Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay
Trust Your Eyes sat on my bedside table for several weeks. And I couldn’t read it because Bart was in Seattle and I have a firm policy about not reading books that have the words “thriller” on the front when I’m the only adult sleeping in the house.
In other words, I am an intense wimp.
Then, Ella and I flew to Seattle and, thanks to the wonder of the iPhone and also a huge sheet of stickers, a complimentary apple juice, and a bag of pretzels, I flew through about 300 pages of the book on the airplane and then finished it up in the hotel room after Ella went to bed.
Trust Your Eyes was just a fun, quick read (reminded me quite a bit of John Grisham, and I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for his books).
Also, it wasn’t that scary. Perhaps 24 has completely desensitized me.
Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay
The premise is that Thomas has some psychological issues (schizophrenia among them) and a complete obsession with maps. He spends his days going through the major cities of the world on a program like Google Earth (although much more indepth) and memorizing the entire layout.
He’s convinced that some big disaster will happen where all the maps of the world will be lost and he’ll be the only person the government can turn to.
In the middle of his travels, he comes across what looks like a woman being suffocated in a window and he’s so upset by this that he makes his older brother, Ray, (the narrator of the story), go investigate.
Ray, of course, is pretty dubious about the whole thing, but after his visit to the apartment in question, it suddenly looks like there might actually be something Thomas’ murder theory. And things just go crazy from there, because the people who killed this woman aren’t anxious to be caught.
Trust Your Eyes just moves RIGHT along, and I really enjoyed watching the plot unfold. It’s about as clean as most of John Grisham’s stuff (which is to say a few sexual references and a lot of violence).
And if you read it home alone and it freaks you out, you can only blame yourself.
I am paid for my participation in the BlogHer Book Club, but I choose which books to read and my reviews are strictly my own opinions. If I think a book is terrible, I’ll say so. If I rave about a book, it’s because it’s one I’d give to Kayla or my mom.
I laughed at the part about 24, because I feel the same way after watching it for a few months on Netflix. Point-blank shot to the face? Doesn't phase me. (hahaha… not really. I'm still a total baby, but it doesn't startle me like it used to. Thank you Jack Bauer.)
I'm glad to hear you say that you like John Grisham. I used to read his novels before I became more of a book snob and I quite enjoyed them. It's not that I'd be opposed to reading Grisham now, but there's just so many great books out there to read; his works have fallen on the priority list.
I wanted to read this one, it seems like a great idea for a novel. I bet Mike would like it too.
I am so weird about these kinds of books. Sometimes I can totally read them at night and then go dream about fluffy pink clouds no problem. And then sometimes I read them and can't sleep because MURDERER IN MY BATHROOM.
It sounds interesting though, I'll add it to my (ever expanding) list.
By the way, I finally read Legend, which you sent to me ages ago. Did you read that one? It was quite good.
I just read another rave review of this earlier. Guess I need to add it to the list.
I have started listening to this on cd. I'm not that far in to it and am just overwhelmed with the swearing. Does it get better? Or should I just stop reading?