This book! Where do I start? Superb. Let's star there! This book was superb!

The writing, the pacing, the characters and oh that twist at the end!

I did not know that motion blindness was a thing.

Everyone, this is a must read! If you love thrillers, this book is for you!

Armando Lucas Correa, I know you mostly write historical fiction but you need to write more thrillers!

It was really interesting reading from the point of view of a person living with akinetopsia - motion blindness. The descriptions of how she saw things, and even how the story was told, really helped establish the characteristics of motion blindness and did it often to ensure we, the reader, kept within the character's environment.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for an opportunity read an advanced copy of this book. I really wanted to like this book. Initially the synopsis sounds great but I unfortunately lost interest in the story and didn’t care for the characters. This book is released January 16, 2023.

This is one of those books that started strong and then fell off. The narrative style was confusing, and it removed me from the story. I was surprised by the twist at the ending, and for that reason I'm rounding up my rating to 3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

This is one of the best books I've read all year. I couldn't stop myself from devouring it instantly. While the author was already an accomplished writer of historical fiction, this is his first thriller and it's nothing short of incredible.

The Silence in Her Eyes centres around Leah, a woman living with akinetopsia, a condition that renders her motion blind. To the outside world, Leah appears blind and fragile, but her only limitation lies in her inability to see movement. She skillfully navigates through life relying on her heightened senses of smell and hearing.

Leah lives a simple life and maintains contact with very few people: her longtime housekeeper, her doctor, and her elderly neighbours. Outside of her home, she pays regular visits to the local bookshop and surrounds her bedroom with books. Things start to change when she befriends her new neighbour , Alice, who has fled her abusive husband and is in the process of a messy divorce.

As Leah fears for her neighbour's safety, she finds herself in danger when an intruder appears in her bedroom. She suspects it was just a bad dream when there are no signs of a break-in, but she is haunted by a familiar scent that follows her everywhere.

The story follows a fairly straightforward trajectory and maintains a well-measured pace. However, just when you believe the story has reached its conclusion, it takes a series of unexpected turns. Each thrill is carefully placed at the right time and builds up to the big suspenseful moment in the end. As an avid reader of thrillers and mysteries, this is one of the best books I've ever read. This book defied all of my expectations and I'm still trying to process all of the unexpected twists. I'm hoping this isn't the last thriller from Armando Lucas Correa because he is definitely a writer to keep on your radar.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC of The Silence in Her Eyes, in exchange for an honest review.

Now let me start off by saying, my typical go to genre is romance, historical fiction, mythological retellings … but lately I have really been trying to expand my horizons and read some new genres that I don’t pick up nearly as often. This was the absolute perfect book for that segue.

I did what I usually don’t do, and I read some reviews of this book prior to reading, just to see generally what to expect, and one that popped out at me and then made sense while reading was the short separator chapters. Now, this got some negative feedback however I actually think this kept me engaged. It made me want to keep reading, and then eased my ability to put down the book and pick it up just to quickly begin wherever I left off.

As I mentioned before, this isn’t my typical genre so it’s not something that I would really reach for at any given time, however I can appreciate that it kept me interested and engaged throughout and I really think that people who enjoy this genre will devour this book.