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Book Review: Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
Flatiron Books, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1250111173
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, Audible.

Sarah Pinborough is one of writing’s brightest stars today. She cut her teeth in the world of horror and ventured into the darkest realms of fantasy, thriller, and weird fiction before writing Behind Her Eyes, which has been compared to Girl on a Train, but with a twist.

Single mom Louise is stuck in a rut: she’s on the losing end of a divorce, with a dead end job, and poor dating skills. She meets David in a bar, and then discovers he’s her new boss. David is a bright, charismatic, and mysterious psychiatrist. Through a chance encounter, Louise meets Adele, David’s wife, who takes Louise under her wing. The chaos begins to simmer as bad choices ensue, despite strong ambitions, and the curtains begin to part on a dark marriage. Louise struggles to determine who is friend or foe as she falls under the spell of a magical awakening in her life.

Each turn of the plot peels off another layer of a rotting fruit. Everyone is talking about the ending, but the fun is in the journey here: readers will want to pay special attention to the flawed personalities and murky pasts of each character. To judge the book solely based on the last few pages is to do it a huge disservice. The ending is wild, and readers who take a stab at the ending are almost certain to miss; this reviewer was completely, utterly wrong.

If you haven’t discovered Sarah Pinborough, start here and keep going. If you’ve enjoyed her, you’ll see why she never hits the same nail twice. She’s phenomenal in voice, and her writing has just enough sweetness to temper her obsidian soul. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Posted on June 10, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet

Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet
W.W. Norton and Company, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-0393285543
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, and Audible audio

When Anna discovers she’s pregnant, her husband Ned wants nothing to do with her pregnancy and insists she have an abortion: when she chooses not to do so, he becomes hostile and absent in their relationship, spending all his time at work. In the hospital, in the first moments alone with her new baby, Anna has the first of many unexplainable auditory hallucinations. Having dismissed ear infections, neurological issues, mental illness, and demon possession, she learns from the Internet that at least she is not alone: there are others who also hear voices. Rather than getting drawn in, Anna decides to keep a diary of what she hears, and keep the voices to herself. After years of being alone with the voices and her little girl, Lena, she leaves Ned, and goes off the grid so he can’t find her and take back their daughter, Lena. Now Ned is running for office, though. Ironically, he needs his family back to promote his pro-life, family values agenda… and he’ll do anything he needs to, to make that happen.

This sounds like a fairly straightforward narrative, but it’s really not: while I started out wanting to believe Anna, she is an extremely unreliable narrator, and becomes more and more so as the book continues. Even she starts to doubt her perceptions, and it’s hard to tell whether this is because Ned is gaslighting her, or because she harbors paranoid delusions. Did she ever actually leave home? How long is Ned’s reach? Are her friends during her escape real people, and if they are, are they even sane? Are the voices evidence of God, or the absence of God, or something else? The only thing we know for sure is that she has a deep love for her daughter that transcends anything else that happens. And some very terrifying things do happen. If we trust Anna’s perception of what Ned is capable of at all, he is not just a narcissist, but a genuinely frightening force able to tamper with the brain, and, through that, our sense of reality.

Readers looking for a straightforward, fast-paced narrative won’t find that here. However, those who enjoy the puzzle of a compelling psychological thriller with a plot complicated by an unreliable narrator, or fragmented reality, with a taste of an apocalyptic future, will find a lot to chew on here. Recommended.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 


Posted on November 2, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards

The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards

Thomas & Mercer, 2016

ISBN-13: 9781503938182

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Sophie, a young mother, resumes her career as a literary publicist in London after raising her 4 year-old, daughter.  She is fulfilling a lifelong dream, to work for Jackdaw Press, a prestigious publisher of children’s books that captivated her in childhood.  However, her workplace is troubled: her predecessor mysteriously disappeared, a colleague is inexplicably dismissed for sexual harassment, another colleague is brutally mugged, and a beautiful subordinate seems to be plotting to replace Sophie.  The firm’s octogenarian founder is a grey, ominous presence in the Victorian Gothic office building.

Sophie’s return to work, her husband’s career, and their marriage begin to unravel.  Somehow, her troubles are connected with tragic events during her first year at university.  Sophie and a girlfriend are outsiders.  Unknown to Sophie, her friend’s grandfather is Jackdaw’s founder.

The author, Mark Edwards, skillfully interweaves episodes from the present and past that put Sophie’s career and life in danger  There are no monsters or supernatural forces: however, the darkness and malevolence in human souls suffice to create a chilling tale.  The story’s twists and turns qualify it as a good mystery that keeps the reader guessing.  Edwards has written many psychological thrillers, including The Magpies, What You Wish For, Because She Loves Me and Follow You Home. Recommended.

 

Contains: mild sex and mild gore

 

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee


Posted on October 1, 2016 by , Reply
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