Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough Published by Flatiron Books on January 31st 2017
Pages: 320
Goodreads
Why is everyone talking about the ending of Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes?
Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.
When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.
And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?
As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.
Though I wouldn’t call anything contained in this review a spoiler, if you are thinking about reading this book, you might want to think twice before continuing. I do not feel I can review this book without including certain information which has significantly influenced my rating and opinions.
Okay, now that the disclosure is out of the way, I’d like to state that once again, I seem to be the cheese that stands alone. This book is getting lots of well-deserved 5 star reviews. I totally understand why so many people loved it. I hope I’m able to articulate what it was that didn’t work for me in this book that has so many good things going for it.
The Pros
- The Author – Sarah Pinborough is an incredibly gifted writer. She toggles effortlessly between the past and present and the voices of Adele and Louise.
- The Pacing/Suspense Factor – There is no doubt I was drawn in right away and kept at the edge of my seat till the very end.
- The Characters – Is this one good? Is that one evil? Should I feel bad for her? Or him? All three of our main characters are richly developed. (For better, or worse as in any good thriller!)
- The Plot – It’s a three-ring circus in just the right way! I don’t think I’ve read any other book with these particular husband/wife/mistress dynamics.
The Cons
- Believability Factor – This is quite possibly the most outlandish psychological thriller I’ve ever read.
- Genre Miscategorization/Omission – This is the reason that what I initially thought was going to be a 5 star book turned out to be a 3 star book for me. While I can understand its categorization as a psychological thriller, there is a very, very strong intersection with another genre which has not been publicized. (I won’t name the other genre because I’m trying not to give too much away.) I can understand why this is the case, however, if I had known, I would not have read this book. At the end of the book, I felt disappointed and a little misled if I’m honest.
A Final Thought
While my overall experience with this book is only 3 stars, I’m not entirely sorry I read it. It’s creating a lot of buzz! Opposing views make for great book club discussions, online debates, etc. I’m looking forward to seeing how the reviews shake down a month or two after publication.
Many thanks to Flatiron Books for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I 100% agree with your review and had the same issues that you did!
It’s a relief to know you had the same thoughts. An unexpected ending is usually a good thing but in this case…
You are definitely not the only lone cheese!! I read this and am choosing not to review it because I wouldn’t have been able to come up with anything I really liked about it. I believe in being constructive in reviews of books I didn’t love like you did. If I’m giving a book a 2 star rating or below I usually won’t review it because I don’t want to write a purely negative review which would’ve been the case with this book unfortunately. I did rate it 2 stars on my Goodreads though. Probably could’ve given it a 1.5 in all honesty. I finished it because I had to at least see what everyone was talking about but in the end I was thinking “meh, who cares”
Thanks, Renee. I’m beginning to feel better now that I’ve heard that you, Chelsea, and another esteemed friend on GR have commented with similar thoughts. I had trouble coming up with a rating and I considered doing the review without a rating but in the end I decided to balance the good with the not-so-good.
You did a good job with the balancing, 2-3 star reviews are the hardest for me. Luckily I don’t have that many come along:)
What an even-handed review!
I completely understand where you’re coming from on the negative side and can categorically say if this had been in the genre you are alluding to, I wouldn’t have read the book. I think it was the writing that got me over the believability bit and I was prepared (and it did truly surprise me) to let that go… I really enjoyed the book on the strength of your positive comments.
Thanks, Cleo. I really did aim to be even-handed so I really appreciate your letting me know that that came through in the review. This book definitely had its merits and I can certainly understand why it’s getting so much hype. I think it was actually a clever move on the part of the publisher to omit that genre from the books description. They have ensured a much broader audience for themselves…
🙂 You’re welcome and I agree with the genre choice
Sounds like one of those books where you don’t particularly like any of the characters because you do not know who to trust?
Ugh. There is nothing worse than being surprised by the book not being at all what you expected to be. I’d say in 80% or more of my experiences like this I’ve ended up disliking the book. I’m sorry. That said, I’m glad you were able to experience some great writing and evenly paced suspense! Would you say there was a turning moment for you when you started to like the book less? What drove you to finish it regardless?
So true! I think I had an inkling that it wasn’t going to be a 5 star review by the middle of the book but it was not at all for the reasons I thought it would be. I actually thought it would end predictably and that would be the cause of my disappointment. I finished it because it was still, up until the end, a decent fast-paced read. And I held out some hope that there would be a twist that would shock me. Well, there was, just not in the way I’d anticipated!
I have certainly read my fair share of 3 star books with amazing pacing. I completely understand! Hopefully your next book will be better. 🙂