Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly

Jane Campbell’s perfect life is turned upside down when her husband is viciously attacked in front of their young children. With her husband in a coma, the responsibility of caring for the family (and everything else) falls on Jane. She is terrified the attacker might come after her and the children, but she needs to find out who hurt her husband, and why. As she searches for answers, Jane comes to realize her life wasn’t as perfect as she thought…

Open Your Eyes is a psychological thriller worthy of the genre. A brutal crime committed in broad daylight, in the presence of children, after the wife goes inside the house for a couple of minutes. She comes back out, and her entire world is changed. How terrifying is that?!

It’s not a stretch of the imagination at all to picture something like this actually happening, so I was immediately drawn in. I was just as shocked as Jane was as she began to discover things her husband kept hidden from her, and with each clue that surfaced, I began to suspect more than one person of the crime. Leon’s recovery provided few answers, and I was just as frustrated as Jane with his lack of memory.

The reveal of the culprit, and why they did it, was a complete surprise. I thought I had it all figured out, but I was completely wrong (per usual). Jane’s ingenuity in trapping the guilty party into a confession was brilliant, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

The writing was very well done, and while this is the first novel I’ve read by Paula Daly, but it certainly won’t be the last.

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Grove Press via Netgalley.

Add to Goodreads

Author: Paula Daly
Title: Open Your Eyes
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publication Date: October 9, 2018 by Grove Press
Rating: 4 stars

About the Book

From acclaimed novelist and “master of psychological thrillers” (Library Journal) Paula Daly, Open Your Eyes follows a bestselling crime novelist’s tragic turn from fictional perpetrator into real-life victim.

Jane Campbell avoids confrontation at any costs. Given the choice, she’ll always let her husband, Leon–a bestselling crime writer–take the lead, while she focuses on her two precious young children and her job as a creative writing teacher. After she receives another rejection for her novel, Leon urges Jane to put her hobby to rest. And why shouldn’t she, when through Jane’s rose-tinted glasses, they appear to have the perfect house and the perfect life?

But then Leon is brutally attacked in their driveway while their children wait quietly in the car, and suddenly, their perfect life becomes the stuff of nightmares. Who would commit such a hateful offense in broad daylight? With her husband in a coma, Jane must open her eyes to the problems in her life, as well as the secrets that have been kept from her. Although she might not like what she sees, if she’s committed to discovering who hurt her husband–and why–Jane must take matters into her own hands.

A surprising and gripping thriller of pride, ambition, and envy, Open Your Eyes is an unsettling whodunit about the illusions of a perfect marriage that confirms Paula Daly as a writer at the forefront of domestic suspense.

About the Author

PAULA DALY is the acclaimed author of five novels. Her work has been sold in fifteen countries, shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books are currently being developed into the ITV drama – Deep Water – set to air in 2019. She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet Skippy.