DEATH WATCH by Stona Fitch – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Death Watch by Stona Fitch
Published by Arrow Editions on March 7 2023
Genres: Adult, Thriller
Pages: 249
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: An audacious idea, stellar writing, black humor galore and a well paced plot make Death Watch a “can’t miss” thriller. 

Sometimes I take a chance on an author or a publisher I’ve never worked with before, and sometimes it pays off big time. I had a blast with Death Watch, a high concept thriller that was nearly impossible to put down. Stona Fitch is a damn good writer, and after reading this book, I’ll read anything he writes. Be warned, though: if you read this book, you may never put on a watch again…

Ad agency owner Coe Vessel is about to make the pitch of a lifetime. He’s been invited to Tokyo to see the eccentric Japanese artist Watanabe’s latest creation, and he hopes to be awarded the ad campaign. Watanabe is trying to launch a watch he calls the Cassius Seven. But what looks like an ordinary high end watch is much, much more. Hidden inside are seven small—and extremely lethal—blades. Once the blades are activated—a random occurrence that could happen in a week or a year (or maybe never)—they exit through the bottom of the watch into the wearer’s wrist, severing the ulnar artery and causing the wearer to bleed out within seconds. Oh, and once you put on the watch, you can’t take it off, and trying to forcibly remove it will cause the blades to activate.

In a fit of bravado to get the campaign, Coe puts on the prototype watch that Watanabe is using for his demonstration. Coe gets the job, but at what cost? Is the prototype a fake? Or did Coe just consign himself to a violent death? As Coe and his team work feverishly to create buzz around the watch, dubbed Death Watch by Coe’s wife Alta, the clock is ticking. Watanabe threatens to pull the campaign if they can’t make a sale within ten days. But it turns out there are plenty of people willing to risk death (and the $50,000 price tag) in order to own the accessory that everyone is talking about. Watanabe created the watch as a social experiment to show people how each day should be lived to its fullest. What could possibly go wrong?

The story is told from Coe’s first person point of view, and I absolutely loved his voice, which adds humor to Fitch’s rather morbid idea of a watch that can kill you. Fitch writes snappy, taught prose and wryly funny dialog, and from the first page I was caught up in Coe’s story and impending nightmare as Death Watch makes its way into the population.

Coe is surrounded by a bunch of quirky characters who liven up the story. Harup and Wren are part of Coe’s Death Watch team, and Harup in particular was such a great character, a man who doesn’t speak at all and only communicates through texts. Coe’s wife Alta is having an affair, but when she hears about Death Watch and the fact that her husband is wearing one of the watches, she immediately leaves her lover and returns to New York to help out. Another side character is Harup’s good friend Vanessa, an online sex worker who is in desperate need of an apartment and ends up moving into Coe’s vacant rental. Even Alta’s father, a high class surgeon, gets involved when he comes up with a radical idea to free Coe of the diabolical watch. All these (admittedly) soap opera-ish side plots add to the absurd quality of the story and were so much fun.

Fitch adds plenty of social commentary and biting observations about social media and the desire for fame, and how advertising can shape our lives in good ways and bad. And as for the watch, well, I suggest just rolling with the idea. I found myself trying to work out the logistics of how a watch could contain seven blades, and how those blades could kill you. It doesn’t really make any sense, and I don’t think it’s meant to. Also, there are some fairly graphic descriptions of exactly what those blades do to a person, so do be aware if you’re prone to squeamishness.

The only thing that didn’t work for me was the ending. Part of the fun of reading Death Watch was imagining all the different outcomes, and Fitch could have taken the story in several directions. Ultimately, I suppose the author gave his readers an ending akin to the watch itself: a random event that can’t be predicted or planned. If you look at it that way, the ending succeeds brilliantly.

In any event, Death Watch is well worth your time, an unexpectedly humorous and heartfelt thriller that’s equally horrific and shocking. Highly recommended.

Big thanks to Wunderkind PR and the author for providing a review copy.