We start the book off as single-mother Laura telling her friend about how she ended up snogging someone in a pub who then turned out to be her new boss. From there, we're drawn into the lives of Laura, David (her boss) and Adele (his wife).

There are plenty of twists and turns in this tale, and you end up being lead in many different directions before you reach the final truth. It was compelling, and I definitely did not work out what was going on, at least, no more than the author wanted me to guess!

Behind Her Eyes
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Behind Her Eyes
by Sarah Pinborough (Goodreads Author)
3.75 ·
Rating details · 57,890 ratings · 10,693 reviews
Why is everyone talking about the ending of Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes?

Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.

When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?

As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.

I have read lots of thrillers and this author is one of the best. Brilliant twisty plot that had a truly shocking ending. Highly recommend.

<p>I hate when they market books with blurbs that are all like "You'll never see the twist!" Well, of course I will <i>now</i>. Why can't I discover there is a twist on my own? Trust your damn readers publishers. We are smarter than you think.</p>

<p>So <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/17945322/book/163342272">Behind Her Eyes</a> is a fairly typical Jane Eyre-esque Brit-mystery that alternates points of view between <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/17945322/book/163342272">Behind Her Eyes</a>' Jane and Mrs. Rochester. There's some missing people and bodies and burning-down of things. Then there's the twist, which the book builds up to, so it isn't completely out-of-nowhere, nor was it particularly hard to guess. What took me until the explanation to figure out was the why of the twist (because my mind works in a bland hetero-normative way I found out via <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/17945322/book/163342272">Behind Her Eyes</a>).</p>

<p>So I don't know. There is definitely some cleverness to <a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/17945322/book/163342272">Behind Her Eyes</a>. The pacing doesn't drag (as it shouldn't) for a mystery novel. At some point, when I was a kid living in the UK, I must have visited some similar places to the novel, because I could envisage the apartment and the houses and the office perfectly. Or maybe I should give credit to the author's ability to describe these places without dragging down the plot through over-description. Ignoring the twist, it's an above-average, vicarious-thrill-safe-from-the-comfort-of-my-own-home, marketed-to-women, thriller. Including the twist, it's still that, but a bit harder to categorize. </p>

<p><a href="https://www.librarything.com/work/17945322/book/163342272">Behind Her Eyes</a> by Sarah Pinsborough went on sale January 26, 2017.</p>
<p><small>I received a copy free from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">Netgalley</a> in exchange for an honest review.</small></p>

The hashtag on social media #wtfthatending is both a killer marketing ploy, but also a curse. It meant I read the whole book waiting to find out what exactly the big twist could be. I think those marketing the book knew that they would have to make sure that people were prepared for a massive surprise at the end, in order to ensure that people didn't feel they had been somehow cheated after all the build up. I liked it, myself. I did think 'holy fuck'. But I know other people will be frustrated by it.

Sarah's writing is always classy as all hell. By this, I mean that she writes fluidly, and then just occasionally throws out an absolutely killer sentence that has such sharp observation that you have to pause for a moment to really take it in.

What I struggled with principally were the characters. I didn't like any of them. This meant at times I was forging forwards just to get to that ending, as opposed to enjoying the journey through the novel.

Overall, I am impressed by this one, and I am mighty glad that I came to it fresh before anyone spoiled it.

Plot: When Louise meets the man of her dreams, David, in a bar and kisses him, she thinks things are finally coming together, only to find out the next day he’s her new boss. Then Louise makes a new friend: Adele – it’s all good, only she’s David’s wife. From the outside, they appear the perfect couple, but Louise starts to notice the cracks – Adele is terrified of him, and David is controlling. Little does she realise quite how bad the situation is.

My thoughts: This was a psychological thriller that’s completely true to its genre and was totally twisting and thrilling. None of the character are particularly likeable – they’re all either cheating and/or manipulative – but it serves to make them excellent characters to read. It wasn’t difficult to fall completely in love with this book and become obsessed with the story its telling – highly recommended.

With thanks to the publishers for allowing us an advance copy of this book to review through Netgalley. I was intrigued by the description for this book – which follows 3 main characters.

When Louise falls for a guy she meets on a rare night on, things don’t go far but he is first guy she’s had an interest in since her divorce she is mortified when she goes into work to find out David is her new boss, and married to the very beautiful Adele.

Louise vows to remain proffessional at work and when she bumps into Adele and is drawn into being friends with her the situation becomes difficult. It’s clear that David is unhappy in the marriage and he too is drawn to Louise, and it’s also obvious that Adele has issues of her own. But the secrets the couple are hiding are massive and keeps them together, while also breaking them apart. Being in the middle Louise finds herself in an increasingly dangerous situation.

There are plenty of twists and turns to this plot and it’ll keep you turning the pages to unravel the many puzzel pieces that Adele and David web in this book – you can’t help but feel for Louise as the book reaches it’s distrubing conclusion. I have to say that personally although there is a really great twist to the ending – for me this might have been a bit of a step too far to the twists, but none the less you won’t want to put this one down!

Enjoyed the 'affair' side of the story and the characterisations but the story rambles on and the 'dream ' sequences are too long. The premise of the story is too far fetched and unbelievable. Sorry

I love Sarah Pinborough! She has smashed it out of the park again with her latest book; Behind Her Eyes.

It's a psychological thriller and believe me you won't guess the ending! There are so many twists and turns throughout the book, I've already reread it and noticed things on a second read that I totally missed (and I read a lot of psychological thrillers!)

The book itself focuses on three characters, Louise, David and Adele. David and Louise meet in a bar and it's only the next day she realises he is her boss and that he is also married to Adele. Soon she starts to become friends with Adele after they randomly meet on the street one day which is awkward to say the least. Soon Louise is falling in love with David but strange things begin to happen and she isn't sure who to trust.. I don't want to give away more than that as the it's best to just get the book and enjoy the ride!

This book is crying out for a movie adaptation and I guarantee it will be many a talking point for years to come, loved it!

A story with a twist you won't see coming in your wildest dreams.
A cast of characters that make you suspect them all, believe them all and question everything.
Behind Her Eyes is a fantastically written story told from different points of view and times, but woven together to tell a fantastic story. The story pace is fantastic and builds to a crescendo that will keep you turning the pages to the very end.
Grab this book for a sleepless night because you won't be able to put down, or maybe you won't want to sleep.

Brilliant psychological thriller, with a completely unexpected twist. Not what I expected at all, but thoroughly enjoyed.

A highly addictive thriller with a twist that has deservedly been talked about extensively since publication. Psychological thrillers are everywhere nowadays, but it's rare to find one that really does something different, or takes you somewhere that isn't easily guessable, and this does a fantastic job of that.

I suspect that the ending will leave many frustrated because it takes such a risk, but I think it creates something completely different that is a welcome change in a genre that I find is becoming evermore predictable. However you feel about it, you certainly won't forget it.

A must read, gripping from beginning to end. This book was like nothing I’ve ever read before, it kept me on the edge of my chair and I had to read it almost without stopping. The author has given us characters with such feeling and passion as well as twists and traits in their personalities that I was left tryin to race to the end for the almighty conclusion. Highly highly recommended reading.

Not too sure what I thought about this book. The ending is odd and in all honesty, I felt a little let down. However, this is a very readable read, cleverly written by a very talented author. Best not to skim read this it needs your undivided attention.

This was a needlessly convoluted book somewhere between fantasy and crime thriller. Sometimes people say "wtf" about an ending because it's just not good.

3.5 stars.This was a weird one.Sometimes addictive,sometimes frustrating.Definitely did not fit into a genre!I did not guess the ending at all and gave it an extra 0.5* for the twist.The main character Louise really irritated me though with her bad decision making!Overall pretty good

This is my first introduction to Sarah Pinborough but it definitely won’t be my last. Sarah has crafted an excellent, fast paced thriller that keeps those pages turning. Just wait until you come to THAT end too. Social media was right on this occasion and it’s certainly worth the price of the book just to see what all the well deserved buzz is about.

My first reaction when I finish this book, that I publish on Goodreads as I marked it as finished was:
I'm so angry with the MC. ugh! And the last paragraph mentioning possible future crime is so devastating!

I was really, really angry when I finished reading this book. Twitter campaign for this book had hashtag #WTFThatEnding. And that was my exact reaction - WTF?! Is this really happening?! I somehow could believe all that happened up to this point but this is just too fucking much!

Ok, let me calm down, and walk you though it, and what I liked and what I didn't like. First of all, it's a well written and engaging story. I was hooked, I was looking for the mystery, I wanted to find out what is going on, who is fooling me and Louise, one of the main characters. Is it Adele or David? Books is written from two POVs - one is Louise's and second is Adele's. Adele is David's wife, and Louise is David's secretary. And Adele and Louise become friends unknowingly to him. Because we get Adele's perspective in the book, we too early find out that we just cannot trust her. She shows her cards to us way to early, showing her true manipulative face. But somehow the author pulls this off, and I was still interested to figure out what exactly is going on. There is the big secret in Adele and David's marriage that is looming over them, and I was so curious to figure out what is going on. And at points I was as stupid as Louise was, and I believed in what Adele was saying.

Together with Louise we are entangled into mystery of Adele and David's marriage. Who is the bad one in this marriage. Sometimes it seems like it's her, sometimes it's him. The Adele says too much, and it's pretty obvious who the bad one is, but is the author fooling us? Can we believe in what we're reading?

Then comes the some kind of sci-fi or paranormal aspect of the whole mystery. And I seriously don't know what to think about it. It seemed fascinating at first, but also it was an easy answer to some of the questions. And this brings us the ending which is truly ridiculous. I was not at all satisfied with it, it was just so, so stupid. And that wasn't even the end of the story. Because after what I thought was the ending, we get the flashback to a times before that set the whole story in a whole new light. And that was just too much. Ugh! So annoying! What was the most devastating for me, was the last paragraph, when the possible new crime is presented. This was just so, so unfair to all of the people. I cannot handle it.

I must say, that overall it is a fascinating read. It's fast paced and well-written, it was easy to get into the story and eagerly turn pages to figure out what's going on. But the ending is not satisfying, the main characters fail us in what they do at the end. And this is all the wrong kind of unsatisfying ending. There are other books that left me angry at the ending, left we with ending that was unsatisfying and didn't meet my need to bring justice to the people. But in those other books the story was so amazing, so complex and well developed, that at the end it all made sense. But here I'm just left angry and devastated for the characters that are hurt the most.

It took a while to really get me gripped but once I was there, o I was reluctant to put it down.

Behind Her Eyes was a thriller filled with twists and turns, particularly in the last 10% of the book.

The main character, Louise, is incredibly naive and is slow to spot the mental illness in her new best friend, Adele. Adele’s manipulation of those close to her permeate throughout the book and the plot is quite complex in places.