Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
Flatiron Books, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1250111173
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, Audible.

Sarah Pinborough is one of writing’s brightest stars today. She cut her teeth in the world of horror and ventured into the darkest realms of fantasy, thriller, and weird fiction before writing Behind Her Eyes, which has been compared to Girl on a Train, but with a twist.

Single mom Louise is stuck in a rut: she’s on the losing end of a divorce, with a dead end job, and poor dating skills. She meets David in a bar, and then discovers he’s her new boss. David is a bright, charismatic, and mysterious psychiatrist. Through a chance encounter, Louise meets Adele, David’s wife, who takes Louise under her wing. The chaos begins to simmer as bad choices ensue, despite strong ambitions, and the curtains begin to part on a dark marriage. Louise struggles to determine who is friend or foe as she falls under the spell of a magical awakening in her life.

Each turn of the plot peels off another layer of a rotting fruit. Everyone is talking about the ending, but the fun is in the journey here: readers will want to pay special attention to the flawed personalities and murky pasts of each character. To judge the book solely based on the last few pages is to do it a huge disservice. The ending is wild, and readers who take a stab at the ending are almost certain to miss; this reviewer was completely, utterly wrong.

If you haven’t discovered Sarah Pinborough, start here and keep going. If you’ve enjoyed her, you’ll see why she never hits the same nail twice. She’s phenomenal in voice, and her writing has just enough sweetness to temper her obsidian soul. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Dave Simms