Review : Close My Eyes by Sophie McKenzie
Close my Eyes by Sophie McKenzie
Pages : 400
Genre : Mystery, Psychological Thriller
Stand Alone My Rating : 2,5/5
What it’s about :
My Thoughts :
Close My Eyes started off pretty well; I was intrigued by the premise and instantly hooked to the story. For a while, I thought for sure I had a winner between my hands. Genniver was an easy to sympathize with narrator, and the intrigue started early enough. Unfortunately, my excitement would not last, and I believe three things were mostly at fault here : the romance, the length, and the plot itself.
I have to say, I was quite surprised by the romance, which I felt was completely unnecessary. It was already very obvious Geniver had lost trust in her husband, and that their love wasn’t as strong as it used to be. I wish the author would have instead written a friend for Geniver, one she could trust and confide in. It wouldn’t have changed anything crucial for the story, really.
The last two aspects of the novel I didn’t enjoy are mostly tied together : the length of the story, which was a tad on the long side (I felt like it took forever to conclude!) and the plot which had way (way!) too many twists for my taste. It went from a plausible intriguing and heartbreaking story to an unbelievable, convoluted story that made very little sense. The conclusion of what happened to Beth and why made no sense to me, to an extent where it was almost comical. And then, it ended with an epilogue of some sort that was, again, just too much on top of everything. At this point, I didn’t care for anyone anymore and couldn’t wait to move on to a better book.
All of this was balanced by a fairly good pacing. There were few dull moments and the twists, though too numerous, certainly had me intrigued. I was entertained, and I did want to know how all of this would end. So many questions needed answers that I had to finish the book!
So I guess that, in a way, the author did succeed in keeping me interested. The pace was right, and had the book been a bit quieter and more character-centered like its first third, I would probably have enjoyed it much more. It is clear though that Close My Eyes wasn’t exactly my type of thriller; I much prefer when they are a little less twisty and more realistic. However, if you love a story full of turns and don’t mind suspending your disbelief for a while, go for it!
Close My Eyes is available for sale today! Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for generously providing a copy of the book for this review!
I’m not a fan of romance in thrillers either so this may not be for me.
Yeah, I’m not either, unless it plays an important part in the story, but here you could have replaced it by a friend and the story would only have felt more focused.