Suspend disbelief, overlook a gratuitously sensationalist narrative for a solid, if unsubtle, thriller!
Suspend disbelief, overlook the many inconsistencies and a gratuitously sensationalist style of writing and Before Her Eyes is a surprisingly entertaining and, at times, amusing read, but beware for nothing about Jack Jordan’s fourth stand-alone crime thriller is subtle in the least! Ridiculously gory with a plot that becomes progressively more unrealistic and full of over the top assaults on blind protagonist, Naomi Hannah, the excellent premise suffers from some remarkably average execution. In a fast paced story which opens as a straightforward police procedural and takes a more psychological turn into the second half the author does manage to build up an impressive amount of suspense and tension and given my incredulity at the plot I was thoroughly entertained!
Once picturesque, the small town of Balkerne Heights is now an “incestuous wasteland on the edge of the county” and a community that is plagued by the spectre of the brutal murder of local teen, Hayley Miller, two decades previously. Thirty-six-year-old lead protagonist Naomi Hannah has been blind since birth and still resides in her claustrophobic home town where she has grown up. Living alone with guide dog, Max, for the last two years after ending her marriage of fifteen years to Dane given his desire to have children, Naomi has battled loneliness, isolation and suicidal thoughts. Into the community comes detective, DS Marcus Campbell, eager to make a good impression on his abrasive, crude and demeaning new superior, DI Lisa Elliott and a team of fellow officers lacking in nuance and portrayed in broad brush stroke terms as corrupt and less motivated by justice than fitting people up. When Naomi stumbles across a graphic murder and crime scene reminiscent of the Hayley Miller’s brutal death it rocks the very foundations of the community and signals the start of a spate of unprecedented unrest. As the killer toys with Naomi, breathes down her neck and watches in close proximity as she makes the discovery, the ability to identify him remains frustratingly out of her, and DI Elliott’s, grasp.
This is just the start of a series of intimidation tactics which see Naomi targeted at work, forced to interact with a mutilated body and harassed within her home. But when a second murder occurs which again resurrects memories of Hayley’s unsolved case and threatens to expose the rotten core of the police force and the secrets of the local community, the police battles with the question of why the killer is letting Naomi escape alive. Ultra-aggressive DI Lisa Elliott dismisses Naomi’s accounts and treats her with nothing short of contempt and suspicion. Ignoring threats to Naomi’s safety and shutting down all comparisons between Hayley’s unsolved disappearance and current events it is only new team member, DS Campbell, who is prepared to look beyond local prejudices and rumour and actually investigate the crimes. As DS Campbell reopens the cold case and makes connections between the two fresh murders and Hayley Miller’s death, Naomi’s life and liberty is placed in jeopardy and their fortunes become increasingly entwined as together they home in on a killer. Filled with twists, albeit largely unrealistic, the novel is packed with dramatic action and characters close to Naomi and within the police force with secrets to hide. Whilst there is little doubt that the origins of the new crimes date back to the past and throw up three main suspects, getting to the sordid truth makes for an eventful read. In a third person narrative that switches focuses between Naomi and new local detective, DS Marcus Campbell, occasional italicised chapters shed light on an array of past events in the lives of the characters.
Despite not initially warming to Naomi and disliking her “woe is me” attitude as she wallows in self-pity on the edge of the cliff top as the novel opens she does become increasingly more sympathetic and palatable. Haphazardly characterised, there are so many inconsistencies in her portrayal that mean she never quite rings true and emerges into a credible figure. Jordan also lays on the sympathy with a trowel with numerous irrelevancies which add nothing to her characterisation (ethnic minority and being abandoned at a bus shelter by a drug addicted biological mother at the age of three) and are unnecessary. On the whole I was unconvinced by the author’s research into the realities of life a blind person would face and given that Naomi manages to waitress at a local cafe, continues to go out alone and opens her front door after repeated assaults without checking the identity of the caller and with a killer on the loose, certain aspects lack even basic common sense. Her mental health frailties are however depicted more insightfully with Naomi frustrated by the confines of her small home town and a life in where many decisions are out of her control yet scared by the prospect of leaving what she knows and a familial support network. Given that Jordan depicts the town as one where there is little privacy and everybody knows everyone else’s business I was bemused at some of the things that seemed to have passed Naomi by and I would have been interested to know the population of the community.
Whilst there is not a great deal of depth or reality to the police procedural strand of the narrative, the focus on the dynamics and underlying tensions within the insular community contributes much to the plot. Although I could never invest wholly in the characters or plausibility of events which prevented me being completely gripped by the novel, a grandstanding finale and a natty twist into the close certainly make for an engaging read. Far-fetched, melodramatic and with a cast of lead characters that are seemingly capable of surviving much lurid violence, yet Before Her Eyes is a surprisingly entertaining and fun read!
Once picturesque, the small town of Balkerne Heights is now an “incestuous wasteland on the edge of the county” and a community that is plagued by the spectre of the brutal murder of local teen, Hayley Miller, two decades previously. Thirty-six-year-old lead protagonist Naomi Hannah has been blind since birth and still resides in her claustrophobic home town where she has grown up. Living alone with guide dog, Max, for the last two years after ending her marriage of fifteen years to Dane given his desire to have children, Naomi has battled loneliness, isolation and suicidal thoughts. Into the community comes detective, DS Marcus Campbell, eager to make a good impression on his abrasive, crude and demeaning new superior, DI Lisa Elliott and a team of fellow officers lacking in nuance and portrayed in broad brush stroke terms as corrupt and less motivated by justice than fitting people up. When Naomi stumbles across a graphic murder and crime scene reminiscent of the Hayley Miller’s brutal death it rocks the very foundations of the community and signals the start of a spate of unprecedented unrest. As the killer toys with Naomi, breathes down her neck and watches in close proximity as she makes the discovery, the ability to identify him remains frustratingly out of her, and DI Elliott’s, grasp.
This is just the start of a series of intimidation tactics which see Naomi targeted at work, forced to interact with a mutilated body and harassed within her home. But when a second murder occurs which again resurrects memories of Hayley’s unsolved case and threatens to expose the rotten core of the police force and the secrets of the local community, the police battles with the question of why the killer is letting Naomi escape alive. Ultra-aggressive DI Lisa Elliott dismisses Naomi’s accounts and treats her with nothing short of contempt and suspicion. Ignoring threats to Naomi’s safety and shutting down all comparisons between Hayley’s unsolved disappearance and current events it is only new team member, DS Campbell, who is prepared to look beyond local prejudices and rumour and actually investigate the crimes. As DS Campbell reopens the cold case and makes connections between the two fresh murders and Hayley Miller’s death, Naomi’s life and liberty is placed in jeopardy and their fortunes become increasingly entwined as together they home in on a killer. Filled with twists, albeit largely unrealistic, the novel is packed with dramatic action and characters close to Naomi and within the police force with secrets to hide. Whilst there is little doubt that the origins of the new crimes date back to the past and throw up three main suspects, getting to the sordid truth makes for an eventful read. In a third person narrative that switches focuses between Naomi and new local detective, DS Marcus Campbell, occasional italicised chapters shed light on an array of past events in the lives of the characters.
Despite not initially warming to Naomi and disliking her “woe is me” attitude as she wallows in self-pity on the edge of the cliff top as the novel opens she does become increasingly more sympathetic and palatable. Haphazardly characterised, there are so many inconsistencies in her portrayal that mean she never quite rings true and emerges into a credible figure. Jordan also lays on the sympathy with a trowel with numerous irrelevancies which add nothing to her characterisation (ethnic minority and being abandoned at a bus shelter by a drug addicted biological mother at the age of three) and are unnecessary. On the whole I was unconvinced by the author’s research into the realities of life a blind person would face and given that Naomi manages to waitress at a local cafe, continues to go out alone and opens her front door after repeated assaults without checking the identity of the caller and with a killer on the loose, certain aspects lack even basic common sense. Her mental health frailties are however depicted more insightfully with Naomi frustrated by the confines of her small home town and a life in where many decisions are out of her control yet scared by the prospect of leaving what she knows and a familial support network. Given that Jordan depicts the town as one where there is little privacy and everybody knows everyone else’s business I was bemused at some of the things that seemed to have passed Naomi by and I would have been interested to know the population of the community.
Whilst there is not a great deal of depth or reality to the police procedural strand of the narrative, the focus on the dynamics and underlying tensions within the insular community contributes much to the plot. Although I could never invest wholly in the characters or plausibility of events which prevented me being completely gripped by the novel, a grandstanding finale and a natty twist into the close certainly make for an engaging read. Far-fetched, melodramatic and with a cast of lead characters that are seemingly capable of surviving much lurid violence, yet Before Her Eyes is a surprisingly entertaining and fun read!