A review by babewithabookandabeer
The Silence in Her Eyes by Armando Lucas Correa

dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Thank you Atria Books for my Netgalley copy of THE SILENCE IN HER EYES by Armando Lucas Correa, out 1/30/24!

For fans of Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware, this is a psychological thriller about a woman with a rare neurological condition who is convinced her neighbor is going to be murdered.

Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. For the last twenty years, she hasn’t been able to see movement. As she walks around her upper Manhattan neighborhood with her white stick tapping in front, most people assume she’s blind. But the truth is Leah sees a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice.

She has a quiet, orderly life, with little human contact beyond her longtime housekeeper, her doctor, and her elderly neighbor. That all changes when Alice moves into the apartment next door and Leah can immediately smell the anxiety wafting off her. Worse, Leah can’t help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor engage in a violent fight. Worried, she befriends her neighbor and discovers that Alice is in the middle of a messy divorce from an abusive husband.

Then one night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. She blacks out and in the morning is left wondering if she dreamt the episode. And yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength, and ultimately her sanity.

The writing is very up-front, direct and succinct. I like that every now and then, and this one surprised me with its twists. Definitely for fans of unreliable narrators, this book will keep you on your toes. I was pretty annoyed of the word “bergamot” by the end (iykyk) and I think her condition was explained very reptatively, but for the most part, I was engaged and intrigued to see where it went.

It goes off the rails at the end - it’s perfect for a good popcorn thriller you can read in one sitting when you have the time.