The Silence in Her Eyes by Armando Lucas Correa #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and @BookClubFavorites / Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Silence in Her Eyes in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster Audio

Published: January 16, 2024

 

Summary:

This fresh take on classic psychological suspense centers on a young woman with a rare neurological condition who is convinced her neighbor is going to be murdered.

Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. For the last twenty years, she hasn’t been able to see movement. As she walks around her upper Manhattan neighborhood with her white stick tapping in front, most people assume she’s blind. But the truth is Leah sees a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice.

She has a quiet, orderly life, with little human contact beyond her longtime housekeeper, her doctor, and her elderly neighbor. That all changes when Alice moves into the apartment next door and Leah can immediately smell the anxiety wafting off her. Worse, Leah can’t help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor engage in a violent fight. Worried, she befriends her neighbor and discovers that Alice is in the middle of a messy divorce from an abusive husband.

Then one night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. She blacks out and in the morning is left wondering if she dreamt the episode. And yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength, and ultimately her sanity.

 

My thoughts:

This is the first book I’ve read by Armando Lucas Correa, though I do have one of his books sitting on my shelf. That one, The Night Travelers, is historical fiction, which is what his previous books have been. But this new book is a psychological thriller and what a trippy ride it is!

This to me is the perfect popcorn thriller. It’s a quick, twisty, quirky read that I flew through in a matter of hours. The main protagonist is one that due to her neurological condition – akinetopsia or motion blindness – is made to seem unreliable at times. She is all alone in life and desperate for friends and so you have to question the choices she makes at times. Does she bring on what ultimately happens?

This book will really play with your head. Is what is happening to Leah really happening or not? The suspense builds and the tension ramps up as things start happening – a possible intruder, someone following her, a lingering scent. Who can she trust to get to the bottom of things?

The twists and turns this one took kept me glued to this story. The story moves much like Leah’s vision does – a bit choppy and stilted, but I think that might have been the point. All in all, it was a good read and I look forward to reading more from this author, in whatever genre he writes.

 

Audio thoughts:

This was a great book to listen to. The narrator, Suehyla El-Attar Young, did a great job bringing this story to life. She infused just the right amount of emotion and tension into her voice as needed.

 

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