04 Jul Don’t Close Your Eyes by P S Cunliffe
A very clever domestic noir thriller
*****
#Blogtour
I’m a woman who likes my sleep, and I can’t imagine forcing myself to stay awake for anything, not even to track down my missing husband!
But Catherine feels she has no choice. While the police have accepted that the body in the burnt out car found in the woods her husband, Simon, she refuses to believe it.
Simon is a loving husband and father to four-year-old Charlie. What would he be doing out in the woods? Someone must have stolen their car.
But then, where is Simon?
Her frantic enquiries are getting her nowhere. Grieving and dazed from lack of sleep, she’s further discombobulated by subsequent events that show Simon is not, perhaps, the man she thinks she married.
Is he alive? Can she find him? Will she ever be able to close her eyes again?
The plot works seamlessly on every level
It’s hard to say much more about the plot of this thrilling story without giving too much away – there are different threads that merge together to form the plot, which works seamlessly on every level.
How is Sarah’s story tied to Catherine’s? Who is the London jogger who almost killed a woman in a bout of pavement rage? Who is watching Catherine’s house, and does their presence mean that she and Charlie are in danger?
It’s all very exciting stuff, and I could not stop turning the pages, racing to the end to discover just what the outcome would be for all the characters.
I particularly liked the way that, as the reader, I was always kept in the loop of the story – just as I figured out one twist, the narrative confirmed it, but then moved the story along with new and suspenseful plot twists.
The main characters were convincing and sympathetic, well-fleshed out people with believable motivations for behaving in the way they do.
Catherine perhaps goes a bit overboard in refusing to sleep at all, but her resulting confusion and delirium adds to the suspense of the story, and of course, justifies the title.
In fact, the title Don’t Close Your Eyes does double duty, covering Catherine’s refusal to sleep, but also the fact that if she closes her eyes metaphorically to the truth of what is going on, she is in danger of losing everything she holds dear – her son, her perfect lifestyle and maybe even her own life.
A proper, page turning read with a cracking plot that holds plenty surprises – I loved it.
Don’t Close Your Eyes by P S Cunliffe is published by Embla Books in paperback and ebook
About the Author
P S Cunliffe is a writer, originally from the North West of England. He now lives in North London with wife and his dog. Don’t Close Your Eyes, published by Embla Books, is his debut thriller.
His second book will be published by Embla Books in November 2023
Follow him on Twitter @Paul_Cunliffe
Find him on Instagram @pauliecunliffe
Thanks to Tracy of Compulsive Readers for inviting me along on this tour, and to publishers EmblaBooks for an advance copy of this book. Catch up with the rest of the blogtour through the links on the poster.
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