Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.
I was really enjoying this book. The writing had the urgency and passion of Gone Girl, and both have a lead character whose scheming offers intrigue and suspense. Great, loved it, flying through the pages, dying to know more.
Then I hit Part 3.
Christopher Castellani, in his excellent book ‘The Art of Perspective,’ says that the first few pages of a novel serve as a contract between the reader and the author, establishing the narrative strategy and the style to expect. In ‘Behind Her Eyes’ the first two parts strongly defined what to expect, i.e. ‘Gone Girl 2’, but without ruining the twists, Part 3 didn’t just throw a spanner into the works, it emptied the entire toolbox. I could see where the book was going, enough hints had been laid, but I just hoped it was a tease and it would veer away. Sadly it didn’t.
This is difficult to rate as the ending didn’t work for me, but, since the writing is good and the characters are well formed, it would be unfair to give it less that a 4!