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Behind Her Eyes: A Suspenseful Psychological Thriller
Por Sarah Pinborough
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SOON TO BE A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
The instant New York Times and #1 international bestseller. “You should read Behind Her Eyes…It’s bloody brilliant.” —Stephen King
"An eerie thriller…Pinborough keeps us guessing about just who’s manipulating whom – until the ending reveals that we’ve been wholly complicit in this terrifying mind game.” —The New York Times Book Review
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. And if you think you know where this story is going, think again, because Behind Her Eyes is like no other book you’ve read before.
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.
In Behind Her Eyes, Sarah Pinborough has written a novel that takes the modern day love triangle and not only turns it on its head, but completely reinvents it in a way that will leave readers reeling.
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a leerInformación sobre el libro
Behind Her Eyes: A Suspenseful Psychological Thriller
Por Sarah Pinborough
Descripción
SOON TO BE A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
The instant New York Times and #1 international bestseller. “You should read Behind Her Eyes…It’s bloody brilliant.” —Stephen King
"An eerie thriller…Pinborough keeps us guessing about just who’s manipulating whom – until the ending reveals that we’ve been wholly complicit in this terrifying mind game.” —The New York Times Book Review
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. And if you think you know where this story is going, think again, because Behind Her Eyes is like no other book you’ve read before.
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.
In Behind Her Eyes, Sarah Pinborough has written a novel that takes the modern day love triangle and not only turns it on its head, but completely reinvents it in a way that will leave readers reeling.
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This seems to be a trend but.. THAT ENDING!!!! I knew it was supposed to be shocking so I had lots of ideas throughout the book for a shocking ending but I didn't see that coming at all! I really enjoyed this book. It reads fast and any book that keeps me guessing until the very end is always worth the read. Highly recommended.
This story is told through the alternating voices of Adele, a beautiful, emotionally fragile young woman who is married to David, a psychiatrist, and Louise, a single mother whose world revolves around her six year old son, Adam, and her part-time job in a clinic. However, a drunken kiss with a stranger in bar changes Louise’s life when she discovers that the man is David, soon to be her new boss. When an accidental meeting with Adele develops into a friendship between the two women, without David’s knowledge, her life becomes even more complicated as, reluctant to sacrifice either relationship, she attempts to juggle both. With flashbacks to the past, this psychological thriller reveals the complicated, interdependent relationship between Adele and David and explores the increasingly complex interactions between the dysfunctional ménage a trois!It soon became apparent that neither of the narrators was reliable and, as the story developed I found my sympathies, and my irritations, switching between the characters. It very soon became clear that, in order to continue reading the increasingly creepy plot, I would need to suspend my disbelief and be prepared to enter into the twisted logic of the characters, rather than wanting to shout at them that straightforward honesty and transparency would resolve all their problems! Once I managed to do so I found this a reasonably entertaining, undemanding and easy to read psychological thriller (and don’t we all appreciate the occasional “comfort” read!) and thought that the author managed to keep the tension building as the lives of the three main characters slowly unravelled. There are some interesting ploys used in the story-telling which could make this an interesting choice for reading groups.With a challenge on the cover of the book that this would be “the most shocking ending you’ll read all year” I approached this story with a certain degree of scepticism, determined to prove the PR wrong! However, although I had guessed part of the resolution, the final twist was a surprise – but it did rely on a total suspension of disbelief of the “vehicle” which allowed for the ending!
For the most part, this was a really good read. Kept me engaged and intrigued, kept me guessing. Part of it a little implausible for me but the ending was brilliant.
This book is a curious one. I wouldn't even call it a true thriller, when all is said and done, more so an...interesting story with a HOLY CRAP WHAT JUST HAPPENED ending. In fact, this book's ending was really heavily promoted (not what happens, but the fact it's crazy) before the book launched. Folks seem to be pretty split into two camps:1. The ending ruins the book2. The ending saves the bookI'm in the latter camp. The story itself was not anything too remarkable - though definitely quirky - but the ending took it into a new level. This was one of the most crackpot things I have ever read. I feel like I can't even say too much about it lest I spoil the UNREAL ending. The title refers to both the inner self and sleep, the latter of which plays a pretty big role in this book. It's an unreliable (multiple) narrator tale and goes absolutely off the rails. Good choice for a rainy weekend or a beach trip where you are going to lay around and want to be absolutely gobsmacked.
Freaky Friday meets The Twilight Zone! #behindhereyes #wtfthatending is right! Look forward to reading her next book!
I really liked this book as I read it and the more I thought about The Twist At The end the more I felt it fell into some common transphobia tropes, so fair warning to trans women especially.
Only a short time ago, while reviewing Sarah Pinborough's 13 Minutes, I wrote that previous experience had taught me to expect only the best from this author, but my enthusiasm suffered a nasty blow with Behind Her Eyes, not enough to prevent me from reading her other works of course, yet enough to make me a little wary before plunging straight into another one of her novels. But let's proceed with order…Behind Her Eyes starts out as a psychological thriller, and one that shortly becomes a quite compulsive read: the story is told through the alternating P.O.V.s of Adele and Louise. The former is the fragile wife of psychiatrist David, a man prone to mood swings that seem to hint at an irritable, maybe violent nature; it's clear from the start that there is something wrong in their marriage, although Adele does her best to present a perfect front to the outside world, and even at home she goes out of her way to please her husband and offer him the most impeccable kind of home life. Louise is instead recently divorced from her cheating husband and is raising alone their 6 years old son Adam: battling with loneliness and the existential problems of a single mother, not to mention the night terrors and sleepwalking episodes that occur practically every night, Louise finds a moment's joy in the encounter with a handsome stranger in a bar, and the two of them share a kiss. Only the next morning, though, the woman discovers to her horror that the man is David, her new boss in the medical clinic where she works as a secretary.To compound Louise's confusion and dread, she literally bumps into Adele, David's wife, and the two women move from a spur-or-the-moment chat over coffee to a friendship that is fraught with guilt and doubts on Louise's side, because despite their best intentions she and David have meanwhile become lovers, and she's quite taken with him, although the sides of his personality that she's inferring from what Adele tries to gloss over make her think he might be a harsh control freak who terrorizes his submissive wife.From here on the story becomes quite tangled as the narrative points of view are revealed as unreliable, one of them being shown as having an unfathomable agenda: it's thanks to Pinborough's writing skills that this surprise did not rob me of the thrill of discovery, because my need to understand this character's true goal was what drove me to keep turning the pages, as the often contradictory clues piled up and seemed to move in a certain direction, only to defy my expectations time and again. And those same skills also kept me interested in the characters' journey although I found all of them to be quite unlikable, especially Louise: she collects bad choices as other people collect shells on the beach, and she seems unable to learn from her mistakes. Not only that, but she is a walking mass of contradictions: she knows that her affair with David is a huge mistake, not only because he's a married man, but because she's friends with his wife, and yet every time she finds him at her door she cannot find the strength to send him away. And what about her alleged maternal feelings for her son? She seems to have built her life around him, but once he's away on vacation with his father (a vacation she was at first strongly opposed to), she feels free to enjoy her illicit fling and hardly seems to reserve a though for her child except for the moments when he phones her. And let's not go over her massive intake of wine at the slightest drop of a hat…Still, I could not tear myself away from the story because the author had put me under her spell, and I wanted, I needed to see where all this buildup was headed: I am not going to give any details here, because to do so would mean to offer a massive spoiler, but suffice it to say that once the fantastical element of lucid dreaming was introduced, changing the course of what had until that moment been a "simple" psychological thriller, the narrative took a whole new direction and finally moved toward the massive twist at the end, one that required the recovery of my jaw from the floor where it had fallen. Because it would have been impossible to foresee it, not until the very last second.If the story had ended at that point, it would have been perfect - an incredible buildup leading the readers through a maze of baffles and dead ends concocted to confuse them so that they could not guess what was the author's true intention. But unfortunately the novel did not stop at that first twist, that unpredictable revelation - no, there was a second one, and that ruined the overall effect of the story for me, because in my opinion it was an overkill: just imagine being in a fancy restaurant, and the chef comes at your table with a special dessert that he presents with a lot of flourish and a few moves not unlike those of a stage magician. Once he has your full attention he sets that dessert on fire and you marvel at the spectacle and enjoy the end result - it should end there and then but no, because the chef cuts the dessert in half and from it a flock of birds takes flight. Makes no sense, does it? That's exactly how I felt after that second, totally farfetched revelation.Up until that moment I was more than willing to accept the whole chain of events that led to it, including some of the more improbable ones, but the need to overdo the… shock factor, for want of a better word, was what lost me in the end, since I am a firm believer of the philosophy of "less is more", and that second surprise ruined the overall effect for me. Pity…
Louise is a secretary in a medical office. She leads a rather boring life until she goes out to a bar one night and meets a man. They chat and end up kissing passionately, but that is enough for Louise at the moment. The next day she goes to work and in walks the new doctor in the practice – the man she kissed in the bar the night before! Making this storyline even more interesting, she soon meets his wife accidentally and becomes best friend with her, even as she starts sleeping with her boss! It was up to this point that I found the story very entertaining, but then all sorts of weird stuff was introduced that led to a very bizarre ending. For me it went downhill as the storyline became so unbelievable!
I'm so conflicted about this book. My rating has wavered between 2 and 4 stars so I've settled halfway.. but it really doesn't give a complete picture. It's not an easy Book to review. And to do it without spoilers is a tough ask.. so here's my attempt to tell you without telling you, if you know what I mean.
Firstly let's start with the technical aspects of Behind Her Eyes. It was a quick and easy read.. (about 4 hours at my reading speed) I felt perhaps too easy for the overall theme of the book - it is categorized as a psychological thriller after all. At times it seemed a little one dimensional and lacking of depth. It's fate I think will be continual comparison to Girl on the Train - perhaps unfairly. The jumping between character views is a style I always find distracting and add in flashbacks.. it can be confusing to keep track.
But there was still good reason to kick on...
The trending hashtag for this book is #wtfthatending and the promotional material and chatter on the web has unashamedly promoted the twist at the end is a WTF moment. So that sets an expectation up front.
I can't help but look for the twists, try to work out what the ending will be. It's a game I love to play... but I equally end up hating a book if I can work it out.. and the earlier I can, the more I hate... such is my passion for and relationship with literature.
Let me state here that simply being blind-sided by an ending goes a long way to colour my option of a book..regardless of what comes before or the nature of the ending
About halfway through Behind her Eyes, I saw foresaw the twists and how they would come together. About 20 pages out from the finish my disappointment started to sink in, as indeed my theory came to fruition.. a particular theory I'd already decided would not sit well if it came about - and I feel many who love the psychological thriller genre, will feel the same way.
Next was time for the wrap up..mopping up the story as it were.
The last six pages.......
#WTFTHATENDING!!!!!!!!!!
...you think you know!
Firstly let's start with the technical aspects of Behind Her Eyes. It was a quick and easy read.. (about 4 hours at my reading speed) I felt perhaps too easy for the overall theme of the book - it is categorized as a psychological thriller after all. At times it seemed a little one dimensional and lacking of depth. It's fate I think will be continual comparison to Girl on the Train - perhaps unfairly. The jumping between character views is a style I always find distracting and add in flashbacks.. it can be confusing to keep track.
But there was still good reason to kick on...
The trending hashtag for this book is #wtfthatending and the promotional material and chatter on the web has unashamedly promoted the twist at the end is a WTF moment. So that sets an expectation up front.
I can't help but look for the twists, try to work out what the ending will be. It's a game I love to play... but I equally end up hating a book if I can work it out.. and the earlier I can, the more I hate... such is my passion for and relationship with literature.
Let me state here that simply being blind-sided by an ending goes a long way to colour my option of a book..regardless of what comes before or the nature of the ending
About halfway through Behind her Eyes, I saw foresaw the twists and how they would come together. About 20 pages out from the finish my disappointment started to sink in, as indeed my theory came to fruition.. a particular theory I'd already decided would not sit well if it came about - and I feel many who love the psychological thriller genre, will feel the same way.
Next was time for the wrap up..mopping up the story as it were.
The last six pages.......
#WTFTHATENDING!!!!!!!!!!
...you think you know!
I can't say a lot here except what a twist! I love a book that I can't easily figure out. Man...I may have figured out who the good guy and who the bad guy was but everything thing else was slowly fed to me with such suspense.
Clever book. Somewhat unrealistic. Good read.
One of the creepiest books I have ever loved. And I loved it because of the "I did not see that coming" end. Reviews for this book are pretty much based on that end - you will either love it or hate it, but you won't know which until you get to the end. I recommend you pick up this book and read it because, whether you end up hating the book or loving the book, it is well-written.P.S. The end is so "I did not see that coming," that I had to re-read it twice just to make sure.
Well well well. This book. I can't say that I wasn't warned... I was told there was fantasy/magical stuff in this book (not a fan) but when this book first came out, I really, really wanted to read it, now I have.When I first started the book, all was good. Then... there was lucid dreaming, true love developing from a moody 2mos affair, second doors and out of body experiences. For real.Everyone is talking about the ending of this book and now I understand why. Whether it's because I've been so busy lately or just have too much on my mind, this was a book that I pretty much let the author spoon feed me the information (I wasn't sorting through facts and details trying to figure it out every chance I had... yes, I've been known to do that and ruin perfectly good books) so I never predicted what Adele was up to even though, in hindsight, it was so very obvious. When I wrapped my brain around what happened, I was floored.I had to suspend all my beliefs multiple times throughout this book and I already said that I'm not a fan of doing that but because I also let myself be spoon fed... I thought this was a pretty good twist but then the author took it one step too far with Rob and blew it for me. blah.
Everybody raves about the ending of this book. Well, it was interesting enough, but rather unbelievable, and the prose leading up to it was incredibly quotidian. I never once read a passage that made me think, "ooh, what excellent writing," but more than once got confused about which character was speaking or noticed narration that seemed a bit unnatural. If you like simple reads about modern romance that are a little bit on the spooky side, this might be your cup of tea, but it left me saying, "meh."
Okay, just when you think you're smart and have it all figured out, then the author blows your mind!The man Louise meets in a bar seems perfect for her, until she realizes he is her new boss, and married. Against her better judgement, she becomes friends with his wife Adele and soon discovers their marriage is far from perfect....actually, it's downright scary..
I really enjoyed this thriller - great book for airplanes and poolside !! I love a good psychological thriller and this one fit the bill. You have to be able to get past the paranormal part and there are a few holes . . . but the ending was unexpected to me and I enjoyed the ride (although I did think a lot happened in the beginning and the end and the middle could have used some editing - either cutting or further character development . . . I am also not sure why there had to be so much mention of wine - did we really need to know every time our main character poured a glass ??).
Thanks to the publisher, Flatiron Books, for an Advance Reading Copy in exchange for my honest review.I was anxious to read this novel because of the publicity indicating it was going to be a best-selling psychological mystery/thriller. It's so carefully plotted, has plenty of intrigue, is dark and twisted, and what a page-turner!!There are three protagonists: a married couple, Adele, and her psychiatrist husband, David, and Louise who is David's secretary. A love triangle is at the core of the story but there is so much more going on. The chapters alternate between the viewpoints of Adele and Louise with an occasional chapter titled THEN, LATER, NOW, and finally at the end, AFTER. It's easy to determine when past things have happened or what is going on presently. There is such an easy flow due to the author's ability to keep you guessing.I am giving this novel 4 Stars instead of 5 because I had a hard time handling the unbelievable ending. I just didn't know what to say or do, so I read the ending again just in case I read it wrong the first time. I had not read it wrong so I am still trying to wrap my head around it.Sarah Pinborough is a new author for me and, after reading Behind Her Eyes, I want to read more of this talented author's work.
WTF. I mean, really WTF. I definitely didn't see the huge mouth hanging opened stunned speechless plot twist at the end. Seriously I finished this 15 minutes ago and all I keep saying to myself is WTF. However, this book was hella good. Read it.
I do not usually get impressed by the marketing of a book. Only because my opinions can differ from the big names promoting the book. However, this time I have to agree that the ending is the best part of this whole book. Even with all of the different ideas I had in my head, the one that I got never crossed my mind. When I was first reading this book, I thought it was going to be just another book like ones I have read in the past. Yet, the more I became familiar with Adele and David's life, the more intrigued I became. To be honest, if it was not for Adele and David; Louise would not have been as present in the story as she ended up becoming. Everything about this book was spot on perfect. I could not stop reading it. I am only sadden that I finished this book so fast. Behind Her Eyes will haunt you long after you have put this book down! One of the best books of 2017.
There's been an awful lot of hype about this book, leading up to publication. Everybody is using the hashtag #WTFthatending so I knew that there was going to be a massive twist at the end. In a way I think that shaped my reading of the book, particularly the first half, and I was wondering if it was really going to live up to such high expectations.The story is almost completely centred around the three characters mentioned in the blurb. David is charismatic and Louise falls for him but she also falls under the spell of his beautiful wife, Adele. They should be the perfect couple but there are many problems beneath the surface and Louise finds herself drawn in and unsure who to trust and who to believe. I daren't say any more about the plot!This is such a hard book to review because it's so important not to give anything away. There are some fascinating threads to the story which I kind of want to search for on the internet just to see if they can really be possible but maybe I'm better off not knowing as it might just blow my mind!Whilst the first half of the book set the scene and introduced the characters and their relationships with each other, the second half really took off for me and I became thoroughly engrossed in the unique and clever story. As I headed towards #WTFthatending I was trying to think about what on earth was going to happen. It's a testament to the writing that I didn't guess until it was totally upon me and the thoughts in my head were basically of the 'no no no' variety. And then I was hit with another shock which left me with my mouth hanging open.This is an ingenious and dark psychological thriller with just the right level of believability to make it work. Sarah Pinborough is by no means new to writing but I think this book is going to propel her into another stratosphere.
The man who single mom Louise meets at the bar and kisses turns out to be her new married boss, David. How’s she supposed to handle this one? She’s still very attracted to David but has to work with him every day. To complicate things even more, Louise literally bumps into Adele, who is David’s wife. Adele wants to be friends with Louise and Louise is drawn into her world. But this isn’t a common love triangle. The more Louise becomes involved with David and Adele, the stranger their marriage and past all becomes. Is David a control freak or worse? What is it David and Adele are hiding?OK, this was quite a roller coaster of a book. On the con side, none of the main characters are very likeable and it’s hard to sympathize with any of them. But the author does a very good job of building the suspense and you can’t help but keep reading and trying to puzzle it all out. You have to find out what’s going on. There are a lot of unreliable narrator books out there but this one is quite unique. The book is being advertised as a psychological thriller and it is that but it also has a supernatural aspect that I hadn’t anticipated and edges into the horror genre. While it’s certainly not realistic or believable, the ending really caught me by surprise and I thought it was quite clever of the author. A fun read. This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
I have read a couple of books by Sarah Pinborough and find them a bit hit or miss. Behind Her Eyes is really hyped up and is been talked about because of the ending.The story revolves around a married but not happy couple Adele and David. David begins an affair with his secretary Louise and then starts a love triangle. The book has all the classic elements of a psychological thriller with three very unreliable characters. It could quite easily be said that if you liked Gone Girl and Girl on the Train then this book is for you. It then however has a supernatural element to the story. This for me I couldn't see how it was all going to fit together. I was enjoying the story but new I had to keep going because of the ending. No cheating and reading the last few pages because it will spoil the book. The ending does make the whole book worthwhile. So I'm not totally blown away but the book was a very good read. I don't think I've come across an ending like this before. Its going to take a while to get these mixed up people out my head. I would recommend this book, its different but don't read the last few pages.Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review the book.
Wow! This book took me on a thrilling ride. I just finished it and am still trying to process that ending. Mind-blowing! If you loved “Gone Girl”, “The Girl on the Train”, and “Behind Closed Doors” you will love this one. I assure you that NOTHING is as it seems.Louise, a single mother, meets gorgeous David in a bar one night. There is an immediate attraction and they kiss. Then a few days later Louise is stunned when she finds that her boss is “the man in the bar” – and from a brief glimpse and the photo on his desk Louise sees the wife is an equally gorgeous woman. A few later Louise bumps into a lady at the coffee shop. She recognizes her as David’s wife. Adele, the wife, seems eager to befriend Louise. Louise does not reveal to Adele that she is David’s secretary. She thinks that Adele will tire of her soon. But Adele is determined. Louise now wonders how to tell David that she is becoming friends with his wife. Also how does she tell Adele that she works for her husband? So she keeps putting it off.Just like the couple in Behind Closed Doors David and Adele appear to be perfect and to have it all. But remember – NOTHING is as it seems. Everyone is keeping secrets. Life gets so much more complicated for Louise as she begins an affair with David. However she really likes Adele and feels guilty for betraying their friendship. It is through their friendship though that Louise learns how controlling David is. He calls Adele twice a day at specific times to check on her. And Adele seems scared of her own husband.Louise is now trapped in drama of David and Adele’s marriage. Something is definitely not right about their marriage and Louise doesn’t know how to get out of the mess she is in. She is totally unaware of how she is being played and what the consequences will be for her. Every time I thought I was on the right track of figuring it out the story went down a now track. I ABSOLUTELY did not see the ending coming. I had to reread those few pages several time to grasp it. I am still mulling it over. Where should I have picked up on it? Has anyone guessed the ending? #flatironbooks #behindhereyes #wtfthatending! #sarahpinborough
There is a slow build up, a couple of unsurprising twists and then one hell of a gut punch at the end. It's no wonder people have been talking about this ending! It's slightly out of the realm of just straight thriller, there is a little tiny droplet of supernatural edge to it (nothing more extreme than lucid dreaming). Per usual I buy everything hook, line, and sinker at the book which only sets me up for the fall. But honestly, I don't mind that, not all. Louise is a single mum working as a secretary in London and she has the worst possible luck. She finally meets a man at the bar and it turns out that it is her MARRIED new boss at work. Once they get past the initial weirdness they re-start their affair but things get weird when Louise makes a new friend. Her boss's wife, Adele. It happens completely by accident, but now she finds herself dependent on both of them. However, things are not what they seem with Adele. What is going on behind those eyes of hers? Pretty good thriller, kept me entertained and guessing!
It's unfortunate that the author had to inject the supernatural element into this story, because I think it would have been much better without it. The "twist at the end" has been talked about so much that I was able to figure out ahead of time half of what was going to happen, and the second half seemed to me gratuitously provocative and kind of stupid. Disappointing.
Louise meets David, an attractive and intelligent man, at a bar one night and they hit it off immediately. The next morning, still recovering from her late night, Louise is horrified to discover David is the new psychiatrist in the office, where she works as a secretary. Further, David is married to a beautiful woman, named Adele. Louise makes the bad situation worse by inadvertently becoming Adele's new best friend. Rather than informing David or Adele about what is going on, Louise continues to make bad decisions until she is hopelessly entangled in David and Adele's troubled marriage. From the beginning, it is clear that David and Adele have a strange marriage and that something is going on. Their secrets emerge very slowly over the course of the novel and it isn't until the very last page that the entire plot is revealed. The author uses some paranormal elements in the book, which seemed disconcerting and out of place in this novel. Overall, I liked the cat and mouse game that was being played, which reminded me of "Gone Girl", however, I could have done without the paranormal, as it seemed to distract from an otherwise chilling story line.
Louise is single mom who works hard to make sure her son is well taken care of, often putting his needs before her own. For a while now Louise has been in a rut, but she is trying to change that. On a night out at a bar she meets a man who she is instantly drawn to. They share a kiss that stays with her long after and she thinks that finally things could be looking up. All of that changes on Monday when she’s back in the office being introduced to her new boss. He’s the man from the bar. David is married and instantly tells Louise that what happened between them was a terrible mistake, but Louise can’t forget that moment and she isn’t sure that he can either.One day on her usual route of dropping her son off at school Louise bumps into Adele, her boss David’s wife. Louise is at a loss when Adele invites her to coffee and the two hit it off. Adele convinces Louise that they should be friends, but there’s a catch, she wants to keep it hidden from her husband. The David that Adele describes to Louise is much different from the man she thought she knew. It seems they’re not quite the perfect couple that they come off as. Louise begins to grow closer to Adele, while also building a relationship with David, and soon things are spiraling out of control. Louise doesn’t know who to believe or what the truth about this couple really is. She knows every marriage has it secrets, but what is really happening between Adele and David?Sarah Pinborough just blew my mind with BEHIND HER EYES! I went into this book thinking I was in for a wild ride with a psychological thriller and walked away with my jaw on the floor. I heard everyone tell me that the ending was amazing. Well they’re right, but they also forgot to say that the beginning and middle were equally great! The story is told through alternating points of view between Adele, Louise, and remembrances of Adele’s past. I loved getting inside each woman’s mind and watching them both plotting away and trying to figure each other out. I simultaneously felt sympathy towards each woman, but then also hated them. David brought out the same emotions in me. Basically, Pinborough played with my emotions nonstop, while misleading me to think I knew all of the answers. One thing that I think could lead to some readers not loving this story as much as myself is the supernatural aspect of the book. This aspect becomes a key player, so if you’re not a fan of these types of stories, I believe this book might not work for you. If you’re able to suspend your belief, embrace the crazy, and hang on tight for a roller coaster of emotions, pick up BEHIND HER EYES!
You ever lose a bar bet? Well, if you have then you know what this book feels like after you finish it. You feel tricked. You feel deceived. And then you're kinda' angry that you have to pay up.
That's what this novel is. A cheap, cheating bar trick. You are told it is one type of novel and it ends up being another type.
The twist ending is not what I am talking about. How we got to that twist ending is what irks me to no end.
The only reason I gave the book even two stars is because Pinborough actually can write. Just next time be honest about what type of book you have written.
That's what this novel is. A cheap, cheating bar trick. You are told it is one type of novel and it ends up being another type.
The twist ending is not what I am talking about. How we got to that twist ending is what irks me to no end.
The only reason I gave the book even two stars is because Pinborough actually can write. Just next time be honest about what type of book you have written.
Louise, a single mom, is a secretary in a psychiatrists’ practice. One night, out at a bar, she meets a man, sparks fly, and they share a kiss. The next day, the man, David, shows up in the practice as her new boss. Meanwhile, his wife, Adele, befriends Louise while demanding she keep their friendship a secret. This is the setup but you won’t see the twists and turns in this thriller coming. Good fun, especially on audio, as Louise and Adele take turns telling the story.
I rarely write a review that includes explicit details and this review will follow that rule. Summaries of the story can be found all over the place thus I do not feel the need to include one.
This book has been recommended to me by various book lists and book clubs. The ending is labeled as a #WTF ending. Who can resist a book that heralds that kind of hash tag?
Basic set up is single mother meets guy in a bar and there is an instant attraction. A day or so later she discovers this guy is not only her new boss but he is married. She later bumps into his wife who she becomes friends with. This is a strange triangle and one never really knows who the villain is and I found myself rooting for different characters at different points in the book. The reader senses that a game is being played and as the story reveals itself the mystery becomes more cloudy before it becomes clear. The story absolutely hooked me in. The characters are compelling and while not always likable they are intriguing. There is more than one mystery that needs to be solved but they are all connected. One can be emphatic about the challenges faced by someone involved in this love triangle because the married partners do not seem to be happy in their marriage. Both seem to be seeking a way to escape and Louise appoints herself as their guide.
Then ending was unique and I can understand why people either love it or hate it. Anyone familiar with supernatural tales will kind of guess what is going on and that took away a bit of the surprise at the end. However even guessing the supernatural part there is still a twist in there that one would not guess. I think the book is well written and is definitely worthy of the time spent reading it.
This book has been recommended to me by various book lists and book clubs. The ending is labeled as a #WTF ending. Who can resist a book that heralds that kind of hash tag?
Basic set up is single mother meets guy in a bar and there is an instant attraction. A day or so later she discovers this guy is not only her new boss but he is married. She later bumps into his wife who she becomes friends with. This is a strange triangle and one never really knows who the villain is and I found myself rooting for different characters at different points in the book. The reader senses that a game is being played and as the story reveals itself the mystery becomes more cloudy before it becomes clear. The story absolutely hooked me in. The characters are compelling and while not always likable they are intriguing. There is more than one mystery that needs to be solved but they are all connected. One can be emphatic about the challenges faced by someone involved in this love triangle because the married partners do not seem to be happy in their marriage. Both seem to be seeking a way to escape and Louise appoints herself as their guide.
Then ending was unique and I can understand why people either love it or hate it. Anyone familiar with supernatural tales will kind of guess what is going on and that took away a bit of the surprise at the end. However even guessing the supernatural part there is still a twist in there that one would not guess. I think the book is well written and is definitely worthy of the time spent reading it.