—offers Caitlyn a job as nanny to her twins.

Like millions of others, Caitlyn knows that Bella’s life is in pieces, too. Canceled over perceived indifference to a tragic suicide by one of her fans, Bella fled with her family to a remote island off the coast of Washington. For Caitlyn, the opportunity to help Bella will also help her to heal; a way to honor the past while creating a new future.

Caitlyn can’t believe how easily she bonds with the twins. She also feels an instant connection with the family’s flirtatious chef, Hannah Zhou, who soon stirs romantic impulses that Caitlyn never imagined having again. It feels like magic … until she catches a glimpse of a mysterious girl that nobody else can see.

Before she knows it, Caitlyn descends into constant terror, unable to tell if she is losing her mind or being haunted by a past she’d rather forget. Worse, there is magic here, a dark force that manifests in mysterious pentagrams, animal sacrifices, and scrawled threats right in Bella’s backyard, and increasingly close to her home.

But who’s behind it? Is it a disgruntled employee? A scorned lover? Or someone out for unjust revenge? Because Bella didn’t do anything wrong … right?

©2025 H. Lee Justine (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing

So good!!

Wonderfully haunting! First, the writing is gorgeous. All of me was enveloped. I was IN the woods. I could see and feel my surroundings. I empathized with Caitlyn’s emotions, felt her fear. I LOVE when authors can bring you into a story so wholly.

Next, the story is intriguing, relatable and UNEXPECTED. I am rarely surprised by an ending, but this one got me! If you are a guesser like me, this one will have you guessing and re-guessing and re-guessing, only to be wrong about it all. Definite recommend!!

Influencer Culture is Pretty Scary

Spice Level: 0/5 Just Kissing / Closed Door

Caitlyn is able to secure the job of a lifetime, the nanny for the celebrity influencer Bella Greene. She hopes this will help heal her heart after her best friend cuts her off because of their differences. Like her, her best friend is a fan of Bella Greene so Caitlyn feels that being a part of Bella’s life will bring her closer to the person she wants back in her life the most.

Bella decided to seclude herself and her family because of a tragic self unaliving of a fan that many feel she did nothing to help prevent when she could have. Even with being secluded, Bella starts receiving subtle threats from someone who wants her to take responsibility for the death of the fan. Caitlyn finds herself thrown into this world of strange happenings and now lives in constant terror wondering if she will be targeted in the events as well. Will they find out who is causing the terror before it is too late?

I love finding a book that keeps making me second guess myself. This book is one of those books. There were times I thought I had the culprit pegged and then nope, I had to move to my next suspect on the list. I also love that this is a queer horror. The MC is queer and so is the SC Hannah who is the cook for Bella. They enter into a relationship while both are working for Bella. So, if anyone is not into queer reads or sapphic relationships, this wouldn’t be a read for you.

This book is definitely more mystery / thriller themed with a background of horror with some psychological suspense. If any of these themes interest you, I suggest picking up this book as it is a page turner.

📷 Psychological Thriller
📷 Horror
📷 Mystery / Thriller
📷 Sapphic Romance
📷 Unaliving
📷 Non-Graphic Mentions of Child S**ualization
📷 Queer Fiction
📷 Grief & Guilt
📷 Isolation
📷 Influencer Culture

Horror element was just the right amount of creepiness

Great book with good twists. Definitely kept you guessing and wondering if everything was all in the mail. characters head, or if she was actually being haunted.
Perfect amount of goosebump creepiness!

Excellent modern horror

This book does an amazing job at exploring the innately creepy nature of the parasocial relationships that many influencers cultivate to be successful as well as the consequences when that success is placed above all other relationships and responsibilities.

Over-written YA

This book was really well marketed but should have been flagged as by a young adult for other young adults -- it certainly reads as if it were written by an unseasoned if enthusiastic high schooler. Each paragraph is crammed with overwrought metaphors and similes, some stretched to the point of absurdity (there's a passage about 'eels' emerging from the word 'really' that...sigh) -- imo, the book is for folks for whom 'good writing' means 'writing stuffed with as much purple prose as is possible'. Didactic if accurate about influencer culture and appealingly spooky at times; I will say I liked the ending. There's no possible way I would have finished this had it not been an audiobook -- Pressley does as much as she can with the material.