Book Review: Close My Eyes, Sophie McKenzie

Close My Eyes
    by Sophie McKenzie

Adult/Mystery Thriller | 391 pages | 2013 (St. Martins Press)

"When Geniver Loxley lost her daughter at birth eight years ago, her world stopped… and never fully started again. Mothers with strollers still make her flinch; her love of writing has turned into a half-hearted teaching career; and she and her husband, Art, have slipped into the kind of rut that seems inescapable.

But then a stranger shows up on their doorstep, telling Gen the very thing she’s always wanted to hear: that her daughter Beth was not stillborn, but was taken away as a healthy infant and is still out there, somewhere, waiting to be found. It’s insane, unbelievable. But why would anyone make that up? A fissure suddenly opens up in Gen’s carefully reconstructed life, letting in a flood of unanswerable questions. Where is Beth now? Why is Art so reluctant to get involved? To save his wife from further hurt? Or is it something more sinister? And who can she trust to help her?

Ignoring the warnings of her husband and friends, Gen begins to delve into the dark corners of her past, hopeful she’ll find a clue to her daughter’s whereabouts. But hope quickly turns into fear and paranoia, as she realizes that finding the answers might open the door to something even worse than not knowing. A truth that could steal everything she holds close – even her own life."

There have been a lot of mixed reviews of "Close My Eyes". I've come to a theory to explain that, all the bad reviews are from the people who got an ARC of this book; whilst the good ones where from the finished copy! I suppose that they had yet another go-through with the book after the bad reviews! I did like this book, and I feel like this is the sort of book that's underestimated!

I spent quite some time reading this, not so thick of a book. It had the promising and intriguing plot I often find suspenseful. Still, I had some expectations that made this book fall from a 5 stars to a 4 stars (even though I debated with myself wether or not to give it a 4.5). When I opened this book and dug into the story I waited for the part where this woman comes at Gen's door. It was a bit hard for me to get to the part where you're unable to put the book down. I felt that the background story was necessary, but I also felt like it was overdone. Too much heavy information at the beginning of a book is not always good.

Continuing the book after her mysterious visit, the story takes of the way a good mystery/thriller should. I loved the characters we're introduced to, and how they over time becomes character's you suspect to be a part of Beth's disappearance. At one point of this book we're faced with this chilling scene. After that scene I would want for a 5 star book to have even more chilling scenes coming along, but it didn't. Well, it did when I got closer to the end. I wished that Sophie McKenzie had made this story even more chilling earlier, because the end opened up for so much more!

I liked the mind-blowing twist at the end, but ending a book that way bothered me! That's also the reason why it didn't deserve a 4.5 stars rating. I would wanna see the ending conflict in motion! I would so much like to see it!! Especially when there's no sequel!!! 

Another thing I surprisingly got used to was the 1st person writing! "Close My Eyes" the title must've been chosen because of her continuous use of close my eyes. 

To wrap things up. I would say this is a great book, it's not the best and not the worst. It's somewhere in the middle. It had so much potential, and definitely in the end where she could have built the story more chilling and scary. I do recommend this book, but I would not recommend it to everyone. 

  
A Review By,

~ Sindre Ellingsen