Those Empty Eyes

When 17-year-old Alexandra Quinlan is the only survivor of the brutal murder of her family, she becomes the main suspect and dubbed 'Empty Eyes' by the press. Told in different timelines, the book follows Alex's life away from the spotlight and her struggle to identify the person who murdered her family in cold blood.

This family murder storyline pulled me right ... but then Donlea begins to add a surprising number of subplots into the mix and things get a bit chaotic. These subplots felt distracting, underdeveloped, and seemed to come out of nowhere, making the story unnecessarily convoluted and much more complicated than it had to be. 

Those Empty Eyes was a messier read than I had hoped for and falls into the 'good but not great' category of thrillers. I enjoyed seeing several strong female characters and there is good tension that kept me focused on the main plot, but I would have enjoyed the subplots more if they were better developed and introduced more smoothly into the main plot. 

The main murder storyline was intriguing, and the twist was decent, but the convoluted feel of the book and the number of coincidences that readers are required to accept detracted from my overall enjoyment. That said, I have enjoyed Donlea's previous books and will look forward to reading what he is writing next.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Kensington Books for my advanced digital copy via NetGalley which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Charlie Donlea

Genre: Suspense

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Kensington Books

First Published: March 28, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: 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 to do 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