Book Review - Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly

by Shalini, posted in Book Reviews

At the outset, I would like to thank Betty, the Geeky Bibliophile, whose awesome review gave me the push to read this book. Thank you, Betty.

My review

This book pulled me in from the first few pages. A husband Leon shot in the head with a nail gun and suddenly collapsing, the wife Jane, subsequently finding herself in a financial ruin along with an amnesiac violent husband, finds her world collapsing. The entire scenario has the vividness of a world which has changed in a split second. And nobody knows why!!

My first book by Paula Daly, and the book was a heck of a ride for most parts. Jane’s normal world spun out of control when post surgery, her husband could not remember her and wanted his ex. I loved the shock and the desperation. The secrets which then started rolling made Jane’s life a living terror with unstable neighbors, their weird son, a lost cat, a felon’s threat, the behind the scenes scam.

What I especially found enthralling was the main character Leon was an author before the trauma, who was accused of plagiarism, then came deliberate negative reviews on Amazon to bring down an author’s career, the bots and false websites. Everything described was so close to real life happenings. I loved this bit of reality.

Then there were my niggles, the prose did not feel complete there were a few barely discernable plot holes and a rushed explanation.

But on the whole, the author kept me hopping on my toes, longing to know the perp, so I can endorse this book as one of the enjoyable reads in the thriller genre.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Transworld Digital, and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating : 4 stars

About the Author

Paula Daly is the critically acclaimed author of five novels. Her work has been sold in fifteen countries, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books are currently being developed for television. She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet Skippy.

Book blurb

Jane doesn’t like confrontation. Given the choice, she’d prefer to focus on what’s going well, the good things in life.

But when her husband, Leon, is brutally attacked in the driveway of their home, in front of their two young children, Jane has to face reality. As he lies in a coma, Jane must open her eyes to the problems in her life, and the secrets that have been kept from her, if she’s to find out who hurt her husband – and why.

Product Details

Publication date : 26th July, 2018

Publisher : Transworld Digital

42 thoughts on “Book Review - Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly”

  1. Wow, once again a book that truly sounds both terrifying and amazing at the same time. It’s so true though, your life can sometimes really change in the blink of an eye, both for good and for bad. Which is why I think it’s best to live each day to the fullest. Well, even though the book has some things in it that causes those niggles again (love that word lol), it still sounds overall like a great read! As always, terrific post! 😘😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Haha, well…I’m gald those niggles are in your reviews 😊 (And I’m pretty sure that most of the niggles I have are the same😊).
        Yeah…it sounded like it: both the scares, and the fun roller coaster ride 😊

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I liked that nail gun concept… Into the skull and then it keeps tweaking into the brain… Sounds like a medical thriller but this takes turns…
      Hahaha this had a lot of truths about things happening amongst authors… I realized in a scary the good authors are good and they just write their novels… But the bad are aplenty and boy, are they vicious.
      I was very sweet, I just deleted all my reviews… Since my words get misunderstood by an author… Dumbass😉😉😂😂🤣🤣🙆🙆🤷🏻🙅

      Like

      Reply

  12. Fab review, Shalini. I had decided to skip this one because I didn’t like the author’s previous title, The Trophy Child which was a bit too slow for me. However, your review has convinced me to give this one a try. I am glad that you enjoyed it despite the issues with the plot.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I didn’t like the trophy child too.. I kind of left it halfway to be read another day.. Ya I DNFed it… But thanks to Betty, this I liked. Plot was crisp. And the nail gun was great. No big plot holes, but the slight feeling I got, that maybe it needed something more. But I didn’t analyse it further.

      Like

      Reply
  13. Pingback: 3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge (Day 3) - Siobhan's Novelties

  15. I see the niggles of Shalini have unfortunately appeared in this one too! Such dark books, you read! I like that Fiona Barton is quoted on the front cover. Have you read her books? I’ve actually read both The Widow and The Child. I wonder how she’ll do in her next book. 😀 Great review again, Shalini!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. My niggles are infamous now… They appear to make me complete… As a friend told me, probably it gives me more peace to write the word. A sense of completion if you will.
      I have read reviewed Fiona Barton…

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s