Member Reviews
When your eyes close by author Tanya Farrelly is an intense psychological thriller that will hold your interest throughout. With characters well thought and planned out, the plot was nic and thick, it all made for a really great thriller!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of when your eyes close in exchange for an honest review!
Nothing better to say but amazing and on the end of my seat the whole time - didn’t want the book to end and that’s how you know it’s great! Deep characters, super dialogue, and a plot that keeps you gripped!
Thank you to Netgalley & Harper Collins for this ARC. This was an interesting read, albeit a bit confusing. I lost track of the characters frequently. My mind wandered a lot and I couldn’t concentrate deeply on the plot line. Decent twist but something about this just didn’t capture me. Still, a unique story line and I would be remiss to rate it anything lower than 3 stars. I feel like a lot of people will definitely enjoy this his even if I didn’t.
I very much enjoyed this book. It was hard to get into at first, but then it became very difficult to put down.
The element of hypnosis was an interesting one to put into the story. I wish there were maybe a few more scenes of this toward the latter half of the book.
I also wish there was more of a feeling of resolution with the acts committed by Caitlin’s father. I thought there might have been more explanation about those events in general.
All in all, it was a great read.
I enjoyed this psychological thriller. It was easy to follow the chapters rotating between the three main characters, Nick, Michelle and Caitlyn points of view. I like the hypnosis part, where Nick is hypnotized because I don't think I've ever encountered that in thriller that I can remember and it made the story all the more interesting. It was really easy to get into the story because it could have ended many different ways and I really wanted to find out what happened. Interesting plot and characters, very suspenseful and definitely a different twist for a psych thriller. Definitely worth reading. Quick easy read. Thanks to NG for the ARC!
'The images shift between his life and the unknown.'
Nick Drake has always had a taste for alcohol, but now he is so far gone that if he can’t get it under control, the doctors will refuse to put him on a transplant list and this is do or die! With a divorce behind him, life has had its difficulties, and with AA failing to help maybe hypnosis is the key. As he closes his eyes during a session, his life is swallowed by memories of someone else. Soon the visions playing in his head turn into to a blood filled nightmare about another man and his family, a man who may well have been a murderer. Surely this is some confabulation in his mind, this can’t be real! But what if it is? What if these are someone else’s memories, or his own from another life? They feel as real to him as his own.
Michelle is Nick’s girlfriend, she has known something is terribly wrong, that he was keeping things from her, but she never could have imagined the wild truth. There is another woman, but one that may have been Nick’s child, when he was someone else, in another time. This person is real, Caitlin is a solid, living breathing reality, not just some fantasy he conjured while under hypnosis. She will find a way to help dig into Caitlin’s life, because if Nick’s ‘memories’ under hypnosis are make believe, how come the people in them existed, the child now fully grown, a violinist, very much alive and real. Getting to know Caitlin seems all too easy at first, even if at times a wall comes up, or things don’t pan out, she refuses to give up, she’ll do anything to help Nick pull through because if he has a chance to get better, Caitlin is the key.
Caitlin’s husband disappeared a year ago, she has received a call from man saying only that he is still alive and not to try to find him. She has built a life for herself, despite the mystery surrounding David’s disappearance. Stranger still are the odd messages on social media. Her friend Andy has been an oak through the long days of not knowing what happened to David, but can she really trust him? Is he just trying to take David’s place? Now there is a strange new couple, Michelle and Nick in her life and some things about them seem a little too coincidental. She likes Michelle, wants to trust in her new friend, surely they couldn’t have nefarious plans, they couldn’t be the ones sending her messages, though they happened at the same time as she bumped into Nick for the first time, which he claims not to remember, says didn’t happen. Caitlin is schooled in controlling her emotions since her traumatic childhood, and doesn’t trust anyone nor take what they say at face value. As Michelle tries to ease into Caitlin’s life, to help Nick get answers, Caitlin isn’t so honest and forthcoming and is fishing for her own clues about Nick and Michelle.
With Nick wanting nothing more than to make right by Catilin this time around, they begin to dig into her husband David’s disapparance, never imagining it could endanger Caitlin, that maybe she has her own secrets. Reaching into Caitlin’s childhood past, Michelle finds an aunt who knows more than she ever told about Caitlin’s youth. Then there were David’s secrets before he vanished, that begs more questions. What Caitlin remembers and confides to her new ‘friend’ Michelle doesn’t quite add up to what they know for fact, nor the memories haunting Nick’s mind. It could be a defense mechanism, but what if there is more?
Are some things better left alone? If Nick wasn’t meant to act on these memories, why is he having them at all? Someone has secrets, what began in blood could very well end in it.
Told in shifting perspectives, it’s easy to know that nothing is simple. It has a supernatural bend with Nick channeling a murderer that may have been him, in another life. But it’s also a psychological thriller with damaged characters, the past definitely catches up with people here. It is a story with a decent twist, though it crawled in places. I would have enjoyed it more if I was only in one character’s head, being in all three underwhelmed me because I never felt close enough to anyone but the very idea is enough to sell the story. It is a unique twist on what could have been a bittersweet story of past life, which we’ve read before, here we have a fresh, sinister spin on things.
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HarperImpulse
Huge thanks to Tanya Farrelly and Harper Collins UK for the pleasure of reading and reviewing this book .when your eyes Close is probably one of the best books I've read this year. I've always been fascinated by reincarnation and the prospect of being reborn. This book delves straight into this topic while investigating a murder/ missing person. If reincarnation exists, are we responsible or accountable for our actions in a past life. This book will provide food for thought
Very creepy and full of lies. I enjoyed the hypnosis regression plot. This one definitely threw some curve balls and didn’t go where I thought it was going. A definite psychological thriller with lots of evil, lies, paranoia, and dishonesty!
4.5 Stars!
Thank you @NetGalley, the publisher and author for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I rounded this up a bit because it was an interesting concept but was a bit too long for me. I liked the hypnosis aspect but the alcoholic who has memory loss is getting tired for me. The story and how the characters connect is complex, and the writing was good. The conclusion was ok. Overall, fine.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author, Harper Impulse and Killer Reads for a copy in exchange for a review.
Good read! Definitely an interesting premise. I was curious how things were going to all wind up. This book definitely held my attention from the start. Would recommend to check out this. I am going to see what other books this author has and add them to my to-read list.
I felt like the premise for this story was excellent, but I just don't feel as though the story followed though. Ir felt rushed and moved from POV to POV too quickly for my taste, and for this reason I never really felt any strong pull to either of the protags.
Hmmmmmm.....an ‘interesting’ idea ( very complex but will try and put it so easy to understand ) Nick is an alcoholic, he goes for hypnotism to stop the cravings, whilst ‘under’ he realises he is a murderer in a past life and the daughter of one of the people he killed is his fiance, Michelle, ‘s new friend Caitlin, Caitlin’s hubby has been missing for a year......or something like that! I have to admit to already forgetting some of the complex details and ins and outs of the book but thats more or less it....
The book then follows the 3 of them as they become involved in each other’s lives and the various mysteries are solved ( ish )
The characters are, in the main, unlikeable and I didn’t feel any empathy or sympathy for that matter towards any of them!
The book is set in Dublin and Michelle ( who runs all the time for enjoyment!!!! ) is part of the ‘Simon’ organisation that helps the homeless of the City, when the book touched on this it became fascinating ( as she interviewed the homeless in the search for Caitlins missing husband ) but that was only a small part of the book
The conclusion was clunky and felt rushed, the book was ok...saying that I finished it and wanted to know what happened to the 3 of them.....
6/10 3 stars
I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK!
Nick is an alcoholic, who has a short time to turn his health around in order to be eligible for a liver transplant. To help him stay sober, he sees a hypnotist to try and numb the cravings.
However the hypnotist takes a wrong turn and Nick begins remembering things from another time and place. He starts to feel guilty for things that might have happened in another life, and hunts down someone who knows more of the story.
Caitlin's husband has been missing for more than 12 months now and it's time she got on with her life. She's trying new classes at the gym and doing her best to meet people who aren't aware of her tragic history.
But then someone adds her on twitter with her husbands details, taking photos of her when she's out and about and she starts to worry that whoever killed her husband might be out to get her too.
Nick and Caitlin's paths cross, and together they piece together both mysteries.
Very interesting book,all the characters lives interweaved in some way.im not sure if I actually believe in reincarnation or not but this was a very interesting,believable read.i really enjoyed the characters and there interactions.five Star book ,good holiday read.
What an amazing psychological thriller... this one was one of the best! It really makes you think, but in a good way! I loved the characters, they were genuine. Great read!
When Your Eyes Close by Tanya Farrelly
The story focuses on three strangers and their lives. We meet Nick Drake who wants to get his life back on track and decides that hypnosis might help him understand what might have happened in his past. While hypnotized, he sees something that frightened him. Nicks fgirlfriend, Michelle Carlin, will stand by her man at any cost however, she thinks he is hiding something from her. Is he? Finally, there is Caitlin Davis whose husband disappeared a year ago. Caitlin though has a few secrets that, if told, would destroy everything. What is it that brings these three people together? Farrelly keeps your attention with her writing skills. This is a psychological thriller well told. The story at times feels a little rushed but the chapters are short and the change of the protagonists keeps your attention. Obviously the twists and turns were well placed in this story about past lives.
Thank You netgalley as well as the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
4 stars ⭐️ out of 5
This book was quite boring. A long read that drug on forever and the ending was abrupt. I didn’t feel this book was thrilling or very suspenseful for that matter. Just long, drawn out and very boring. It pained me to force myself to finish it.
I found this book felt slightly rushed with a slight lack of depth to some characters but overall an easy, quick and enjoyable read.
I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
This one was only OK.. There’s not really anything I could say about it that was awful but there was nothing really great either. The description in the blurb is pretty much what the book is, not a lot of nuance or twist. Just an Ok nothing special hypnosis thriller. 2.5 stars round up.
Nick Drake desperately wants to get his life back on track and tries hypnosis, which he is skeptical about at first. He's terrified by what he sees as he closes his eyes. A man, a woman and a little girl. An horrific event. Past life or a reality of his? He's scared and trying to find answers.
Michelle Carlin is Nick’s girlfriend. She wants to stay with Nick but feels he is hiding something dangerous.
Caitlin Davis is still deeply affected by the disapppearance of her husband. Could she end up losing everything?
Three people. Long-buried secrets, lies and betrayals. will anyone escape unscathed?
When Your Eyes Close is an amazing thriller that had me hooked from beginning to end and I was drawn in by the alternating POV chapters and quickly-moving pace. The chapters were short, so I whizzed through the book in a matter of hours. I was swept along by the characters' lives and felt for what each of them had been through and eager to see where the story led. The book has so many twists and turns and I did not want it to end.
Thanks to Tanya Farrelly and Harper Collins for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. The book is gripping and gets 5 stars from me. I'll definitely be looking out for more books by Tanya Ferrelly. Her writing style makes for an engrossing thriller.