Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Watcher by Dorothy Cox



Simon was a Watcher.  He showed up at the Median one day in 1831.  Somehow he knew which office was his, which souls he was supposed to watch, where to find them, how to observe them and how to write his reports.  The rules were just there in his head.  But so was something else.  A…flaw…that the other Watchers apparently didn’t have.  Simon got bored.  He made up little games to pass the time.  Like when he had to observe one client in a coffee shop.  If he gave the same name and ordered the same thing every day, the staff would notice him.  So he made up a little game.  First, he used the names of signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Until the day Lilly, the cashier, beat him to it.  “William Henry Harrison, right?  You’re doing the Presidents this time.”  That was when they fell in love.  Simon didn’t realize that was what he felt.  He had no experience with feelings.  He was a true innocent.
Normally, when I edit a book I enjoy the story, and then go on to the next one.  It’s pretty hard to surprise me with an ending and very difficult to write a book that will haunt me for weeks to come.  When I finished the first round of Watcher, I did an “I’m on schedule for the deadline” happy dance.  The next day, I woke up crying over the ending and I cried all day.  I cried pretty much through the whole second round of edits, and the third.  I still get chills and teary-eyed when I tell people about this book.  I haven’t read anything this powerful since The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, or John Grisham’s A Painted House. If you read nothing else this year, be sure to read Watcher.  You have to read Simon and Lily’s story.  It will haunt you…
* * * * *
Watcher
By Dorothy Cox