Thank you @htpbooks @parkrowbooks for the free digital arc and alc!

A single mom whose husband went missing after a financial scandal travels to an isolated island for a social media driven competition. With a disastrous storm looming and a girl that disappeared from the last competition, what could go wrong?

This thriller was very atmospheric with the crumbling ruins, isolated island and impending storm. The missing person aspect was also intriguing. However, I felt the plot was pretty predictable and I didn’t care for a lot of the characters and their annoying bro talk. I would recommend this one for the atmosphere/entertainment, but don’t expect any shocking plot twists.

Rating 3⭐️

In Close Your Eyes and Count to 10, Lisa Unger delivers a gripping thriller that intertwines the perils of social media fame with a high-stakes game of survival. Charismatic daredevil and extreme adventurer Maverick Dillan invites participants to Falcao Island for the ultimate game of hide-and-seek, promising a substantial prize. However, as a fierce storm descends and an unseen menace begins targeting contestants, the event devolves into a harrowing fight for life. Adele, a single mother determined to secure a better future for her children, becomes ensnared in this deadly contest, confronting a labyrinth of deception and danger.

Unger escalates tension, immersing readers in a narrative where the boundaries between virtual personas and reality blur ominously. The story evokes a sense of dread, compelling readers to question the authenticity of online identities and the lengths individuals will go to for notoriety. As secrets unravel and alliances shift, the novel maintains a relentless pace, ensuring an enthralling experience.

This novel is recommended for enthusiasts of psychological thrillers and suspenseful narratives that delve into the dark facets of human ambition and the digital age's influence. Fans of works exploring survival under extreme conditions will find Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 particularly captivating. The book leaves a lasting impression, prompting reflection on the potential dangers of social media stardom and the unpredictable nature of human behavior when pushed to the brink.

Thanks to Park Row Books and HTP for an advanced copy of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger.

I've enjoyed Lisa's books in the past so was looking forward to this one, but unfortunately I just couldn't get into the book. The plot seemed intriguing but this wasn't for me.

I enjoyed the book. Reading it definitely made it feel like I could visualize ab action movie. I enjoyed the characters and the scenarios.

I always have a tough time with Lisa Unger; Each book I read of hers I want to love so badly but end up extremely disappointed. However, this book did not let me down. I think I enjoyed it the most out of all her books I have read. Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 was a solid and satisfying locked room thriller.

Lisa Unger continue to bring readers twisty thrillers that are fast paced and unputtdownable!

I really enjoyed this tale of a single mother who is gritty and fierce and not about to let her failed marriage and the wrongdoings of her ex-husband steer her from showing up for her children and herself. Adele may have had her world turned upside down, but she has used that experience and her female rage to create a better and stronger version of herself in the IRL and on social media. When an opportunity comes to put both strengths to use to win 1M dollars, she is sets off to a remote island. All she has to do is hide and not be found. Or, let a dilapidated building threatening to crumble and a tropical storm get in her way. Or murderers. Easy, right?

This was what I call a "popcorn thriller'" in that I couldn't put it down, paired well with snacks, and get me thoroughly entertained.

Readers who also like ultra competitions, physical challenges, and reality competitions like Beast Games, will love Close Your Eyes and Count to 10!

3.5 STARS

Contestants sign up to play an extreme Hide and Seek game for a chance to win a 1 million dollar prize. They are shuttled off to a decrepit resort that was condemned years ago, on an island in the middle of the Atlantic. Everyone involved has something to gain, and a lot to lose.

This is a quick read that captures you from the very beginning and makes it easy to keep going. The story has everything that I could want: a reality show, influencer contestants, multiple POV's and everyone is hiding something. However, it didn't flow cohesively enough for me to be blown away. The secrets were mostly predictable and there were almost too many things going on and too many characters with secrets. The result was that some characters were lost in the mix who seemed more interesting but didn't get enough page time.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

💭 This book was medicore to me. Nothing memorable. I liked the premise, but the execution wasn’t there. It kept my attention enough, I am glad I read it to see how it ended.

✔️exteme game of hide and seek
✔️abandoned hotel
✔️hurricane like weather
✔️$1,000,000 at stake
✔️missing girl from last live event
✔️easy to follow
✔️for reality tv lovers
✔️slow burn thriller full of secrets

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 352 / Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: February 25, 2025

Adele is a single mother of two teenagers. After her husband abandoned them, she reinvented herself online, building a following based on parenting and motivational advice. Her son encourages her to enter a reality game show, where she plays extreme hide-and-seek on a remote island. All she has to do is survive the night without being found and she wins a million dollars. But then the game turns deadly when a violent storm hits the island and someone is stalking the contestants.

Besides the storyline with Adele and her family, there were the other contestants and the complicated founders of the game, so there was a lot going on and it all came across a bit disjointed. Instead of thrilling, I found it rather tiresome.

Thank you, @HTP_Hive, @Harlequin_Audio, and @NetGalley for my free copy of the audiobook. I also actually won this book in a @GoodReads contest (yay) but never actually received it (boo).

Lisa Unger seems to really mix it up, from creepy cabin suspense to a haunted NYC apartment building to this book which to my surprise, was a survival thriller with reality TV elements. It had a lot of elements: the reality show, multiple narrators, multi-generational characters, and a murder plot, but Unger meshed all these together to make a book that was a really fun read!

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Pub Date: 2/25
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A social media influencer comes up with a game of extreme hide-and-seek for 1 million dollars. Single mom Adele and two other contestants head to a remote island to play. When a storm comes in both the literal and figurative sense things start to get dicy.
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The game wasn’t exactly what I expected as there wasn’t really much to the actual hide-and-seek game as I felt like most of book focused more on revenge/exposing secrets; which lets be real - is still really awesome. Unger makes it even more appealing by adding in live feeds from the game and podcasts.
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A slow-to-steady burn with plenty of twists thrown in, you will constantly be looking from one person to the next. Buckle up because this one is a wild ride. I love that this was basically a cat-and-mouse, a psychological thriller and a locked room mystery. There was plenty of suspense throughout the story.
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I listened to this one via audiobook while reading my eARC. Vivienne Leheny was perfect for this narration. I love what she did with all of the podcasts and live streams as well. This was an easy to follow audiobook. Highly recommend if you are an audiobook fan!
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Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 was a highly anticipated read for me. I love Ungers work and this was no exception. I recommend this one to my Lisa Unger fans, to my psychological thriller fans and locked room mysteries.

I heard someone say "the first half of the book is the longest" and I never really knew what they meant until today. The first half of this book was long, scattered and left me confused as to how all these pieces fit together. In the end it was wrapped up, but still seemed like extra unnecessary pages and words.

Didn't get me wrong, the second half of the book was good. I know you have to build the suspense and characters, but it droned a little.

I loved the idea of the extreme hide and seek, but there was very little of that in the book. I wish there was more characters hiding and they were able to partially play the game.

Overall, it was good, but not a book I would go out of my way to recommend.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Park Row for an ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I am a huge fan of Lisa Unger and I was really intrigued by the premise of this book. Unfortunately it did fall a bit short for me. I give it 3.5 stars but just didn't feel like I could round it to 4 so unfortunately I had to ring down to 3. I did like most of the characters and I was rooting for single Mom Adele to win the game of extreme hide and seek. I wish there would have been more about the actual game itself. I did figure most of the twists out but still thought it was worth the read. I would recommend reading this even though it wasn't my favorite of hers.

Unger has yet to disappoint me. While this wasn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed it! I enjoyed the multiple POV’s, lotssss of secrets, and the vibes surrounding the island.

In this book, a single mom signs up for a challenge on an island to win a large cash prize in an extreme game of hide-and-seek.

I've heard great things about Lisa Unger's novels and was really curious about this new release. The name of the book got me intrigued! In this book, Adele and her kids are always expecting the worse. And I really admired this strong single mom character in the story. The novel started off with an interesting plot and multiple POVs that added great dimension. But soon things kind of went off the tracks for me with the story line. The focus shifted to the drama among the organizers of the challenge and left Andele and two other potentially interesting characters / challenge participants, pretty much out of the story.

I would have loved to see more of the challenge itself in the novel. There was so much potential for the page-turning thrill ride that unfortunately was missed. Regardless, I really enjoyed Adele and her kids's characters!

Give it a shot, friends, if you enjoy novels about influencers and YouTube challenges/quests and the drama that goes behind the scenes.

Social media influences, troubled marriage/family, FBI investigation, teen bullying, survival games, and more. This book had so many events taking place! I was pulled into this book based off the cover and the synopsis. There are multiple points of view taking place in the
Is thriller and some of them really kept my interest while others did not and I had a hard time keeping interest in the story. I feel like it started strong but quickly started to fizzle out that I lost interest. All of the characters were hiding a secret that comes out during a game of hide and seek-which never started due to all the crazy events and storm. This might be a thrilling read for others but not me.

Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten by Lisa Unger
*Advanced Reader Copy*
Publish Date: February 25, 2025
🌟🌟🌟🌟


Adele had the perfect life. Her husband was a smart, rich biotech company owner/inventor. She is afforded the life she wants as a mom of two: big house, hosting parties, never wanting for anything. Then one day it all comes crashing down. Now Adele is a single mom of two trying to make ends meet. As debt continues to mount Adele is not sure what she will do.

Enter Maverick Dillan. He invites Adele to participate in his annual extreme game of hide and seek. The setting…a remote island with an abandoned hotel. The goal….be the last player left hiding. The prize…one million dollars. What’s there to lose?

However everything is not as it seems. Things went wrong in the last game of hide and seek. Weird text messages and online trolls are threatening Maverick and his company. The locals claim the land is cursed. A storm is bearing down on the island. Will Adele get out before it is too late?

This was such a fun read. I could not put it down. Lisa Unger creates a tense thriller that kept me engaged until the very last page. You should definitely check this book out when it comes out Tuesday.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the Advanced Reader Copy.
#CloseYourEyesandCountto10 #NetGalley.

I'm a longtime Unger fan, but I'm afraid this one is a little gimmicky for me, However, the author's psychological insight and wonderful writing make it a worthwhile read -- and the premise may bring her new fans who haven't read her work before.

I loved the premise of this novel. An extreme game of hide and seek on a remote island at a derelict, abandoned resort. Of course things are not as they seem and each character has their own secrets they are hiding. The novel alternated between different points of view to give the reader background on each of the characters.

The main character was Adele. She is now a single mother with two teenagers. Her husband ran off stealing money and leaving Adele to deal with the fall out of his betrayal as well as an investigation by the FBI. She is desperate for money so when her son convinces her to join this extreme hide and seek game she agrees. She has tried to reinvent herself and knows this could be good for her influencer business as well as help her kids financially. What Adele doesn't count on is that the game is run by Maverick whose business is not going well. He is dealing with big scandals from the past games. Things are not what they seem and more lives could be in danger.

I really enjoyed this thriller. The location and the characters really made this one for me. It also did not turn out as I expected. The characters all had challenges they had to face and it was an interesting read to see how they met them. I really enjoy Lisa Unger's books and I look forward to reading more.

Thank you to Park Row and NetGalley for this ARC.

A really good concept that didn't pane out exactly how I thought it would. I was hoping for a bit more of a hide and seek game, kind of like Hunger Games, but there were a lot of other sub-plots that were going on as well. I enjoyed the main character, Adele, and her motivation for doing the challenge.

Thank you to Netgallery and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Park Row for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.