Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Silence In Her Eyes by Armando Lucas Correa!

I dove into this book without any expectations, but the intriguing premise immediately hooked me. A woman with motion blindness wakes up to a stranger in her apartment, unsure if it was a dream. But when her neighbor cries for help, she starts questioning everything. This story was both unique and unsettling—I couldn't put it down!

I had never heard of akinetopsia before, so it was super interesting seeing through the eyes of the main character. The title is super befitting. I wasn’t expecting that ending!

I completely forgot to review this! I really enjoyed this mind bending mystery/thriller. I think it will do very well at our store when it is released in paperback and will find a home on our thriller table!

I heard about this book somewhere and was intrigued by the premise – the narrator, Leah, has suffered from akinetopsia, aka motion blindness, since she was eight. As close as I can understand it, akinetopsia is a visual disorder in which the subject has trouble perceiving motion, which, as it turns out, makes it hard to see accurately. I struggled to really understand what Leah saw; it seems like maybe a combination of seeing things and people as static images, and seeing them in movement as blurs.

Leah’s mother has recently died (her father died when she was a child, around the time her akinetopsia started, though the connection doesn’t become clear until late in the book). Leah lives a very proscribed life in a New York city highrise, and has for a long time; her mother’s loss makes her circle smaller. A new neighbor, Alice, moves in next door, and Leah is instantly intrigued. (One unsettling fact about Leah is that she tends to get laser-focused on people and let her imagination run a bit wild about them.)

Leah’s other senses are honed to almost superhuman levels by her disability (this felt like a bit of a cliche, but whatever). She has both acute hearing and a very strong sense of smell. She begins to suspect that Alice is in trouble – something about her ex-husband, who Leah deduces carries the smell of sandalwood when he visits. Eventually, Leah and Alice become friends, though Alice is erratic and secretive. Leah has her own problems – she is awakened at night by an intruder who smells of sandalwood, though nothing comes of it and she does not report the break-in to the police. Leah has a pervading fear of being taken away; there is a past incident of instability that is kept vague and Leah is compelled to visit a doctor regularly.

Things go sideways in a less-than-shocking way, and from there the story is weirdly split between being predictable and being surprising. On the predictable track: not everything having to do with Alice and the less-than-shocking event is as it appears. On the surprising track: Leah ends up developing some interesting relationships in the wake of the event, and then…(I feel like I need a batshit ending alert, like a red flashing light or something?) comes the ending. To be fair, there were signs that I should have picked up on. Let’s just say there are a LOT of deaths in this book, and I didn’t question them as they occurred, but I should have.

It’s definitely an ending that upends everything I thought I knew. That’s not a bad thing, I guess, but it left me unsettled (which also isn’t categorically a bad thing but I don’t like it much). I’m not sure how to grade The Silence in Her Eyes – I thought it was decently written and it held my attention, though the plot was pretty slow early on. I might grade it a little higher but I think my negative feelings about the ending make it a B-.

I don't know if it was a bad translation or just not well written in the first place. The writing is stilted and awkward.

The concept of motion blindness was new to me and interesting. The main character is very childlike but compelling.

The twist at the end is interesting but doesn't hit right because not much makes sense leading up to it. The pacing is just off.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I purchased a copy for my library.

The premise of this was so interesting - a thriller about a woman with a condition that prevents her from seeing motion. However, for most of the book I was unsure of the direction of the story and it's only the end where it all comes together. I almost gave up a couple times.

Interesting psychological suspense.

Leah has an unusual neurological condition known as akinetopsia. She is unable to see movement. She, on her own now that her mother has died, lives in Manhattan in a lovely pre-war apartment with only her elderly companion, Antonia, and some equally old neighbors as friends. Then Alice moves into the apartment next door. Since Leah's other senses are heightened, she can smell and hear the fear that Alice is experiencing and finds that Alice trying to escape and divorce an abusive husband. Leah feels and intuits things that others can't. She knows that Alice needs her help.

This was quite the novel and with Leah, an increasingly unreliable narrator, almost certainly delusional, the reader knows this is not going to end well. The twists to the climax came at a rapid pace and I could not put it down so read it all in a single sitting. I listened to the audiobook while following along in the ARC e-book provided by the publisher. The narrator did an excellent job voicing the characters and projecting just the right amount of drama into the story. Definitely a genre bender with an unusual premise that many will find very compelling.

This may be a translation so the issues could be related to that. I found the writing a little odd and the character seems inconsistent and not really the age given.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria, and Simon & Schuster for the eARC and gifted copy!

I love a thriller with an unreliable narrator, there’s something so gripping and immediately enrapturing about the trope. The story is as fast-paced and intriguing. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was going on, making the book impossible to put down. This was a great use of the “should have seen it coming” twist. Very well-done.

A slow burn with an ending that I didn’t see coming. This was an interesting and unique plot..
Many thanks to Atria and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Leah has an eye condition called akinetopsia, aka motion blindness, since she was 8 years old. This has heightened her other senses. She has lived in the same building her entire life.

This book had so much going on, but not really flowing together. It felt scattered.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Atria Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I started this and and gave it til 10% in, I found the pacing really slow without enough action of impetus to move the story forward. I just couldn’t get in to this one!

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

This is a psychological thriller, but the thrills are muted, like the heroin of the story and her limited vision. She can only see things that are still and not moving. Unfortunately, this tale moves along at a glacial pace, so while you will have no trouble seeing it, you will find it tough going and difficult to believe. It’s a good set up but the payoff is not what I hoped it might be. It’s sort of like getting on a roller coaster and discovering that at the track is flat.

The book started strong with quite a unique POV, but lost some of the suspense along the way. The ending felt rushed with little buildup and was pretty unbelievable.

This is a good book! The characters are unique and well-written. The story moved at a good pace. I enjoyed this and would recommend it! Thank you to Armando Lucas Correa, Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

I had no idea what akinetopsia was until reading this book and I found it so interesting to learn how the main character navigates through life with this illness. In thinking back on this story, I wonder if the author intentionally portrayed Leah as immature because of how she perceived her reality. To me, she read much younger than her age. I also wished her relationships with everyone in the book, especially Alice, were more fleshed out. I felt that we were given only superficial descriptions, or maybe that was the writing, but I was wanting more. The ending was pretty shocking and enjoyable.

Omg this was so good!! There’s a bit of a slow build but stick with it, it gets really good at about the halfway mark and then you’re in for a wild ride. I kind of knew where this was headed but then it took a turn that I didn’t expect. So much fun!! Thank you to @Armando Lucas Correa, Atria books, & Netgalley for this arc!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it now in your local and online bookstores and libraries.