'Just Checking' is a series of vignettes that are honest, startling, at times very funny yet also deeply emotional. Emily relates her journey through life, from incidents during childhood, to the present day - along her journey she has been accompanied by the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. These symptoms and this disorder have shaped Emily's whole life and her personality. It is apparant from the writing that Emily is an intelligent woman, she realises that her thoughts and actions are not normal, but she is tormented by them. At first she was convinced that she would be poisoned, these feelings grew and grew until her world became, to her, a very dangerous place. Emily is a witty woman, her writing is simple and easy to read and she is very self-aware. It is clear that Emily knows the effects of her OCD on her life, her children and her husband and tries her best to hide the outward signs from other people, but that becomes increasingly difficult for her. Nobody is referred to by their name, she talks about her husband, her friend, her daughter etc, almost as though she is separate from them. She talks about her childhood and I would wonder whether some of her father's behaviours had an impact on her own disorder. This is a fascinating read, a real insight into living with OCD.