Open Your Eyes

By Paula Daly

A woman must face her husband’s secrets when he is suddenly attacked in this “superior domestic thriller” of envy and literary ambition (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
 
A biracial couple with two young children, the Campbells face as many challenges as any family in Liverpool. But Jane tends to let her husband, Leon—a bestselling thriller writer—fight their battles. Averse to conflict, she prefers to focus on what seems to be going right: her two precious children; her occasionally rocky but still loving marriage; and while her manuscripts keep getting rejected, she enjoys teaching creative writing. But then Leon is brutally attacked in their own driveway, and Jane is forced to face reality.
With Leon in a coma, Jane needs to take matters into her own hands—and open her eyes to the secrets that have been kept from her all this time. Suddenly, she sees her life in a shocking new light. But if she wants to find out who hurt her husband, she will have to pay attention to every unpleasant detail

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9780802146441

Paula Daly

Paula Daly is the author of several novels including Just What Kind of Mother Are You?, Keep Your Friends Close, The Mistake I Made, and The Trophy Child. A freelance physiotherapist, she lives in North West England with her husband, three children, and whippet, Skippy.

Reviews for Open Your Eyes

[nicx27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Open Your Eyes is such a good read. It's about lives being turned upside down and how secrets can come to light because of it.Leon is a crime fiction writer, a successful one. Jane is also a writer, but has not yet enjoyed any success. The book starts with them having a normal day. It's Leon's birthday and the family, Leon, Jane and their two young children, are off to his mother's for tea. There's the usual light bickering that happens when families are cooped up in the car together. But they don't even get off the drive before something terrible happens to Leon. You might think that after such a major event in the first few pages the story might dip a bit but it doesn't at all. Jane starts to make all sorts of discoveries whilst Leon is indisposed and it rocks her world.I got thoroughly involved in this story. I was pulled into Jane's predicament, I witnessed her confusion, her children's bewilderment. I, just like Jane, couldn't work out why Leon had been attacked (I have to say it is one of the most original methods of causing harm I have come across!). I was kept guessing until right at the end of the book when all was revealed.As Jane sets about discovering more about why Leon may have been targeted, there's a greater sense of foreboding looming over it all. Did Jane really know her husband at all? The pace is just right - it's not a hugely fast paced thriller, more an unfolding of events over a period of time. Nevertheless, it's utterly thrilling from start to finish.I loved the fact that the main characters are writers. It brought an extra level of interest to the story for me. And the supporting characters are all great too, from the policewoman to Jane's neighbours. They all play their own important part in the story.Open Your Eyes was an absolute page turner. I liked Jane immensely and hoped so much for some resolution for her. Whether she gets it or not I won't give away, but the conclusion was absolutely perfect, as was the whole novel. It's a tour de force in the domestic noir genre and I thought it was an excellent read.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a solid psychological thriller. The author puts a lot of red herrings in the book but I still was able to figure who did it in the end. It was a little surprising that Jane was so oblivious to the things that were going on in her husband Leon's life and with their finances. I hadn't read anything by Paula Daly before but will definitely be reading more of her books when I am looking to for a quick and enjoyable thriller. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

[edwardsgt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unusual and clever plot rooted in real domestic life of a Liverpool author and his wife, who has to cope when he is shot on their driveway.

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.Jane’s husband Leon is attacked with a nail gun while he waits for her in the car on the driveway of their house with the children in the back seat. This is part mystery novel, as the police and Jane try to work out who might have done such a thing, and part novel about what it is like to live with some one with a brain injury.I enjoyed the beginning, but the middle dragged a little. The brain injury parts read as if the author had researched the situation thoroughly, but I was in it for the crime elements really. As Jane discovered that Leon had been keeping things from her the plot thickened a little, but the resolution left Jane with a husband only recovered to an extent and who had done some morally unacceptable things. Given his current inability to remember doing them, there seemed no way for her to gain “closure”. The very ending - Jane has written her own novel! - struck a false note for me.