Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

I am starting the draft of this blog post as I am about 20 pages from finishing this book.  I have no idea how it is going to end, but I can tell you this is not the book I thought it was going to be.  On the back cover of this book, in big bold print, it says "Why is everyone talking about the ending of Behind Her Eyes?"  I am assuming there will be a big twist, but I don't know what it will be... Yet.

Here is what I do know...

The book jumps around between narrators and  timelines.  So there are two narrators, Louise and Adele.  Then there are three timelines: Then, Now and Later.  In the beginning its a little confusing.  Most of the story is taking place in the "now" with several glances into the "then" and not much on the "later."

Adele is married to David. David is a psychologist.  Adele is flipping crazy.  Let's just put that out there.  Louise meets David in a bar, shares a passionate kiss and then the next day finds out he is her new boss and he is married.  She is mortified.  She intends to never cross that line with him again.  A few days later she runs into his wife (literally) and Adele makes Louise promise not to tell David that they met.  Adele starts alluding to the fact that David is controlling.

We flash back several times in Adele's life. We learn that her parents died in a house fire that David saved her from.  David is cast in suspicion that he may have started the fire.  Adele comes from a very wealthy family and David does not.  Adele spends time in a mental hospital where she meets a guy named Rob and the two of them become friends. Adele gets out of mental hospital and marries David.  They seem to be truly in love.  Adele alludes to Louise about her friend Rob and how he disappeared and at some point she says she thinks David killed him.  So David is looking like the bad guy.  But Louise continues her affair with him trying to reconcile the David she knows with the David Adele describes.

Now, let's get into the dreams.  Both Adele and Louise suffer from night terrors.  Adele gives Louise a notebook that she had previously given to Rob to help her with her night terrors.  Rob has written notes, almost like a diary, in the notebook so Louise gets a glimpse into Rob's life through that.  The notebook explains some things to help with night terrors, ultimately allowing the dreamer to see a door that they can escape the nightmare through.  But then Louise starts seeing a second door and when she goes through THAT door she leaves her body and can travel to other places in real time - like a ghost or a spirit.

So yeah, let's just pause there.  I did not expect this supernatural twist.

Louise is  trying to figure out how this second door works, but Adele is secretly very excited she has figured that out so quickly.  It is clear that Adele is plotting something.

Louise finally figures out that Adele is batshit crazy and she goes to David to talk to him about Rob.  David tells Louise a story about Adele, telling her that Adele says Rob overdosed on drugs and she dumped his body in a well. He says that Adele has been holding that over Rob for years telling him that if he ever left her she would go to the police and tell them David killed Rob.

So now, I am at the point where David is just heading to the police himself, to tell his side of the story.  He knows he may end up in prison, but he wants to get out of Adele's grasp.  Louise has called Adele and confronted her and told her she knows the truth.  Adele pretends like she is shocked, but she knows everything.  It is clear that Adele is going through this second door in her dreams and is watching her husband and Louise together.  (Weird, right?!?!)

So that is where I am ... let me go finish this...

OMFG. That's what I have to say right now.  WTF.  So about three pages before what happened next happened, I figured it out.  Adele's big plan was to get them both through the second door and swap bodies! Kill off "Adele" and live in Louise's body and be with David.  Adele sends Louise a message basically alluding that she is going to kill herself.  Louise goes to the house, can't get in and decides to go through the second door and into Adele's bedroom. While there she realizes she can't physically move Adele while she is in this "ghost" state so she slides into Adele's body. Once there she gets hit with the heroin bump that Adele had injected right before.  Meanwhile ghost Adele goes and slips into Louise's body, runs up the stairs, injects Adele's body with more heroin killing "Adele."  Before all of this Adele had written a suicide letter basically clearing David of suspicion.

"Louise" and David are together ... imagining a future now that the crazy Adele is gone.

But wait.... there's more!

(And to be clear... I did NOT see this part coming.)

We are back in the "Then" timeline, but hearing from Rob for the first time.  Apparently it was his idea originally to try the body swapping thing and... you guessed it... he swapped with Adele back when she was like 18 and then injected Rob's body with heroin and pushed him into the well!  Because Rob fell in love with David when he met him.  So the whole time... Adele was really Rob! And now Louise is really Rob! And now we are left with "Louise" (Rob) and David just married and Rob is definitely going to kill off Louise's son so that the two of them can live happily ever after.

The End.

W.T.F.  That is some whack-a-doodle shit right there.  I am not even sure how to rate this.  Probably 4 stars for being creative.  Not sure it's a book I am running off to recommend. I am just not sure. But it will stick with you, that's for sure.  For that I say, Well Done Sarah Pinborough!  Well Done!

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