This book grabs you almost immediately and doesn't really let go until the shocking but satisfying conclusion. There are few scenarios more visually horrifying than that of being shot in the head. By a nail gun. Not once. Twice.

Before they leave the driveway, Leon asks Jane to run back in the house to retrieve beer for some help in fortifying his forty-sixth birthday with his mother. He and the children are momentarily caught when the neighbor advances and proceeds to vent yet another complaint about their cat. Jane may have stalled inside just a bit. She's is not a person who enjoys confrontation and is tired of neighbor Lawrence's tirades, but when Jane gets back to the car, something is wrong. Really, extremely wrong.

At the hospital, the MRI's show two nails in the brain. Leon survives the operation and the coma to emerge a different man. One who Jane is shocked to realize doesn't know or want her around, doesn't remember anything.

Leon was a very successful best-selling author. Jane aspired to be, but failed time and again to find a home for her manuscripts. The narrative is issued in first person through Jane. Nothing can ever be the same. Her world is violently and irrevocably changed. Following his discharge, the reality is life with someone you no longer know.

Or trust.

Someone who could now be instantly belligerent, violent. I loved the way the author kept dishing little clues, little secrets bubbling to the surface. Then who was this man before? And their ability to stay afloat; had he lied to her about their financial condition? Ms. Daly has a remarkable ability to build the suspense, stave the moment, and then continue to build the tension. But no, you are not allowed to relax. Red herrings continue to surface. Support characters, fellow authors, family members all ring so true.

I hope this is not a true indictment of the world of authors, but the well-plotted storyline seemed so real, so...possible, so gospel. Jane has fought so hard and so long through overwhelming challenges and begins to feel of the power of her capability. She eventually discovers the true culprit and pulls a brilliant sting.

What a remarkable and skillfully crafted plot! I was given this ebook download by the publisher and NetGalley and totally appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Heartily recommended for any who enjoy a good thriller. 4.5/5

What a breath of fresh air as Daly takes us for a twisty ride with this novel. With a unique plot and well thought out, believable characters, this was a unpredictable psychological suspense, one that I wasn’t quite sure where it would all end up. A truly enjoyable read! Well done!

Open Your Eyes is a DNF for me--it started off okay, but I never cared about Jane or Leon and gave up 30% in. Unrated on goodreads because I didn't like (or loathe) it enough to finish it.

2.5 stars

Not great. Almost DNF'd around 40%. It did pick up a little, but I sort of skimmed the last bit. There were points where something would happen and I'd be like, "Okay, yes THIS IS IT, it's really going to take off from here", but it never did. I was sort of bored. The bones of the story were good but when it all played out, I was not impressed. This was a quick, easy, straightforward read. I would not consider this a complex, riveting thriller.

I would not recommend this one. This novel had promise but unfortunately it missed the mark for me.

Aspiring author Jane Campbell’s life is turned upside one day when her husband, Leon, is brutally attacked in their driveway. As she searches to discover the culprit, while at the same time caring for her 2 young children and working to pay off debt, she uncovers some shocking sinister actions that put both her and her family in grave danger.

I’ve loved all of Paula Daly’s books and this is no exception. Jane’s situation is unique in that she is an honest, hardworking mother and wife thrown into an impossible situation. She uses her brains to figure out solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems and comes out on top. The story is fast-paced with and satisfying ending. I recommend this to all suspense fans. 4 stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic and Paula Dalyfor my complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Nicely done! Jane has had to cope with a lot of disappointment in her personal life and swallows down her annoyance at her husband Leon more often than she would like. Then, however, he is attacked in their driveway, with their kids present, and suffers a TBI. Wow. Now Jane has to deal with even more- Leon's TBI has left him acting out in sexual ways, ways that are inappropriate around anyone, let alone kids. Since no one has been arrested for the crime and since the police are beginning to look at her as a suspect, Jane decides to unpack things and solve it herself. She discovers, surprise, that her husband has lied to her and to others. There are good twists here but best of all Jane's voice comes through loud and clear. Thanks to the publisher for the ArC. This is a good page turner.

Jane is married to Leon, a successful crime writer. Jane takes care of their two young children, teaches creative writing, and dreams of being a writer. They seem to have a great life, but that all comes crashing down one day while getting ready to head out. Leon and the kids are in the car and ready to go, but Jane heads back inside for a few minutes. When she returns, she finds Leon brutally attacked.

Told from Jane's point of view, she first deals with the shock of her husband's brutal attack, and then tries to piece together who would do such a thing. Following the attack, Leon is in a coma, so he is unable to help the police find who attacked him. The children were preoccupied and didn't see what happened. Jane is left to wonder who could be behind the attack - an angry neighbor, a disgruntled fan, or something more sinister.

This novel looks at the difficulty a family faces when their lives are forever changed by a brutal attack. Life after Leon's attack is forever changed for not only Leon, but his wife and children. It is an extremely difficult situation, and Jane handles it somewhat better than most people probably would.

Jane does do a little snooping on her own to find the attacker, but she's not especially organized about it. One of the things I didn't like was that Jane only questions things after someone else points stuff out to her. She seemed like a smart individual, so I would have preferred her to be more of a self-starter and question things on her own.

This is an entertaining and addictive read. It does lean a little on the unbelievable side, but not overly so. A fast-paced read for fans of domestic thrillers. Clever, intriguing, and unpredictable. This is my first time reading this author, but I will definitely pick up more by Paula Daly in the future.

I received a free eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

***4 Stars***

Leon is a successful writer and his wife Jane is a struggling writer without publication. One day following an argument with their neighbor, while Jane is inside, Leon is attacked and taken to the hospital When Leon awakens from his coma, he is unable to remember any details of the attack or his life for that matter. Jane begins digging into Leon's past for answers of how this could have happened to him and who would have attacked him.
Overall, I really liked the writing style and characters. My interest was peaked throughout trying to get answers with Jane, therefore I found it to be an enjoyable read.

Special thanks to Netgalley for allowing me an advanced read copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I love Paula Daly and have read all of her books. She writes such wonderful, real, believable, novels. However, Open Your Eyes was not my favorite. Great story line albeit a little far fetched. However, I still enjoyed this book and at times had a heavy heart for Jane and her family. Great writing as usual!

Jane and Leon are a married couple. He is a successful writer and she has never managed to get any of her work published. That aside they live relatively happy lives. One day as they are about to go out for the afternoon to celebrate Leon's birthday they are confronted by their elderly neighbor who was complaining about their cat disturbing their garden. As her husband and he bickered back and forth Jane went inside to fetch some beer to bring to the celebration. Upon returning to the car it's obvious the neighbor has returned home but something is not quite right with her husband. It appears someone shot her husband in the head with a nail gun while the kids were in the car. Of course, the kids have their ear buds in and their eyes glued to their screens so they are of very little help once the investigation begins. The elderly neighbor is investigated but never charged - no evidence.

Leon ends up in a coma but the doctors believe he will survive. Once he does awaken he isn't the same man as he was before and let me tell you that Paula Daly wrote some very chilling moments.
*shivers*

Jane begins wondering who would want to murder her husband? She decides to do some investigating, mainly her husbands lap top, and discovers her husband had been keeping secrets.

This is my second Paula Daly novel and she has not disappointed me yet. This book wasn't as dark and twisted as some other psychological thrillers but it was fast paced and I was intrigued from the moment I started. All in all I'd say this was a win! 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley & Edelweiss & Grove Atlantic for kindly providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Paula Daly manages for the 4th time to completely baffle me with her plots. In this, main protagonist, Jane finds herself trying to figure out who would harm her successful author husband. As the pages turned, it soon became clear that there is no shortage of suspects. Although the pacing was a bit slow in the middle of the story, I felt that even when I wasn't reading, I couldn't stop thinking about this book and its characters.

Jane's husband, Leon, is viciously attacked in his own driveway, behind the wheel of his own car. Before he was attacked, he had sent her back into their house to grab some beer. They were on their way to his mother's for his birthday.

As she left the car, a neighbor came up and started arguing with Leon over their cat. The cat was digging in his wife's garden and she wasn't happy. There had been contention with this neighbor before and the complaints just never seemed to stop.

When Jane gets back in the car, she notices that Leon is slumped a bit over the steering wheel, saying nothing. And then he hits the gas, the car is in reverse, and he plows into the neighbor's wall.

Jane and their 2 children in the backseat are okay .. a bit shaken up ... but Leon isn't.

In the hospital in a coma, the doctors find two nails in his brain, fired by a nail gun. Who hated him enough to try to kill him in this way?

What really happened that day? Jane must open her eyes to the secrets that have been kept from her, if she’s to find out who hurt her husband – and why.

This is a well-paced domestic thriller with credible characters. It's a slow starter, but rapidly picks up speed. I thought I had it all worked out ... until the surprising ending.

Many thanks to the author / Grove Atlantic / Netgalley / Edelweiss for the advanced digital copy of this Psychological Thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This book has a bit of that edge-of-your seat kind of feeling. Jane's husband Leon has been attacked, and she's got to manage her kids alone, the presumption of the police that she had something to do with it, and the possibilty that Leon will never wake up- and if he does, that he'll never be the same again. There is a complicated web that she falls in as she tries to untangle the secrets he was keeping from her that have led them to this moment, and the effects of his actions on her family. Despite all the warnings, Jane keeps working to find what happens. This is a quick, satisfying domestic suspense.

I would like to thank Corgi Publishing and the Netgalley website for this partnership.

On the cover we see Jane facing away from the confrontation. She prefers to give free rein to her husband Leon who one day is attacked in the driveway leading to their house while the children wait for her in the car, after that nothing will be the same anymore. As for Jane, she will have to open her eyes and learn more about their past with Leon.

A thriller read in one go, the author plunges us into the relationship between wife, husband and child and the past of this couple with brio. A psychological thriller to read absolutely, captivating, moving and full of suspense and twists and turns.

OPEN YOUR EYES by Paula Daly is a great suspense novel. This is the first novel of Daly's books that I have read and I can't wait to read more of her novels.

3.75 stars

Literary wars. A violent act. And of course, CRAZINESS!

Open Your Eyes is a riveting, entertaining psychological thriller about a semi-famous author who is violently attacked with a nail gun, suffers a brain injury and loses his memory. His wife, a wannabe writer, is left picking up the pieces, while at the same time trying to figure out who would try to hurt her husband in such a horrific manner. She digs where she’s not supposed to, finds some incriminating evidence, and puts herself in a danger. …While it might sound rather formulaic, this is not the case as there is a WHOLE lot more going on than it first seems!

Jane’s voice draws the reader in. Told completely from her perspective, it was refreshing to have one narrator and one main storyline vs. multiple storylines, narrators, etc. The storyline isn’t fully believable, but it didn’t bother me too much as it wasn’t so extreme or over-the-top that it got in the way of my enjoyment. Overall, I found this to be a fun, but sometimes slow, read. I could have done without the final chapter-it left me rolling my eyes a bit!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Grove Atlantic in exchange for an honest review.

3.5
A tasty baked potato but missing the toppings

I liked this domestic thriller about a husband getting shot in the head with a nail gun, and a wife who is determined to find out what happened, but I know I won’t remember it. Well, maybe I will remember the nail gun, since it’s not the usual weapon you’d grab to knock somebody off. (Don’t worry, that wasn’t a spoiler; you hear about the nail gun right away.) Sigh, I’m always looking for a thriller full of tricks, like Gone Girl. This one isn’t tricky enough.

Joy Jar

-Nail gun. This was a draw for sure, so good and creepy. Pretty weird when a nail gun makes it to my Joy Jar!

-Goodreads shout-out! Can you believe Goodreads was mentioned in a thriller? Seriously, our beloved site made the big-time. Also, Amazon and Microsoft got some airtime, but who cares about them—other than they’ve both taken over my hood.

-Writer town. Very bizarre—this is the second book in a row that featured an unscrupulous writer! What’s up with that? Meanwhile, I do love a book with a writer as the main character, so you won’t hear me complaining about that.

Complaint Board

-Baked potato, without the toppings. Bland-o plot, characters, and tone.
-Therefore, not enough suspense. Wasn’t chomping at the bit to find out what happened.
-Kids (though played a super minor role) didn’t act their ages.
-Didn’t understand the motivation for two things leading up to the crime.
-Not believable: Wife teaching in a prison where there’s an inmate connected to the crime.
-The crime was a little convoluted.

Overall, a mediocre read. All the essentials are there—a decent plot, good pacing, well-drawn characters. But as I said before, a couple of times, it was a baked potato without the toppings.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Paula Daly has always written about domestic life and family relationships very convincingly and in ‘Open Your Eyes’ she does so yet again. The terrible situation of living and coping with a brain damaged partner is seldom focused on in fiction and Daly’s depiction of ICU life and, more importantly, what happens when the injured person returns home feels real in the telling. That there is little in the way of home support for a man who is rarely dangerous but often very difficult and disagreeable is a grim reminder about a struggling NHS. Although this novel will most likely be described as a psychological thriller, the domestic focus, particularly on the changing relationship between Leon and Jane Campbell is the stand-out feature of this novel. The publishing theme is also used effectively.
Whilst it isn’t easy to deduce who the criminal is in ‘Open Your Eyes’, the back story for their motivation is a little far-fetched and I was far less concerned about working out who had tried to kill Leon – not that the neighbours are ever really serious considerations – than I was about how Leon and Jane would move forward. Paula Daly’s portrayal of their struggles, their sadness and Jane’s acceptance that things will never again be the same packs a much stronger punch than the final revelation of ‘whodunnit’.
My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press New York for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

An engrossing psychological thriller that keeps you reading until the final page. Daly has constructed a very good read.

.... “OPEN YOUR EYES” rocked- my - boat.!!!!!

Did you know that some people who suffer from Traumatic Brain injuries will have increased sexual compulsive desires?
Did you also know that brain injuries are more common in the UK than breast cancer?
Both of these things are true. And both are true for Leon Campbell.

Jane and Leon Campbell live in Liverpool with their two young children.
Since coming out of an induced coma, from his traumatic brain injury, Leon began acting out his increased sexual compulsive ‘inappropriate’ behavior. Leon’s public hobby of masturbation at the hospital was bad enough —but it certainly wasn’t going to fly at home around the kids.

Jane was seriously worried to have Leon return home - justified concerns.
When Jane asked Dr. Letts “how do families cope with a brain injured spouse/parent?” The doctor replied, “I’m not sure everyone does cope”. YIKES!

Nothing about Leon was the same as before he was attacked - TWO NAILS TO HIS HEAD WITHIN MINUTES - by who knows who... THAT’S WHAT READERS ARE GOING TO FIND AND MORE SOME.......
but it’s not only WHO DID THIS TO HIM......(police were doing their investigation), but how to survive and manage daily life.
.....Jane was petrified.

Leon had no memory of the weeks preceding his attack -( other than he felt certain it wasn’t Jane - but Inspector Ledecky hadn’t ruled her out).
Leon had no job - they were in debt. Leon showed signs of erratic violence without warning by screaming and yelling profanity- and Jane has discovered lies and secrets Leon was keeping.
Jane had just taken a teaching job- needed the money - and couldn’t possibly leave Leon alone to watch the children. HE NEEDED WATCHING!

Leon was a published author. Jane wrote too. Their close friends were writers.
But......
Their neighbors were ‘not’ their friends - nor writers. And Jane felt certain her neighbors - or their odd son who visited often was watching their house .....

With all the worry & stress going on inside the Campbell household & neighborhood issues - for Jane -
.......as caretaker - mother - Financial provider - she was threatened- physically and verbally by a prison inmate where she was assigned to teach and guide with creative writing.

We begin to see that the size of this puzzle book is bigger and more complicated than our eyes first saw at the beginning of this novel. As readers - our eyes open wider- the closer we get to the end of the book.

The ferocious suspense in the dog-eat-dog- world of writers hungry to be published is as hard as nails...... literally and figuratively!!

Awesome great book! When’s Paula’s next book? This is fiction/ thriller suspense .....smart - normal-ish - classy- suspense - psychological thriller without being bloody trashy nonsense.

Many thanks to PAULA DALY!!!! I’m SUCH A FAN!!!!
Thank you GROVE ATLANTA.... I’m a fan of you guys too!!!
Thank You Netgalley..... it’s been awhile!!! Taking ‘a-mostly’ sabbatical this year - has been good for me! But.... I always appreciate having the door open for return visits.