Thursday 26 February 2015

Review: the Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer

the Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer
Publisher:
Transworld Publishers
Release date:
12 March 2015
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: Five footprints are the only sign that Daniel Buck was ever here. And now they are all his mother has left. Every day, Anna Buck guards the little prints in the cement. Polishing them to a shine. Keeping them safe. Spiralling towards insanity. When a psychic offers hope, Anna grasps it. Who wouldn't? Maybe he can tell her what happened to her son...But is this man what he claims to be? Is he a visionary? A shut eye? Or a cruel fake, preying on the vulnerable? Or is he something far, far worse?








the Shut Eye is my favourite kind of novel; a crime thriller with a dark story at its heart and a bit of humour thrown in (DCI Marvel) for good measure.

I hadn't read any of this author's work before, but I can certainly see why she has won some pretigious awards (CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year (for Blacklands), CWA Dagger in the Library, and Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year (for Rubbernecker)).

the Shut Eye is the tale of the disappearance of Daniel Buck. He has tragically disappeared on Bonfire Night after his father, James, left the front door open. Something that Anna Buck (Daniel's mother) is not ever likely to forgive.

Anna Buck is a woman on the edge (literally in one part of the novel, but I don't want to give too much away). Full of anguish and grief, she becomes obsessed with cleaning her home and the footprints that Daniel left in the wet cement that was outside their home on the day he went missing.

When Anna recieves a leaflet through the door about a psychic at a local church, she is of course, sceptical. She decides to attend the meeting anyway, determined to do something, anything, to find her son who she believes is still alive.

But when she arrives Anna realises that the psychic; Richard Latham won't help her, and she becomes even more determined to help herself, stumbling upon another missing persons case along the way. 

Edie Evans has been missing even longer than Daniel, and the psychic that Anna visited is certain she is dead. Although he is reluctant to admit this to the police. As Marvel becomes more suspicious of Latham, Anna finds herself tangled in a web of visions, police pressure and confusion.

Where is Daniel? Where is Edie? And can she work out what these visions mean before it's all too late?

Without giving too much more away, the Shut Eye will have you gripped until its very last page, and will leave you wanting more.

the Shut Eye will be released on 12 March 2015 and is available to pre-order now from Random House UK and Amazon online.

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Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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