A review by noveldeelights
Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly
4.0
What starts as a normal day soon ends in disaster. Leon and Jane are off to visit his mother who’s throwing Leon a birthday party. There’s a bit of an argument, nothing serious, and a neighbour with a grievance. Having forgotten to pick up beer, Jane is glad when she can go back into the house and step away from the confrontation for a while. But when she returns to the car, things are not quite the way she left them.
From that moment onwards, life for Jane and her family changes forever. Not only is there a “who and why” mystery to solve, but the family dynamics and circumstances are incredibly hard to deal with on a daily basis. I couldn’t at all imagine what it would be like but the unsettling vibe throughout the story was done brilliantly as behaviours and attitudes become increasingly unpredictable and erratic.
Leon and Jane are both authors and through them, we get a glimpse into the literary world which I thoroughly enjoyed. While Leon has been quite successful, Jane has been struggling to get anything published, which is seriously affecting her confidence. Yet she must somehow find it within herself to protect her family and get them through this dark period, all the while trying to come to grips with this “new” husband and maybe realising she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did before all this happened.
I find it hard to explain why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. There was just something about it that captivated me so much that I couldn’t put it down. I found myself caring less about trying to figure out who the culprit was, but more about the characters themselves and the way they were adapting to this massive change.
This is one gripping read full of suspense and red herrings that left me suspecting just about everyone. I couldn’t figure things out at all but I must say, that was one satisfying conclusion! Open Your Eyes is a psychological thriller with a difference and really stands out from the crowd. It has the thrills you expect, it has the twists but it also has quite the heartbreaking premise and it all makes for an intense and compelling story.
From that moment onwards, life for Jane and her family changes forever. Not only is there a “who and why” mystery to solve, but the family dynamics and circumstances are incredibly hard to deal with on a daily basis. I couldn’t at all imagine what it would be like but the unsettling vibe throughout the story was done brilliantly as behaviours and attitudes become increasingly unpredictable and erratic.
Leon and Jane are both authors and through them, we get a glimpse into the literary world which I thoroughly enjoyed. While Leon has been quite successful, Jane has been struggling to get anything published, which is seriously affecting her confidence. Yet she must somehow find it within herself to protect her family and get them through this dark period, all the while trying to come to grips with this “new” husband and maybe realising she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did before all this happened.
I find it hard to explain why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. There was just something about it that captivated me so much that I couldn’t put it down. I found myself caring less about trying to figure out who the culprit was, but more about the characters themselves and the way they were adapting to this massive change.
This is one gripping read full of suspense and red herrings that left me suspecting just about everyone. I couldn’t figure things out at all but I must say, that was one satisfying conclusion! Open Your Eyes is a psychological thriller with a difference and really stands out from the crowd. It has the thrills you expect, it has the twists but it also has quite the heartbreaking premise and it all makes for an intense and compelling story.