Behind Her Eyes: A Suspenseful Psychological Thriller Hardcover – January 31, 2017

When every blurb on the front and rear cover of a novel mentions the 'final twist' and how it 'will leave you reeling' I have to make a decision as a reader. It sort of reminds me of every M. Night Shyamalan film after "The 6th Sense". That film had such a legendary twist that you find yourself looking for the twists in each successive film. This strategy takes away from fully allowing yourself to be immersed in the work and simply let the surprise, if any, happen as it was intended to.That is the challenge with the terrific new psychological thriller from Sarah Pinborough, BEHIND HER EYES. I made a mental note to drive through the novel and enjoy it as it was written, although I must admit to trying to piece together a few end game scenarios from what was unfolding before me.Before I jump into the set-up for this brilliant novel I must firmly aver that I am not a band-wagon jumper when it comes to Sarah Pinborough. Back when Leisure Books used to have a Horror Genre I was a club member who received two new or re-printed Horror paperbacks each month. This was how I was introduced to Ms. Pinborough as a slew of her horror novels were included as selections with the club. I really enjoyed her horror work and continued to seek out her other novels that included fantasy novels as well as a terrific exercise into grief entitled THE LANGUAGE OF DYING.BEHIND HER EYES unfolds like a classic love triangle thriller. Single mom Louise meets a stranger at a bar and the evening ends with a sultry kiss. Imagine how surprised she is to find that her boss at her new job is the very same man from the bar. She finds out that he is David Martin and he is married --- albeit, not happily.Things get complicated when she bumps into, quite literally, a woman on the street one morning who she strikes up a conversation with. This young woman is attractive and comes across as very lonely. She confesses that there are some distance issues with her husband --- a Psychologist named Dr. David Martin. Louise is in quite a predicament as she had a brief 'thing' with David yet really likes his wife, Adele, and also is in need of a female companion to befriend.Of course, Louise does not let on to Adele that she had a thing with her husband --- and that relationship begins to flower well beyond a mere kiss. She is really torn because she truly likes Adele. Things get really sticky when Adele declares that she feels her husband is seeing someone else. Rather than ending both relationships, she continues to move forward with each. It turns out that Adele and Louise have a lot more in common than just being attracted to the same man. They share similar anxieties that include suffering from severe night terrors. Adele is able to teach Louise a trick that allows a person to take command of their dream state and literally have out-of-body experiences that helps to prevent the dreaded night terrors.As expected, things begin to spiral out of control, especially when Louise reads the case file David kept in his office on Adele. She has many problems outside of mere nightmares and is heavily medicated. Adele paints a picture of David being super controlling and keeping her in check by knowing where she is at all times and staying on top of her daily pill intake.To go any further threatens to risk letting out critical information so I will leave things at that. The style of BEHIND HER EYES follows the scheme made uber-popular by Gillian Flynn in her novel GONE GIRL, where each chapter is told from a different characters perspective and forces the reader to make the connections. If one, or more, of the narrators turns out to be unreliable it makes things that much more interesting. The twist, when it comes, is a doozy and one I did not see coming. The best twist I have experienced since the terrific novel by Clair Mackintosh last year entitled I LET YOU GO. Sarah Pinborough deserves to be a household name internationally and I trust that BEHIND HER EYES raises her to that illustrious status.Reviewed by Ray Palen

Wow! This is a wild, wild ride. The author delivers everything you need to know at the perfect time. The pace gets a little slow in the middle but once all is revealed it is completely worth the wait !

There is too much back and forth with the characters. It had excellent potential but the flipping between times and characters just made the story feel like it was dragging on. I wanted to live the book but by the halfway point I just wanted it to be finished.

I read this super fast, really gripping! Love the characters and the ending was very intriguing. Irecommend this for a hot summer day or night. Perfect for letting time slide away. Going to watch on Netflix, so enjoy the shock of the ending!

Loved this book. The author toys with you. She makes you feel clever - that you figured the ending out before you get there. Then when you think the story is going to wrap itself up in a pretty bow…BAM! You are left with your mouth hanging open scratching your head. Still thinking about the end…I enjoyed this book. I will definitely read this one again.

Wow. Not what I anticipated. Thrilling. Confusing. Full filling. Just wow. Read it. You won’t regret it. How do I move on now.

I’m not sure what I just read, but it had me gripped from the very beginning, and until the very last word. Just wait until you get to Chapter 58… biggest twist of all time. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

I was pulled in from the start and couldn’t put this one down. At one point I was thinking that this might be one of my few 5-star reads of the year. But, as things progressed, I found my star rating dropping. And the end, well, that pushed it down to a 2-star read for me. I love psychological thrillers, but this wasn’t just that. The absolutely ludicrous ending made me roll my eyes. The gist of it is that Adele and David are married, and Louise is David’s secretary. The two develop an affair and things get complicated from there. This had potential, but I prefer realistic fiction.