Onyx reviews: Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay

Reviewed by Bev Vincent, 05/28/2019

Lindsay's first fictional creation, Dexter Morgan, channeled his sinister quirk to doing good—as good as a serial killer can ever possibly be. After several novels featuring the homicidal sociopath who also worked as a blood spatter expert for the Miami Police Department, Lindsay shifts gears, introducing Riley Wolfe, a wildly successful thief.

In the novel's "cold opening," Lindsay demonstrates two things: the scope of Wolfe's skills (he steals a 12 ton statue in broad daylight in front of an audience) and the depths of his depravity (he murders the hostage he uses to pull off his heist).

After such a daring theft, what can Wolfe do next? Stealing on this scale has become so easy for him that there's rarely a challenge. He plans things so meticulously that the execution phase is never in any doubt. He casts his net for a nigh-unto-impossible target and finds exactly what he's been looking for when he learns that the Crown Jewels of the Persian Empire are to be exhibited in New York. Not only will the gems be protected by former Navy Seals, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard will be in attendance. Stealing these jewels—one pink diamond in particular known as "The Ocean of Light" is worth $15 billion dollars—is the impossible challenge he sets himself.

The success of heist movies and novels depends upon the audience's willingness to root for the thief and to win. Lindsay makes this difficult by imbuing Wolfe with a level of hubris that verges on audacity. He never has any doubt that he will succeed, and he is so self-congratulatory that it's difficult to cheer for him. He may be charming to the other characters he encounters, but his cavalier attitude toward human life will likely inspire readers to hope he fails.

Most of the novel is told from his first person perspective; however, a mouse is nothing without a cat in pursuit and Wolfe's cat is FBI Special Agent Frank Delgado, who knows all about Wolfe's criminal career. He has made it his mission in life to bring Wolfe down, but the only way to do so is to find out what makes the crook tick so he can predict Wolfe's next heist. He follows a trail of clues that reveal who Wolfe really is and what turned him to the dark side.

Like most capers of this magnitude, Wolfe's requires that he play a long game. He can't just stake out the museum and break in. With security of this level, he needs to embed himself, which takes months of planning. His only true aide is Monica, a young master forger who also assists him with his disguises. Wolfe and Monica were intimate once, but Monica now keeps him at arm's length and Wolfe is determined to win his way back into her bed by offering her a big chunk of the proceeds from this caper.

The way Wolfe carries out the robbery stretches credibility to the breaking point, but most stories in this genre require readers to go with the flow when all the pieces start to fall into place. If Wolfe didn't regularly use people as pawns in his schemes, discarding them with prejudice on a regular basis, he might be a likable rogue. However, that's not the case and, if Lindsay intends him to return as a series character, the author has an uphill battle ahead to get readers to cheer for him.