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There have been a lot of mixed reviews of "Close My Eyes". I've come to a theory to that part, all the bad reviews are from the people who got an ARC of this book; whilst the good ones where from the finished copy! I suppose that they went through the book after the bad reviews! I did like this book, and I feel like this is the sort of book that's underestimated!
I spent quite some time reading this, not so thick book. It had the promising and intriguing plot I often find suspenseful. Still, I had some expectations that made this book fall from a 5 stars to a 4 stars (even though I debated with myself wether or not to give it a 4.5). When I opened this book it dug into the story I waited for the part where this woman comes at Gen's door. It was a bit hard to get into the routine where you're unable to put the book down. I felt that the background story was necessary, but I also felt like it was overdone. Too much heavy information at the beginning of a book is not always good.
Continuing the book after her mysterious visit, the story takes of the way a good mystery/thriller should. I loved the characters we're introduced to, and how they over time becomes character's you suspect to be a part of Beth's disappearance. At one point of this book we're faced with this chilling scene. After that scene I would want for a 5 star book to have even more chilling scenes coming along, but it didn't. Well, it did when I got closer to the end. I wished that Sophie Mckenzie had made this story even more chilling earlier, because the end opened for so much more!
I liked the mind-blowing twist at the end, but ending a book that way bothered me! That's also the reason why it didn't deserve a 4.5 stars rating. I would wanna see the ending conflict in motion! I would so much like to see it!! Especially when there's no sequel!!!
Another thing I surprisingly got used to was the 1st person writing! "Close My Eyes" the title must've been chosen because of her continuous use of close my eyes.
In the end I state my rating on 3.5 stars. It's a great book by an author I would definitely check out once again!
~ Sindre Ellingsen
I spent quite some time reading this, not so thick book. It had the promising and intriguing plot I often find suspenseful. Still, I had some expectations that made this book fall from a 5 stars to a 4 stars (even though I debated with myself wether or not to give it a 4.5). When I opened this book it dug into the story I waited for the part where this woman comes at Gen's door. It was a bit hard to get into the routine where you're unable to put the book down. I felt that the background story was necessary, but I also felt like it was overdone. Too much heavy information at the beginning of a book is not always good.
Continuing the book after her mysterious visit, the story takes of the way a good mystery/thriller should. I loved the characters we're introduced to, and how they over time becomes character's you suspect to be a part of Beth's disappearance. At one point of this book we're faced with this chilling scene. After that scene I would want for a 5 star book to have even more chilling scenes coming along, but it didn't. Well, it did when I got closer to the end. I wished that Sophie Mckenzie had made this story even more chilling earlier, because the end opened for so much more!
I liked the mind-blowing twist at the end, but ending a book that way bothered me! That's also the reason why it didn't deserve a 4.5 stars rating. I would wanna see the ending conflict in motion! I would so much like to see it!! Especially when there's no sequel!!!
Another thing I surprisingly got used to was the 1st person writing! "Close My Eyes" the title must've been chosen because of her continuous use of close my eyes.
In the end I state my rating on 3.5 stars. It's a great book by an author I would definitely check out once again!
~ Sindre Ellingsen
Thriller about a woman who lost her baby 8 years ago, but later learns to question every part of her past. Interesting ending.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Got this book from a second hand shop.
I have not read any by this author before but after this book, I'm willing to give her another try.
The mystery was captivating enough and it did make me want to keep reading to get to the end. But, the character development was weak (which I thought was ironic since the main protagonist was supposed to be teaching about that in her writing class). I couldn't empathize with any of the characters and many of them actually felt very wishy washy and one dimensional. The thing that bugged me the most is the repetitiveness of the monologue. At times I wondered if she was just trying to get to a word limit set by publisher. The ending was interesting and creepy.
I have not read any by this author before but after this book, I'm willing to give her another try.
The mystery was captivating enough and it did make me want to keep reading to get to the end. But, the character development was weak (which I thought was ironic since the main protagonist was supposed to be teaching about that in her writing class). I couldn't empathize with any of the characters and many of them actually felt very wishy washy and one dimensional. The thing that bugged me the most is the repetitiveness of the monologue. At times I wondered if she was just trying to get to a word limit set by publisher. The ending was interesting and creepy.
The first half of the book moves incredibly slow. One of the most annoying aspects to me is how dismissive everyone is of Gen's concerns. Even considering Gen's lack of truly living life again after the loss of her baby, it seems utterly ridiculous that no one close to her will take her remotely seriously and instead seem to believe that she imagined such dramatic events as some sort of wishful thinking that her child was still alive. At any rate, the intensity picks up a bit towards the middle of the book as Gen finally starts to really pursue the truth, and it seems to get very interesting for awhile, but ultimately I found the ending completely unrealistic and unsatisfying.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I gave it 4 stars because it was a bit unrealistic. But, it was a good read :)
Maybe 2.5 stars, but not 3. The book suffers from continually being compared to Gone Girl. Gone Girl was a fantastically written book with dark humor and wickedly devious characters. The basic story here could have been entertaining enough--woman lost a child in childbirth and 8 years later is told her daughter is still alive, but she was so annoyingly dense that it would have been EASY to take her child. You could have taken the kid and days later she'd think, why haven't they brought her back? She's that person in the movie who would tell the killer she's going to call the police while he's holding a gun on her. Her continuing dumb incredulity drove me crazy. And at the very end, there's a sort of coda that really didn't fit the book. I'm sure the author wasn't aiming for a "you're kidding!" reaction.
I would actually give this book less than a 3 but more than a 2 star review. This British psychological thriller was a little annoying and weak, but ok once I got 100+ pages into the book. Geniver thinks she is going crazy when a stranger shows up and tells her that her stillborn baby is alive..
I really liked this book until about 85% then it just fell apart. I did not like the ending at all or the way it all came together.