Name: Just One Look
ISBN: 9780593159057

Lindsay Cameron

"As I stepped off the elevator on the second floor, I found myself silently begging for a calamity. A fire, a flash flood, even a tiny earthquake would suffice. Anything that would give me a legitimate reason to evacuate the area immediately. Or, better yet, I wouldn't make it out in time and the somber voice of Brian Williams would detail my demise on the nightly news. "Cassie Woodson entered the Midtown office building on the first day of her new job mere seconds before the entire skyscraper was reduced to rubble by the powerful explosion.""--

A Novel

Just One Look

A young woman’s escalating obsession with a seemingly perfect man leads her down a dangerous path in this novel of suspense brimming with envy, desire, and deception. “I inhaled Just One Look. I was going to read one chapter, then one chapter became the whole thing. YUM.”—Caroline Kepnes, New York Times bestselling author of the You series Eyes aren’t the windows to the soul. Emails are. Cassie Woodson is adrift. After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie finds the only way she can pay her bills is to take a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. The daily drudgery amplifies all that her life is lacking—love, friends, stability—and leaves her with too much time on her hands, which she spends fixating on the mistakes that brought her to this point. While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. Cassie knows she shouldn’t read them. But it’s just one look. And once that door opens, she finds she can’t look away. Every day, twenty floors below Forest’s corner office, Cassie dissects their emails from her dingy workstation. A few clicks of her mouse and she can see every adoring word they write to each other. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness, reveling in their penchant for vintage wines, morning juice presses, and lavish dinner parties thrown in their stately Westchester home. There are no secrets from her. Or so she thinks. Her admiration quickly escalates into all-out mimicry, because she wants this life more than anything. Maybe if she plays make-believe long enough, it will become real for her. But when Cassie orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she’s been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn’t simply admire Annabelle—she wants to take her place. And she’s armed with the tools to make that happen.

Willa Marlowe

This is a mystery-thriller book, featuring quite the gaggle of stalking and one major plot twist. Cassie Woodson, a legal temp who works for a large firm, finds herself in a position of power; knowing the details of a corporate partner's personal emails, and therefore, his life. 

I found myself pretty entranced with the book, having finished it in a single weekend. However, I was disappointed with the amount of repetitive language and terms used throughout the book. While it made the book easy to navigate, I may have been a bit underwhelmed. The story over all was a slow-burn, that mostly focused on the nefarious dealings of Cassie. Up until the last few chapters, that is. 

I can admit that I did not at all see the twist that was to come, but when it came to the climax, I feel it may have been a bit rushed in execution. There was not a very satisfactory ending, as we see our protagonist go back to bad habits, not having learned from the shit show that played before her.

Overall, the storyline was solid and it all made sense in the end. I think it was worth the read, especially for those who enjoy an easy-to-read, but eventful stalker-thriller book. 

The font in the hardback version, (I'm not sure if there is a paperback version) was easy to see as it wasn't too big or small, which made for a quick read.

Jolie

Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron
2021-08-07CategoriesARC, Ballantine Books, NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - BallantineJust One Look, Lindsay Cameron, mystery, suspense, thrillerLeave a Commenton Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron
Book Cover
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books

Date of publication: July 27th 2021

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | WorldCat

Format Read: Unedited ARC

Received From: Publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:

A young woman’s escalating obsession with a seemingly perfect man leads her down a dangerous path in this novel of suspense brimming with envy, desire, and deception.

Eyes aren’t the windows to the soul. Emails are.

Cassie Woodson is adrift. After suffering an epic tumble down the corporate ladder, Cassie finds the only way she can pay her bills is to take a thankless temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. The daily drudgery amplifies all that her life is lacking–love, friends, stability–and leaves her with too much time on her hands, which she spends fixating on the mistakes that brought her to this point.

While sorting through a relentless deluge of emails, something catches her eye: the tender (and totally private) exchanges between a partner at the firm, Forest Watts, and his enchanting wife, Annabelle. Cassie knows she shouldn’t read them. But it’s just one look. And once that door opens, she finds she can’t look away.

Every day, twenty floors below Forest’s corner office, Cassie dissects their emails from her dingy workstation. A few clicks of her mouse and she can see every adoring word they write to each other. By peeking into their apparently perfect life, Cassie finds renewed purpose and happiness, reveling in their penchant for vintage wines, morning juice presses, and lavish dinner parties thrown in their stately Westchester home. There are no secrets from her. Or so she thinks.

Her admiration quickly escalates into all-out mimicry, because she wants this life more than anything. Maybe if she plays make-believe long enough, it will become real for her. But when Cassie orchestrates a “chance” meeting with Forest in the real world and sees something that throws the state of his marriage into question, the fantasy she’s been carefully cultivating shatters. Suddenly, she doesn’t simply admire Annabelle–she wants to take her place. And she’s armed with the tools to make that happen.

First Line:

As I stepped off the elevator on the second floor, I found myself silently begging for a calamity.

Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron
I was super excited to start reading Just One Look. The blurb did its job and hooked me. I needed to know what happened to Cassie and where her fixation was going with Forest/Annabelle.

Just One Look had an exciting plotline. Cassie is a disgraced lawyer who is now working as a temp in another law firm. Her job at the temp agency is to read through emails and see if they are relevant to the fraud suit. By accident, Cassie reads an email from a hotshot lawyer named Forest to his wife Annabelle and becomes obsessed. Her obsession takes her down a dangerous path, where she finds that not all is what it seems. That what is read in an email isn’t exactly the whole truth.

The plotline for Just One Look was medium-paced. There was a lot of time explaining the fraud case and the inner workings of firms (which I had zero interest in). That did slow down the plot at the beginning of the book. Cassie’s vague references to what happened to her months earlier also dragged down the pace for me. “The Incident” was not fully explained until halfway through the book. Until then, it was up to me to imagine what happened (and no, it was nothing like I imagined). There was also some lag in the middle of the book (right around when Dalton died). But that lag didn’t last long. The author was able to get the book back on track.

Cassie was a hot mess and she knew it. She drank too much and she obsessed over her ex-boyfriend. She also looked down on her coworkers (mainly because she was once a hotshot lawyer). I found her annoying and immature for most of the book. But, when her obsession with Forest/Annabelle started, I knew I was in for a ride. And man, what a ride it was.

The mystery angle of the book was well written. What happened and who killed Dalton took me by surprise. There were also two twists in the plotline that made my mouth drop. I called one of them but the other I didn’t.

The stalker angle of the book was very creepy to read. I understood why Cassie latched onto Forest/Annabelle. But as that storyline progressed, I was mentally telling her to stop. It didn’t surprise me when that storyline ended the way it did. It made for some great, tense reading, but no surprise on my end.

The end of the book was anti-climatic after the explosive ending to the stalker and mystery angles. I didn’t quite understand why the author chose to go the route she did, but in the end, I was happy she did it. I like seeing what happens after a character goes through what Cassie did. But it also showed that no matter how much someone tries to change, they are the same person deep down.

I would recommend Just One Look to anyone over the age of 21. There are sexual situations, mild violence, mild language, and alcohol use/abuse.

Sarah Williams

“The only difference between a mentally stable person and me was better aim.”⁣
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JUST ONE LOOK was such a wild ride from start to finish. I spent about 99% of this book hiding my head in my sweatshirt because of how uncomfortable I was but that was the beauty of this; I was so uncomfortable but also so enthralled and invested. ⁣
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Lindsay Cameron wrote such an unreliable and clearly unstable main character yet I didn’t dislike her and while I don’t know if I could go as far as to say I was rooting for her…I also think I kind of was? It probably didn’t help that Cassie was a corporate associate (like me) which just hit way too close to home but endeared her to me. ⁣
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JUST ONE LOOK gripped me from start to finish. So uncomfortable and compelling, this is a must-read for thriller fans.⁣
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TWs: loss of a family member, stalking, suspected suicide, violence/assault, mental illness⁣

4.5/5 stars. This was such a wild ride from start to finish. I spent 99% of this book hiding my head in my sweatshirt because of how uncomfortable I was but that was the beauty of this; I was so uncomfortable but also so enthralled and invested. Lindsay Cameron wrote such an unreliable and clearly unstable main character yet I didn’t dislike her and while I don’t know if I could go as far as to say I was rooting for her…I also think I kind of was? This gripped me from start to finish. So uncomfortable and compelling.

Joleen

4 Stars

Talk about a one-sitting read. I had the hardest time putting this book down for any reason. It was captivating right from the start.

Now I will say these kinds of thrillers are quickly becoming my favorite kind. Our main character isn't the girl next door, in fact, she is the one to watch out for. I can see why Just One Look gets compared to "You" but Cassie is no Joe. She is a much more tamed version of Joe, so I don't see the comparison all that much. Cassie has her issues, of course, but she has been through a lot. We slowly get to watch her become more unhinged as her obsession with Forest grows. Dalton was a very interesting character, and I really liked his blossoming friendship with Cassie. Their little dinner talks were some of my favorite parts.

The big plot twist, I did see coming. But I don't think that is a bad thing. I was too engrossed in the story that I didn't care that I guessed it 10 chapters ago. Now for obvious reasons, I cannot explain any more than that. It's a great twist to a wonderful story. 

Thanks to the wonderful publishers for letting me read this one early. I look forward to more books written by Lindsay Cameron. Definitely give this one a go.

Just One Look A Novel

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