Those Empty Eyes
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3.9 • 209 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From the #1 internationally bestselling author and master of modern suspense comes a brilliantly twisting and propulsive standalone novel about a woman whose dark past as the lone survivor of her family’s slaughter collides with present-day crimes.
Alex Armstrong has changed everything about herself—her name, her appearance, her backstory. She’s no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. That girl, Alexandra Quinlan, nicknamed
Empty Eyes by the media, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation.
It’s been ten years since, and Alex hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed, even as she continues to hide her real identity from true crime fanatics and grasping reporters still desperate to locate her. As a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too.
People like Matthew Claymore, who’s under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named Laura McAllister.
Laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover-ups on her college campus. Alex believes Matthew is innocent, and unearths stunning revelations about the university’s faculty, fraternity members, and powerful parents willing todo anything to protect their children.
Most shocking of all—as Alex digs into Laura’s disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family. For as different as the crimes may seem, they each hinge on one sinister truth: no one is quite who they seem to be …
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Charlie Donlea skewers true-crime fan culture and internet infamy in this witty and thought-provoking thriller. As a teenager, Alexandra Quinlan was found innocent of murdering her family, but the sensational case has branded her for life. Despite her attempts to reinvent herself, she’s constantly stalked by ruthless tabloid reporters and crime-obsessed amateurs. And the more she searches for the truth, the more murder, corruption, and danger she uncovers. Donlea had us pulling for poor Alex from the start, and we loved finding out how characters as seemingly unrelated as a podcasting college student, kids at a summer camp, and a possible Supreme Court candidate were connected to the intricate plot. Vivienne Leheny’s deadpan narration perfectly captures Alex’s early sense of disassociation and her steadily increasing hair-trigger paranoia as her investigation gets closer to its targets. Those Empty Eyes is totally gripping and of the moment—get ready for everyone you know to be reading it.
Customer Reviews
Very good, solid twists
My only complaint is that sometimes key points are revisited in such a way that it felt like a “last time on…” recap as if we wouldn’t remember it being explained previously.
Underwhelming
The first part of the book was almost so long that I wondered when the story was actually gonna pick up. Seemed like an over abundance of background info that could’ve been shortened. Also some plot lines were just clunky and random (the bank employee and his gf). Seemed rushed at the end to reveal the twist. Also once the twist is revealed there were clear signs that were evident to me as the reader that the FMC doesn’t pick up on, which seemed inconsistent with her being a top notch investigator that she doesn’t pick up on the language the person in the hotel room used which eludes to others being involved in the situation.
Brilliant
This book was such a surprise in such a good way. I really didn’t know what to expect going into it, but man oh man was an amazing from start to finish. I was hooked from the very first page when the killer took their first steps in the Quinlan home that faithful night excellent read highly recommend.