NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea

 Rich, complex plotting makes this suspense thriller a must-read.


When Alex Armstrong was 17 years old, her parents and younger brother were killed in a home invasion. She was immediately arrested, in a state of complete shock, and the media named her Empty Eyes. She spent some time in juvie, eventually exonerated, but not before her young life was upended. She won a defamation lawsuit and changed her name from Alexandra Quinlan in order to escape further attention. Ten years have passed and Alex is working as an investigator for a legal firm. Still no idea why her family was murdered so she spends time doing her own deep dive looking for answers. What she finds are vague connections. She needs help and finds it from unexpected sources. No spoilers.


There is a lot going on in this book! Each little side bar shift into another set of characters and stories keeps the reader engaged and guessing as to how they connect. The revelations start coming fast and furiously in the last part of the book and all is revealed in a great climax that is followed by some surprises. I like the author's writing style and found this so hard to put down. Its best to read it within a short time frame so as to keep the plot and characters straight. I was a bit ambivalent about Alex/Alexandra and some of the action seemed a bit unrealistic. In truth, I had to reread a couple of chapters just to make sure I completely understood the conclusion. At any rate, it was fun and nicely paced with short chapters even though it jumped around a bit. Enjoy!


Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC to read, review, and recommend.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Trigger warning - sexual abuse, pedophila

Genre - suspense thriller

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