Review - The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer

Published - March 2015

Book Summary

Five footprints are the only sign that Daniel Buck was ever here.

And now they are all his mother has left.

Every day, Anna Buck guards the little prints in the cement. Polishing them to a shine. Keeping them safe. Spiralling towards insanity.

When a psychic offers hope, Anna grasps it. Who wouldn't? Maybe he can tell her what happened to her son...

But is this man what he claims to be? Is he a visionary? A shut eye? Or a cruel fake, preying on the vulnerable?

Or is he something far, far worse?


My Review - 2 1/2

I found this one over at Bolo Books, a blog that lets us know what to be on the lookout for in the thriller, mystery genre.  Then I use LibraryThing which tells you if you will like a book, well it came out that I will LOVE this one, sigh, very wrong in this instance.

I usually give all books that I complete at least a 3 star when I complete it but the ending didn't revive the story, it was very unbelievable and then the ending seemed raced and more unbelievable with so many questions.  There was a stunning scene in the middle but it also turned the book for me and never came back.  I didn't read it for 2 days, considered not finishing it but kept on thinking LT thinks I will love it.

One of my passions is diversity, so the idea of having expatriates, illegal immigrants, cultures, gays all within the story was a plus.  Unfortunately, the boss of the illegal immigrants was terrible even though I am sure very real in our world at times and the others almost felt pushed on us, it didn't make a difference who they were in the story.  A part of the illegal immigrants cultural tradition was bought in the story for the reader but not as part of the mystery investigation, so why are we told, it then almost seems judgmental.  I would have appreciated it coming up and being discussed with the investigation, I think the author missed the mark with this big time, may have even offended readers.

A mother is dealing with grief at a level which makes her come across as crazy.  I really enjoy the husbands character even though more quiet in the story, he is loyal and also dealing with grief but with guilt also.  He left the door open which allowed their son to leave the house and disappear.  Something never felt right to me and the ending made it more unbelievable, I refuse to think that happened and no one saw, bullocks.

The Detective was good but so into himself, the empathy to make him brilliant was not there and he came across as a hypocrite to me.  If you don't believe in psychics, shut eyes then why call on them, but really he was just using them for his own gain.  Most of his attention was on an old case of the girl that was missing, I enjoyed this overall but to many questions in the end, just why, I felt this was left hanging and got us engaged for nothing.

I hadn't  heard the saying Shut Eye before, they are known for conning people, it's more for entertainment, seeing visions from tarot cards, pictures etc.  This also came across as dumb for me once they said the police used a gentleman.  Police surely would choose better.

Even when I do not enjoy a story I can understand why others do, unfortunately in this one, it completely missed the mark for me.  I won't recommend and doubt I will give this author another go actually.