Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly #Book #Review @pauladalyauthor

Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly

Publication Date 26th July 2018

Published by Corgi

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Crime

Book Description:

Haven’t we all wanted to pretend everything is fine?

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.

Maybe it’s time to face up to it all. Who knows what you might find . . .

My Review:

Paula Daly is one of my go-to authors, so when I spotted this new thriller on the shelf at my local library there was no question that it had to come home with me.  

Leon Campbell is a successful crime-writing author while his wife Jane is an aspiring writer, struggling to deal with rejection letter after rejection letter from publishers who she has approached with her manuscripts.  With Leon's success has come a slightly arrogant attitude and while he is supportive of his wife's efforts he does treat her - and some of their friends - quite dismissively, as if he is rather more important in life than anyone else.  Which is why, when neighbour Lawrence confronts Leon about their cat leaving a mess in his wife's flower beds, Jane finds the whole scenario embarrassing and awkward so makes her excuses to go back in the house on the pretext of fetching beer to take to Leon's mother's house for him to celebrate his birthday with. On returning to the car she finds that Lawrence has gone, but life will never be the same again after Leon crashes the car into the neighbour's garden wall.  Things take a sinister turn when it transpires that Leon has been seriously assaulted in Jane's absence, leaving him with life threatening injuries.

Who would attack Leon in such a brutal manner? And more to the point, why?  As Jane, the police and Leon's family go through every aspect of Leon's life with a fine-toothed comb they find that Leon wasn't as straightforward and honest as he presented to the world.  Financial problems and professional gripes come to the surface but nothing seems a big enough issue to make someone try to kill him, surely? Or could the perpetrator be someone closer to home? A rival, struggling author Alistair Armitage begins to feature strongly in the investigations, but when he is suddenly removed from the picture other, more dubious characters become far more credible suspects.

There is a comfortably sized cast in this very realistic novel, which deals with the day to day problems associated with the after-effects of being victims of such a vicious assault.  It highlights the real need for more support to be available for victims and their families in order for them to return to some kind of normality but doesn't labour the point.  We are led down a multitude of dead-ends as to who is responsible for Leon's injuries but I was quite surprised with the eventual reveal, which was very nicely accomplished.  With all loose ends neatly secured, I felt that the real victim of the whole sorry story was the one person who deserved it least - as is often the way in life.

Paula Daly has succeeded in producing yet another book where the reader could quite easily imagine finding themselves in a similar situation purely down to miscommunications or petty jealousy.  An excellent page-turner of a book which keeps Paula way up the list of my favourite authors - ideal for curling up with as the nights begin to draw in.

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.
Follow her on Twitter: @pauladalyauthor