Before Her Eyes by Jack Jordan #BeforeHerEyes

She can’t see the killer
But the killer can see her…
Naomi Hannah has been blind since birth. Struggling with living in the small, claustrophobic town of Balkerne Heights, Naomi contemplates ending her life. But before she can, Naomi stumbles across the body of a young woman who has been brutally murdered. She senses someone else there at the scene – watching her. Naomi may not be able to see the killer’s face, but she is still the only person who can identify him.
For Naomi, this frightening truth changes everything: she realises that she wants to live, at the very point at which her life is in greatest peril. As the police begin hunting the person responsible and the bodies pile up, Naomi must lie in wait and answer the question that hangs her fate in the balance: why did the killer let her live?
In a town this small, the murderer must be close, perhaps even before her very eyes…

*I received a copy of the book through Netgally in exchange for an honest review.*

Damn and double-damn, but Jack Jordan has delivered again! I have read multiple titles by Jack and they all received praise from me. I have to say, with Before Her Eyes, Jack opened a new bag of goodies and delivered stifling darkness in abundance.

Incredibly claustrophobic and suffocating, Before Her Eyes gets down and dirty from the off-set with the most hair-rising prologue. The story then moves the reader up close and personal with what it feels like to not be able to use one of your senses (vision) as events unfold in front of blind eyes and turns up the level of mystery by introducing the potential of a much bigger web of lies that has settled over a small town setting.

Naomi is blind but by no means helpless. Having grown up with a very supportive and encouraging adoptive mother, Naomi lives independently and works in a cafe, and with her guide dog Max, she is unstoppable. But the feeling of being unloved has taken over her soul and has left her wanting to die. She has been abandoned in the past as a child by her biological mother, she has made a life-altering decision during her marriage which ultimately lead to divorce and it’s all eating her up inside… she simply cannot take another day!

Fate, however, has other, more grim ideas for Naomi, as she comes across a murdered body and it appears the killer is still at the scene as they play a quick and sick game with Naomi before disappearing and letting Naomi walk away physically unharmed. She is now a witness to a crime with her plans to die on hold. Things go up a whole other notch when Naomi finds herself in danger and bodies start to pile up…

Enter Detectives Lisa and Marcus who are working on the case. These two are really grating off each other and not in a good way! I have no qualms stating that Lisa is a Grade A bitch! She is! I was wondering for a while whether there was going to be a turn in her character development – to make me feel bad about thinking her a bitch, but nope! Her final speech in the book simply solidified my dislike of her #sorrynotsorry

As Lisa works on the case with Marcus, clear lines are being drawn on who’s the boss and who’s the one aiming for the truth, no matter how devastating or ugly! I had so many hopes for Marcus. Some came to be true, others not… but that’s the thing with those twisty thrillers and Jack Jordan pulled off a heart-stopping final twist in the book! Boom! It left be speechless and it left me wanting to discover what happens next…

I really, really like the writing as it felt very personal, intimate and demanded my undivided attention. I have to say, because who else wags the tail other than the dog, right?, that my first hunch at who’s behind this all was right! But Jordan took me on a whirlwind through the complex plot and threw me off track a number of times! I did not expect to receive the level of multiple threads in this novel as it’s quite diferent to Jordan’s previous work, but nevertheless typically mind-blowing! 🙂 I loved it, I freaking loved it!!!

Before Her Eyes on Goodreads ¦ Amazon UK ¦ USA