Like Nobody's Watching

by L.J. Ritchie

We were supposed to be the good guys.
We did the right thing.
At first…

When Oscar and his friends hack into the school’s surveillance system, the plan is simple: find the footage, blackmail the bullies, and leave no fingerprints. But the sense of power it brings them is hard to let go…

How do you go from cyber vigilante to cyber villain, when those around you turn their screens against you?

Genres: Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2016

About the author

L.J. Ritchie is a Wellington-based author of young adult fiction. His debut novel, Like Nobody’s Watching, was a finalist in the Young Adult Fiction and Best First Book categories at the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults.

Reviews

[Craig Sisterson]

Smoothly written tale of high school bullying and vigilantism gone wrong, with a cyber/hacker twist. Ritchies does a good job crafting a believable cast of teenage characters and the escalating nature and unforeseen consequences of their efforts to help fellow students when they hack into the high school' new surveillance system. LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING has characters that are easy to empathise with, a plot that has you wondering what will happen, and brings the suburban Wellington setting to life. A very solid debut that's still interesting for adults and could be a real cracker for teenage readers. I look forward to more from this author. 3.5 stars.

[Jayne Downes]

An interesting and thought provoking story about bullying and the problems with cyber surveillance in a school setting. Not too lengthy, I think many students will enjoy it.

[Steph]

Beware surveillance society. #3wordbookreview

Will definitely be buying more copies of this for school.

Short book, that moves along at a cracking pace, and is set in New Zealand. Explores the ethics of surveillance, whether it is for the greater good and what happens if it gets into the wrong hands. It also explores themes of friendship, secrets, bullying, and the use of social media. Would squeak in as a NCEA Level 1 text, though the main characters are in Year 10.

[Linley]

A well-told story of youngsters trying to do the right thing. Their motives are great and the reader is right behind them until things become bigger than they can control.

Highly recommended to anyone who uses digital technology and is a teenager!

[Kylan]

For a debut, this YA novel is a treat! A great spin on the YA generation and privacy. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Rudy Lopez]

Any adult who comes into regular contact with high school students enters a world where there is an obvious disconnect. Despite our own histories, and empathies, it is almost impossible to know the current teenage mind, ethos or culture if you have left that state behind by virtue of the natural attrition of growing up. It’s for this reason that writing young adult fiction is so terribly difficult to do.
So when a book comes along that gets it right, on all levels, it is truly worth celebrating and this is such a book.
The central question of the story is what is our ethical responsibility in a world where personal surveillance, primarily through close circuit television (CCTV) is changing our level of personal privacy and what are the implications for the use of that power? These are question all society must face but setting the narrative in a high school allows the young characters to act as our proxies, much like Lord of the Flies did over fifty years ago. Keeping these teenagers true to their age, time and place is what Ritchie does so well.
Set in contemporary Wellington, the protagonist, Oscar, and his companions, find an opportunity to act as defenders of the bullied element in their school through hacking into the school surveillance system and holding the perpetrators to account. All goes well, at first, but increasingly their efforts implicate the innocent and lead inevitably to the cameras being turned on them.
L.J.Ritchie’s grasp of the technical details is impressive but never overburdens the narrative flow of the story.
Adults figure little in the tale, as they tend to do in the teenage psyche. The deep and painful insights are generated by the adolescents alone and in relationship to each other. Ritchie pitches this perfectly. At one point Oscar thinks, ‘But we were in the right…We were helping. Weren’t we?’ immediately he muses, ‘Where did we start to lose control?’ Sub-text is everything.

[Miss Wilson]

As long as Oscar "stays back here in the shadows, no one will even see him shoot" Caroline who is delivering her monologue on stage. Later he realises "He wasn't given that moment. He stole it." The plot is about whether permission or consent is given prior to capturing footage, or uploading recordings onto a public site. With themes of surveillance and the misuse of power, there's an Orwellian warning within. Ritchie includes a nice interplay between the idea of shadow and light, and the concept of wanting to disappear which are shown through the actions of the main characters, as well as the Year 10 drama performance. "He feels all too visible here, in the bright-lit display case of the car, while shadows move unseen in the dark air outside." Oscar has "taken steps to mask his computer’s IP address" but at the same time admits to knowing it won't eliminate him from suspicion. For Oscar to understand that "the internet never forgets. If we do this, there's no going back", it seems strange that he takes the action he does. Each character seems to become that which they despise. Perhaps that's the evil escalation of surveillance? The plot proves that "fixing" issues of bullying is far from straight forward. Despite good intentions and paternalistic tendencies, the teenagers fail to permanently reduce instances of bullying. The use of surveillance to protect is used to threaten instead. There's no escape and when you really need the CCTV, it's not there.
Ritchie includes some nice imagery like: "...news of the uPulse videos spreads through the school like a contagion" and "the passing of the days is glacial..." and "it takes a minute for the anger to solidify. Then it comes, steak-knife sharp, shooting through his chest and into his arm."

[Carole]

This book just didn't do it for me. The story line sounded promising, but it just felt like not much really happened. I didn't really connect with any of the characters - I don't think we were allowed inside their heads far enough to really feel what they were feeling. Getting teen voices right is obviously very difficult if you're not one yourself, and I just felt like this author didn't really nail it. Good to highlight the issue of cyberbullying and always good to have books set in New Zealand in places that readers recognise, but as much as I wanted to I just didn't love this one.

[Lorraine Orman]

A challenging and thought-provoking YA story by a fresh new New Zealand voice. Recommended for secondary school libraries - many teens will identify with the themes of bullying and hacking.

[Sheryn]

Surveillance ... video footage ... bullies captured ... your only trying to help ... when does it become too much? ... things can backfire on your good intentions.

[Leah 🫧]

A modern kiwi take on mass surveillance and what really happens when someone is watching you - a fun read I breezed through and would most definitely recommend

[Penny]

This novel reminds me of my third year work as part of my Bachelor of Arts degree back in the 1990s, with regard to Panopticonism. Jeremy Bentham was a social theorist and philosopher in the late 18th century who designed a 'Panopticon prison' idea. It was a round circular building where all the inmates had cells around the outside and there was a single room or tower on the inside through which a single watchman could observe all the inmates. The thing was, the inmates could never tell who was being watched at any one time, nor if there was anyone watching at all. Think of police interview rooms, where on one side it is a mirror, and on the other side, a window to watch unseen. And now, like in this novel, the central room, or mirrored window has become the CCTV cameras filming you. Someone out there that you don't know and can't see is possibly watching you. The idea is marketed to you as a form of protection, but what it is is a cheap way of inserting power over the masses. The concept is about obtaining power of mind over mind, the minority gaining power over the majority that are powerless. It requires fewer staff, and works as a mode of self-monitoring. You know the camera is there so you watch your behaviour and don't do anything stupid. As the main characters in this book come to realise, the right of privacy is lost.
This is an impressive work at showing readers, today's teenagers, not only the effect of living within panopticon circumstances, but also how easily the lines of bullying can be crossed. Think you're a vigilante helping show up the bullies? How easily the tables can be turned and your behaviour appear as a bullying tactic itself.
When does a fancy become obsession? Obsession turn to stalking? Is anyone truly innocent in today's world of watching watching watching everyone? This novel certainly makes you think and I recommend it to anyone concerned in today's political climate, whether you work in or attend school or think you're merely a bystander in the world. Fabulous novel!