Review: Behind Her Eyes
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5 stars. Hahahahaha. Awesome.
Quick, super high-level summary: A lonely single mother, Louise, has a drunken encounter with a man in the bar, only to discover that he's her new boss. And married. To a beautiful, intriguing, seemingly-perfect woman named Adele. Soon, as she gets to know both of them, she begins to uncover secrets ... upon secrets ... upon secrets.
There's a lot that made this book successful. At first glance I was annoyed with the author for trying to channel Gillian Flynn (everyone tries to channel Gillian and everyone fails, because she writes stories that are thrilling, not thrillers ... but that's a story for another day). I felt hints of Paula Hawkins and Jane Harper, too, so I was annoyed and frustrated and all set to mock this book into oblivion for feeling so derivative. It appeared, in every sense of the word, to play by the rules.
And then things took a turn.
And then things took another turn.
And I was so into it.
Things I loved:
Sarah Pinborough's knack for writing different voices. I've read books that switch POV unsuccessfully because the author can't write more than one reliably believable tone and the characters are virtually indistinguishable. Here we have two/three individuals with their own quirks, interests, personality accents. It's wonderful and fresh and impressive.
The fact that despite very weird, wild, far-fetched, almost-maybe-supernatural events moved the plot forward, the characters behaved almost exactly like I'd expect them to - that is to say, realistically.
Pinborough's absolute, unwavering commitment. This wouldn't have worked had it been half-assed. I know there are complaints about the characters acting in ways that are ... expected, perhaps, reinforcing a caricature. But that's partly what made the puzzle pieces here fall into place - because they all fit the way they're expected to. That's a little abstract and might not make sense, but it really, really worked for me.
I know, I know, that ending (it's true - #WTFThatEnding). Sick. So sick. And somehow so satisfying in a crunchy, tangy way that hurts in all the right ways. Like taking a shot. I'm really, really blown away. The writing is good AND the plot is good AND the characters are good and I highly recommend this as a soul-sucking book that's worth your time. Convincing? No, maybe not. But just let ... it ... go and let yourself be entertained.