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Louise has been single too long. That’s the only explanation for what happened. That and the fact that the man was handsome and they seemed to hit it off. But he’s married! And worse, he’s her new boss! Vowing it’ll never happen again, Louise painstakingly attempts to ensure a normal and unromantic work atmosphere. But when she runs into David’s wife, things become incredibly complicated.

Adele is pretty and oh-so-put-together. But she seems lonely. The more Adele and Louse spend time together, the harder it becomes for Louise to detach herself. And then things between her and David take a turn as well. But there’s something wrong with Adele and David. The picture Adele paints of their relationship is troubling, to say the least, but the David Louise knows is nothing like that. Or is he?

Having been a fan of Sarah Pinborough’s work for quite some time now, it really was no surprise to me that Behind Her Eyes would turn out to be so fabulous. It seems, though, that she may finally get the readership she deserves Stateside with this latest.

Behind Her Eyes begins almost innocently, and with an edge of humor as well. Louise is in a real pickle. So much so that she hides in the bathroom when David introduces his wife around his new office. So it’s understandable then that Adele would have no idea who Louise is when they run into each other. And for all her faults, Louise is a nice person.

Adele, though, is much less transparent. In fact, it’s clear from the beginning that something odd is going on with Adele and David.

Chapters alternate between Louise and Adele. And Adele’s story is further broken up between “Then” and “Now.” It makes for a truly wonderful reading experience that’s filled with uncertainty and suspicion – and that’s on the part of the characters and the reader.

And then there’s that ending. It’s an ending everyone is talking about (Behind Her Eyes has been out in the UK for some months now) and one that’s definitely worth it. I for one did not see it coming at all.

Behind Her Eyes is a definite favorite of mine for 2017 and one I highly recommend to any thriller fan looking for a fabulous new read!

1/17 Becky LeJeune

BEHIND HER EYES by Sarah Pinborough. Flatiron Books (January 31, 2017).  ISBN 978-1250111173. 320p.

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Tom Reese is not a member of the CIA nor any other lettered agency of the Federal Government. But his brother Eric was and was killed.

The agency has allowed the case of Eric’s death to go cold. Tom assumes the personage of an active CIA operative and gets himself transferred to Paris and joins the team that traces his only link to his brother’s killer.

Remember that authors use literary license in order to make their story palatable. So we will disregard the impossible feat of assuming the identity of an active agent of the CIA and proceed to the events.

Eric Blake and his team were engaged in finding a man who was the test subject of a project to turn out the perfect soldier via augmenting his body. The CIA finally realizes that there are two Tom Reeses’ working for them in two different places. Plus the man that was augmented discovers that someone is after him.

In going forward, Tom meets the daughter of the augmented man and agrees to drive her from Paris to Berlin to meet her father. She trusts him to do so (again literary license) and in avoiding both the CIA and a group after them, fall in love. In a coincidence it is also discovered that Tom was augmented in the same experiment as his brother.

The novel does keep the reader’s interest and continually reading. The setting in Europe is well documented and the action sufficient to say that disregarding the improbable makes the book well worth the time spent reading it. I will be on the lookout for additional novels by Reardon and will have no problem overlooking what is, shall we say, far fetched.

1/17 Paul Lane

THE PROMETHEUS MAN by Scott Reardon. Mulholland Books; (January 24, 2017).  ISBN 978-0316310925. 352p.

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When Kate Priddy agrees to a house swap with her cousin in Boston, no one is more surprised than Kate. Well, her parents maybe. To say Kate is not adventurous is an understatement, but after barely surviving being kidnapped by her psychotic ex just a few years ago, it’s no surprise that Kate’s careful. And yet, the simple expectation that she’ll say no to the request when her cousin reaches out to her is enough to move Kate to say yes.

Upon her arrival, though, Kate learns that the girl in the apartment next door has gone missing. Kate immediately jumps to murder as the logical conclusion: unfortunately she’s right. While the girl’s death certainly has nothing to do with Kate, she can’t help but be curious. As more about the girl comes to light, including a possible affair with Kate’s own cousin, the Brit becomes more entangled in the mystery, catching the attention of a very dangerous man. But will Kate unravel the clues in time to save herself?

Swanson’s latest features a character who is, as mentioned, understandably cautious and careful. And paranoid. But she’s overly aware of these things to the point that they almost become a detriment to her very safety.

Any normal girl would be concerned if someone one door away was murdered. Kate seems to have a knee-jerk reaction that results in the opposite. As with her decision to spend six months far away from home, on another continent, Kate’s assumption that the murder has nothing to do with her and therefore couldn’t possibly mean any danger to her seems to be an attempt to reclaim a sense of control and normalcy in her life.

And it’s something of an admirable quality in her as a heroine. Rather than becoming a shut in who books the first plane home, she snoops. She snoops around her cousin’s apartment. She snoops into the dead girl’s life. She snoops around the apartment building too.

And maybe snooping isn’t best decision.

Not that it makes any difference. Swanson offers up multiple perspectives throughout the novel, making it quite clear that Kate’s mere presence in the apartment means catching the eye of the killer. It makes the reader wonder if even her return to London would have kept her out of trouble.

Her Every Fear is deliciously paced twisted fun!

1/17 Becky LeJeune

HER EVERY FEAR by Peter Swanson. William Morrow (January 10, 2017).  ISBN 978-0062427021. 352p.

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