I'll Be Watching You [Hardcover]

Victoria Gotti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 1998

Full of the menace of long-hidden secrets  and the darkness of the human heart, I'll Be Watching You is a chilling tour de force  by Victoria Gotti, author of the critically acclaimed legal thriller The Senator's Daughter.

        Rose Miller is a best-selling novelist with a seemingly perfect life: a devoted and wealthy husband with his eye on a gubernatorial nomination, a splendid country mansion, and an adorable daughter. But Rose has something else too--a shadowy stalker who sends her blood red roses with threatening notes that hint at Rose's hidden past . . . a life she thought she had buried forever.

        Who is stalking Rose? Nearly everyone is a suspect. It could be Dario, her ruthless and controlling publicist, whose crush on Rose is getting a little out of hand. Or Dimitri, her devilishly handsome ex-lover, now a millionaire hotel baron with his own reasons for wanting revenge. Or even her own father-in-law, James Miller, a sinister man who will stop at nothing to protect his family's secrets.

        Terrified, Rose enlists the help of a veteran detective, John Falcone, who begins to uncover a shocking pattern of threats and violence, all of which seem to center around the beautiful celebrity author and her powerful, wealthy family. When Rose's best friend is murdered in a bizarre ritual drawn from a scene in one of Rose's own novels, Falcone's suspicions about her "perfect life" become even deeper, and the terror Rose thought she could hide begins to spin out of control.        

        Despite her desperate efforts to protect herself and her innocent daughter, Alexis, Rose finds herself being pulled deeper and deeper into a web of old hatreds and new rivalries that threaten first her happiness, then her life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The money and fame-burnished life of a glamorous author turns into a nightmare when a stalker provokes terror and a sensational trial brings scandal in Gotti's (The Senator's Daughter) designer-clad thriller. Off the plane from Paris with just enough time to greet her husband, a criminal attorney and gubernatorial candidate, and her daughter, a beautiful preppie, before changing outfits at her opulent Fifth Avenue apartment for the book party at the Waldorf, novelist Rose Miller thinks she has relegated the dark side of her life to her fiction. Then, in a box of Victorian roses, she receives a nasty threat on the same day her childhood playmate and long-lost love, now a Las Vegas kingpin, returns to New York to be tried for racketeering?with Rose's husband as his lawyer. Who's the stalker? Gotti furnishes an array of sordid characters?from the domineering father-in-law to the overwrought publicist?to keep readers guessing, but her novel falls short of her successful debut. The story is undermined by the opening passage, recited by the corpse at a funeral, by the surprise ending, which isn't at all surprising, and by the white noise of shopping tips. The story, like the heroine, keeps afloat on sheer energy and determination, but not much substance. Random House audio; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this latest from Gotti (The Senator's Daughter, LJ 2/15/97), who as daughter of crime boss John Gotti should know a thing or two about suspense, Rose Miller has it all: wealthy husband, gorgeous little girl, lavish house, great success as a novelist?and a stalker who knows about her shady past.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (July 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609602403
• ISBN-13: 978-0609602409
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,110,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I'll Be Watching You" - Great Storytelling!, June 26, 2000

By 

Mark Dalton (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'll Be Watching You (Hardcover)

You may say what you like about Victoria Gotti as a writer, I enjoy her books a great deal. Like millions of other Americans, I find cross country airplane trips to be an opportunity to lose myself in the kind of torrid pot boilers one's former English teacher or mother-in-law would tsk tsk over (in my case, she's both!), and to forget, for awhile, the rigors of modern literature (read, at least in part, so I'll be able to maintain my educated bourgeois status in conversation with my peers). A recent trip from Seattle to Baltimore and back was just such an occasion, and I was grateful to have Ms. Gotti's second book, "I'll Be Watching You," along as a companion on this flight. Okay, so she's not Jane Austin, or even Joan Didion. Victoria Gotti is, however, a great story-teller whose books are a welcome addition to the ranks of airport fiction. I mean, okay, I started "I'll Be Watching You," as I had her first book, "The Senator's Daughter," with some quibbles about the writing. The juxtaposition of the word "lovely" with the markedly unlovely word "flaccid" as in "her lovely, flaccid body" made me pause for a few seconds, for example. The repeated use of the word "shattered" seemed peculiar on occasion (some things just don't shatter when they break). But it was not far into the book that Gotti the story teller took over - I started hearing, and appreciating her voice, as if we were sitting together in her sun-lit study with its massive Ethan Allen oak desk, she in her Donna Karan loungewear, me in my casual Armani, sipping amareto from Damask cups.... she resumes her story as the late afternoon drifts on, her piercing hazel eyes growing distant as the story takes hold and I put my feet up and lean back into the luxury of the Eames padded leather chair , lost in her voice, the slowly setting sun now spreading a golden glow over the palatial grounds of the surrounding estate.... The world of the rich and powerful is an intriguing place when seen through Victoria Gotti's eyes, and I was delighted to place my advanced order for her new book, "Superstar," today - the plot description sounds great! I can't wait for the next time I fold my lanky six and a half foot frame into an airplane seat obviously designed for people about half my size, and, with my Diet Coke and my bag of Planter's peanuts arrayed on the plastic tray in front of me, I can dive into a totally different world, suffused with comfort, luxury, passion.... and terror!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If You Like Thrillers..., July 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: I'll Be Watching You (Hardcover)

...You'll Enjoy I'LL BE WATCHING YOU!

And if you read THE SENATOR'S DAUGHTER and wondered if Victoria Gotti was a one-book wonder, you'll be pleased to know that that first hit wasn't an accident. This savvy, articulate lady really CAN create interesting characters and tell a dynamic tale.

She has woven an intricate tale that, at one point, I was sure I had a figured out and then two chapters later changed my mind. Such mental gymnastics make for an intriguing read and, I hope, a sensational movie.

I also like the way she incorporates "real" New York into her story...and how she's left the Rose story open for the possibility of a sequel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Thriller!!, January 5, 2003

By 

K. Fredrickson (IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I'll Be Watching You (Audio Cassette)

I tell ya, I got this book at B&N on their bargain book rack for [a good price] a couple years ago. I took it home seeing it was a stalker thriller and knowing I would love it. I was right!! This book had everything, suspense, fright, mystery, a twisted plot, and even romance (even though I am not fan of any kind of romance novels this worked!). Rose, Dimitri,.....you will just have to read it and find out for yourself. The ending is something great, which alot of books lack and are usually a letdown. I am going to go out and buy her first book "The Senator's Daughter" or maybe I can find it online for a good price!! Thank you Miss Gotti for giving me a great and entertaining book to read (since I LOVE to read!!). Buy it Buy it Buy it!