meereefox's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
fictionfan's review
5.0
Dark story lifted by a touch of humour...
Little Daniel Buck ran out of his house one morning four months ago and has never been seen since. Edie Evans was older when she went missing several months earlier, nearly a teenager, but the signs are even more sinister in her case, since blood was found beside her broken and abandoned bicycle. Edie's case still haunts DCI John Marvel, especially since he has convinced himself that she is still alive. In fact, so desperate had he become that he even put aside all his disbelief and cynicism and consulted a psychic. But to no avail, and the case is now officially classed as 'cold'. But when Marvel begins to suspect a tenuous link between the two very different disappearances, he's willing to clutch at any straw to have it reopened...
Belinda Bauer has the rare talent amongst crime writers of achieving a near perfect balance of light and shade, so that her books are always hugely entertaining even when they are addressing some pretty grim and disturbing subjects. In this book, she does this in two ways. Her third person multiple-viewpoint narration provides a tiny bit of distance between the reader and her characters, allowing her to show the emotional turmoil of losing a child without forcing the reader to spend too much time inside the bleakness of the parents' minds. She is also a mistress of the art of injecting little bits of black humour at just the right places to lift the tone without destroying the tension. Her humour is so black and so subtle, in fact, that it often feels as if it comes direct from the reader's mind rather than the author's pen, which is brilliantly disconcerting.
There are three main viewpoints in the book. James, Daniel's father, is riddled with guilt because he left open the door allowing Daniel to run off. But he's just about holding it together, providing strength and support for his distraught wife, Anna. James works in the garage across the road from his home and it was there that the last signs of Daniel were seen - his little footprints embedded in the wet cement of the new forecourt. The garage is staffed mainly by immigrants, legal and illegal, while James' boss is an unscrupulous bully. But this all-male environment gives James a kind of emotional support that helps him face things at home.
Anna is falling apart - she rarely leaves the house except to clean and polish the footprints to stop them from being worn away. Anna's story is the grimmest strand in the book - Bauer shows us the agony and guilt felt by a mother who loses her child, and when we first meet Anna we learn how close she is to complete despair and mental breakdown. But one day a flyer is put through her door for a spiritualist meeting and she is tempted to try to find out once and for all if Daniel has died.
The third viewpoint is DCI Marvel and it's in the sections relating to him that Bauer employs her humour. Marvel is a good cop, driven to succeed, but with little empathy for either the victims or his colleagues. Usually he sees each case as a competition between himself and the killer, but something about Edie has found his soft centre - maybe because she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up, and this reminds him of his own boyhood dream. So when the Superintendent pulls him off a murder case to carry out what he sees as a trivial investigation, he's at first outraged but then decides to use it as leverage to force the Superintendent to reopen Edie's case. We also get to see Marvel's home life, and his relationship with his put-upon partner Debbie, which nicely rounds him out as a character. He loves Debbie but he clearly doesn't understand why she gets so frustrated with his behaviour. What's so odd about looking over autopsy pictures during dinner anyway?
There is a supernatural element to the book surrounding the spiritual church and the psychic involved in looking for Edie. Normally that would destroy the credibility of any book for me, but Bauer's writing is of such high quality that she carried me along and I was happy to suspend my disbelief. Marvel, too, is a cynic about such things and his down-to-earth scepticism prevents this aspect of the plot from becoming too fanciful.
Another excellent outing from Belinda Bauer, who seems to grow in skill and confidence with every book. Recently she has been producing standalones, as I believe this is, but I would be one delighted reader if she decided to bring DCI Marvel back for another case at some point - he's the kind of character who's fun to spend time with... complex, frustrating, sometimes unfeeling, but also amusing and likeable, and with a good heart. I may have to start a petition...
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Little Daniel Buck ran out of his house one morning four months ago and has never been seen since. Edie Evans was older when she went missing several months earlier, nearly a teenager, but the signs are even more sinister in her case, since blood was found beside her broken and abandoned bicycle. Edie's case still haunts DCI John Marvel, especially since he has convinced himself that she is still alive. In fact, so desperate had he become that he even put aside all his disbelief and cynicism and consulted a psychic. But to no avail, and the case is now officially classed as 'cold'. But when Marvel begins to suspect a tenuous link between the two very different disappearances, he's willing to clutch at any straw to have it reopened...
Belinda Bauer has the rare talent amongst crime writers of achieving a near perfect balance of light and shade, so that her books are always hugely entertaining even when they are addressing some pretty grim and disturbing subjects. In this book, she does this in two ways. Her third person multiple-viewpoint narration provides a tiny bit of distance between the reader and her characters, allowing her to show the emotional turmoil of losing a child without forcing the reader to spend too much time inside the bleakness of the parents' minds. She is also a mistress of the art of injecting little bits of black humour at just the right places to lift the tone without destroying the tension. Her humour is so black and so subtle, in fact, that it often feels as if it comes direct from the reader's mind rather than the author's pen, which is brilliantly disconcerting.
There are three main viewpoints in the book. James, Daniel's father, is riddled with guilt because he left open the door allowing Daniel to run off. But he's just about holding it together, providing strength and support for his distraught wife, Anna. James works in the garage across the road from his home and it was there that the last signs of Daniel were seen - his little footprints embedded in the wet cement of the new forecourt. The garage is staffed mainly by immigrants, legal and illegal, while James' boss is an unscrupulous bully. But this all-male environment gives James a kind of emotional support that helps him face things at home.
Anna is falling apart - she rarely leaves the house except to clean and polish the footprints to stop them from being worn away. Anna's story is the grimmest strand in the book - Bauer shows us the agony and guilt felt by a mother who loses her child, and when we first meet Anna we learn how close she is to complete despair and mental breakdown. But one day a flyer is put through her door for a spiritualist meeting and she is tempted to try to find out once and for all if Daniel has died.
The third viewpoint is DCI Marvel and it's in the sections relating to him that Bauer employs her humour. Marvel is a good cop, driven to succeed, but with little empathy for either the victims or his colleagues. Usually he sees each case as a competition between himself and the killer, but something about Edie has found his soft centre - maybe because she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up, and this reminds him of his own boyhood dream. So when the Superintendent pulls him off a murder case to carry out what he sees as a trivial investigation, he's at first outraged but then decides to use it as leverage to force the Superintendent to reopen Edie's case. We also get to see Marvel's home life, and his relationship with his put-upon partner Debbie, which nicely rounds him out as a character. He loves Debbie but he clearly doesn't understand why she gets so frustrated with his behaviour. What's so odd about looking over autopsy pictures during dinner anyway?
There is a supernatural element to the book surrounding the spiritual church and the psychic involved in looking for Edie. Normally that would destroy the credibility of any book for me, but Bauer's writing is of such high quality that she carried me along and I was happy to suspend my disbelief. Marvel, too, is a cynic about such things and his down-to-earth scepticism prevents this aspect of the plot from becoming too fanciful.
Another excellent outing from Belinda Bauer, who seems to grow in skill and confidence with every book. Recently she has been producing standalones, as I believe this is, but I would be one delighted reader if she decided to bring DCI Marvel back for another case at some point - he's the kind of character who's fun to spend time with... complex, frustrating, sometimes unfeeling, but also amusing and likeable, and with a good heart. I may have to start a petition...
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
allthingscozy's review
4.0
I appreciate books where the author is bold enough to create a main character that is pretty much unlikable with few redeeming qualities. The Shut Eye is that kind of book so if you have to like the characters in a story in order to appreciate the story this may not be the book for you. I found the book hard to put down both because of the wonderfully quirky characters and the intriguing storyline. I read this book quicker than I have read any book in a very long time. And just as much as a I appreciate despicable characters I also appreciate the audacity of an author that doesn't conform to the neat and tidy ending.
kirsty147's review
3.0
I couldn't decide whether I liked this book overall or not. Definitely not one of Bauer's best.
kba76's review against another edition
4.0
The book begins slowly. We learn about Anna and James, and their missing son, Daniel. We are introduced to a range of characters and the links between them are gradually revealed.
Throughout my reading I felt this was a puzzling book: the story was elusive and yet this wasn't off-putting.
Once we get to the end, and see how everything fits together, I can admire the writing.
Throughout my reading I felt this was a puzzling book: the story was elusive and yet this wasn't off-putting.
Once we get to the end, and see how everything fits together, I can admire the writing.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
Belinda Bauer's backlist, including [b:Rubbernecker|16071656|Rubbernecker|Belinda Bauer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357425539s/16071656.jpg|21865648], has been on my 'must read' list for quite some time but as it happens The Shut Eye is the first of her six published books I have read.
DCI John Marvel is haunted by the case of missing schoolgirl, Edie Evans, and resents being distracted from his investigation when he is tasked by his boss to find his wife's poodle. Marvel couldn't care less about the fate of Mitzi but when he is approached by Anna Buck, a young mother grieving for her own missing son, with information that seems to link Mitzi, Edie and Richard Latham, a local self-proclaimed psychic, his interest in the case is assured.
The Shut Eye is solid crime fiction with unexpected flashes of dark humour, unfolding from the perspectives of Marvel, Anna, and her husband James.
DCI John Marvel is a dogged and driven detective, but not a particularly nice man. He is brutally dismissive of his colleagues, his de facto partner, and suspicious of humanity in general. He is also a skeptic, and detests Latham's 'psychic' claims, so he is challenged by the inexplicable elements of the case even though he is willing to do anything to solve it.
James is shamed by the depth of his wife's grief, and feels guilty for the role he plays in it, but is at a loss as to how to help her. A mechanic, he works in the garage next door to their flat with a motley assortment of illegal colleagues, doing little else than putting one foot in front of the other every day.
Five months after her four year old son slipped out of the front door of their home, accidentally left ajar by her husband, and vanished without a trace, Anna Buck is still crazed with grief. Bauer's portrayal of Anna's emotional agony is raw and affecting, she is teetering on the edge of a complete breakdown when she reaches out to Latham.
The paranormal element of the story comes into play when Anna visits Latham's 'church' in search of answers. Though he refuses to help her, soon after Anna believes she is either experiencing visions, or has finally gone mad.
The Shut Eye is a good read, but I thought the characters were more convincing than the plot. I enjoyed the uncertainty Bauer created by blurring the line between proof and visions, and offering multiple suspects. The ending didn't quite sit right for me though, feeling a little rushed and aspects of it unlikely.
sean67's review
4.0
Belinda Bauer is a very good author, she writes characters that are three dimensional, that are flawed and that you can identify with.
This one, at times grated a little bit, but for the most part was a great plot, and had enough twists, without doing the really? that you do with lesser authors.
But ultimately it was the fact that it was people driven not just plot and that you were taken on a journey with the people in the story.
A great read again from Bauer.
This one, at times grated a little bit, but for the most part was a great plot, and had enough twists, without doing the really? that you do with lesser authors.
But ultimately it was the fact that it was people driven not just plot and that you were taken on a journey with the people in the story.
A great read again from Bauer.
chelseakasten's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
alexauthorshay's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
Belinda Bauer holds a special place in my heart. She is one of only a handful of authors who I want to read everything they publish. At least, until this book. I have read 5 of her books before now and given them all 4 stars (I confess I'm a book snob, 5 stars are extremely rare). Then I read this and wondered what the heck happened. I have no idea when each of the books were published and where this falls in the timeline in comparison, but I was beyond disappointed with this book.
Overall, the book is still very characteristic of Bauer's style; I'm always amazed at how quickly she can invest readers in her characteristics and how little she needs to describe them to reveal volumes about them and their relationships. I surprised myself this time around by not liking the detective character or the husband very much. I found Anna the most interesting.
The whole storyline with the detective and his case seemed tangential to the main plot. The only real overlap is with the medium (i.e. 'shut eye') that both he and Anna turn to for help.
But my biggest issue of all is who the killer ended up being. It felt too convenient and contrived. I have come to expect twists and turns from Bauer's previous books, but this one was not a good one.
Overall, the book is still very characteristic of Bauer's style; I'm always amazed at how quickly she can invest readers in her characteristics and how little she needs to describe them to reveal volumes about them and their relationships. I surprised myself this time around by not liking the detective character or the husband very much. I found Anna the most interesting.
The whole storyline with the detective and his case seemed tangential to the main plot. The only real overlap is with the medium (i.e. 'shut eye') that both he and Anna turn to for help.
Spoiler
The detective ends up saving the day as far as Anna is concerned, finding her son alive. But it's by pure happenstance; he finds the son in the spot where he's looking for his own missing victim. So while he does solve two birds with one stone, it's not as satisfying when we learn his missing victim has died--particularly because we get chapters from her viewpoint throughout the story. I wasn't sad that she was dead (and even then maybe somehow she's not, it's only ever inferred), I was mad. I connected to her as a character and it was pretty much for nothing. Further, we only know what happened to her at all because we get chapters from her kidnapper's perspective. He is conveniently killed and no one knows why he ran or what happened to the girl because of it. Without those chapters, readers wouldn't know either and they'd probably be even more upset to be teased with this missing person and have it go nowhere.But my biggest issue of all is who the killer ended up being. It felt too convenient and contrived. I have come to expect twists and turns from Bauer's previous books, but this one was not a good one.