title: Those Empty Eyesauthor: Charlie Donlea
published: 28 March 2023
publisher: Kensington Books
genre(s): thrillers
pages: 356
source: Kindle Unlimited
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookHype | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating:
the blurb
Alex Armstrong has changed everything about herself—her name, her appearance, her backstory. She’s no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. That girl, Alexandra Quinlan, nicknamed Empty Eyes by the media, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation.
It’s been ten years since, and Alex hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed, even as she continues to hide her real identity from true crime fanatics and grasping reporters still desperate to locate her. As a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too. People like Matthew Claymore, who’s under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named Laura McAllister.Laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover-ups on her college campus. Alex believes Matthew is innocent, and unearths stunning revelations about the university’s faculty, fraternity members, and powerful parents willing to do anything to protect their children.
Most shocking of all—as Alex digs into Laura’s disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family. For as different as the crimes may seem, they each hinge on one sinister truth: no one is quite who they seem to be . . .
- a few notes
- review
content warning: ❗sex abuse, murder, violence❗
POV: 3rd person
keywords/phrases: murder, betrayal, trauma
tropes: troubled protagonist, twist ending
spice: 0 🔥
language: 🤬🤬🤬
This was a book that captured me within moments of beginning to read. The plot was complex (in a good way) and very layered as it moves between the present and various points/incidents within the past. Those moments seemed, at least on the surface, to be rather disconnected from one another, but there was always an overlying sense that the threads between them were just out of sight, leaving the reader to wonder. And scattered throughout were so many red herrings, keeping one guessing. It was a very dark and twisty read with pacing that was on point, full of action with lots of suspense and mystery.
Alex was a fantastic main character, tragic yet supremely strong in a way that was admirable. I felt so much compassion for her as she struggled to find her way after the worst of tragedies. Truly, rather in the forefront or not, the characterizations were great. Complex and varied, they ran the gamut.
If I had a complaint, it would be found in Alex’s reaction to a major relevation in her life. After a lifetime of searching for answers, her response felt a little underwhelming. It just felt like it was a moment for more questions, for something. But this complaint is nothing significant, less in the face of the shocking twist at the end.
About Charlie Donlea
Charlie Donlea is the USA TODAY and #1 Internationally bestselling author of SUMMIT LAKE, THE GIRL WHO WAS TAKEN, DON’T BELIEVE IT, SOME CHOOSE DARKNESS, THE SUICIDE HOUSE, TWENTY YEARS LATER, and THOSE EMPTY EYES. His eighth thriller, LONG TIME GONE, explores the science of forensic genealogy and will be released in June 2024.
His books have been translated into twenty languages across nearly forty countries. He resides in Chicago with his wife and two children.
He spends a part of each year fishing with his father in the far reaches of Canada, where the roads end and lakes are accessible only by floatplane. These majestic trips to “God’s Country” inspired the setting for his first novel, Summit Lake.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2024 52 Books Reading Challenge
- 2024 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
- 2024 Alphabet Soup: Author Edition Reading Challenge
- 2024 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge
- 2024 Linz the Bookworm Reading Challenge
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