07/23/2018 Plot twists take precedence over psychological depth in this uninspired thriller from British author Pinborough (Behind Her Eyes). Single mother Lisa Buckridge, who works for a small recruiting company and lives in fear of someone from her past, devotes herself to her 16-year-old daughter, Ava. In turn, Ava feels smothered by her mother’s monitoring of her life and keeps from Lisa both her decision to lose her virginity to a casual boyfriend—and her obsession with a man she’s only communicated with online. The dark history that Lisa was covering up ends up exposed after Ava, a gifted swimmer, rescues a toddler who fell into a river at a fair in Elleston, England. In her relief at Ava’s safety, Lisa forgets to shield her face from a newspaper photographer, and the published picture leads to a revelation that shatters her connection with Ava. By pulling more than one plot punch, Pinborough weakens the impact of a story line that lacks the originality of her best work, the Thomas Bond novels. Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates (U.K.). (Sept.)
[A] tension-driven page-turner… The anxiety builds relentlessly... Cross Her Heart is unapologetically feminist, driven by the strong relationships between women, for better or worse. This will be an easy sell for fans of all domestic suspense… especially fans of Liane Moriarty and Megan Abbott.
The plotting in Cross Her Heart is calm, cool and beautifully orchestrated—until, WHAM, you marvel at what Pinborough has just tossed in your lap. There are plenty of I-can’t-believe-she-just-did-that moments that will have you sitting straight up in your chair. What a terrific ride.
[Pinborough’s] work invariably possesses a surreal, dreamlike quality... The juggling of multiple viewpoints shows great elan, and the author’s storytelling is as sure-footed as ever.
Behind Her Eyes is a dark, electrifying page-turner with a corker of an ending. Sarah Pinborough is about to become your new obsession.
The season’s twistiest thriller…Like all powerful over-the-counter drugs, Behind Her Eyes deserves its own warning label... mindblowing, genre-bending, breakthroughpsychological thriller…avoid any contact with the growing buzz concerning the novel’s ingenious, to-die-for twist.
Pinborough shrewdly transforms a romantic suspense novel into an eerie thriller calculated to creep you out…Pinborough keeps us guessing about just who’s manipulating whom – until the ending reveals that we’ve been wholly complicit in this terrifying mind game.
New York Times Book Review on Behind Her Eyes
If Behind Her Eyes isn’t the thriller of the year, there is no justice. Hugely entertaining, utterly compelling and the ending will leave you reeling.
The strongest, most unsettling thriller of the year, with a final twist destined to provoke arguments for years to come. Read it now before someone spoils the ending for you.
A dark and compulsive read.
The second twist turns the creepy factor up to 11 and is a total wrong-footer. #WTFthatending indeed – the sort that makes you go back to the beginning to check if it all pans out. And it does.
The Guardian on Behind Her Eyes
A masterpiece of suspense...A rare joy...Creates a sense of disorientation and dread that is highly satisfying. But it is with the plot, so tight and yet also intricate, that Pinborough shines. No detail or character is extraneous.
Booklist (starred review) on Behind Her Eyes
Cross Her Heart cements [Pinborough’s] reputation as a storyteller of immense power… As the plot unfolds, twists and shocks jump out unexpectedly, making this a page turning thriller difficult to put down… An addictive read. You’ll be hooked from the first chapter.
A pacy, twisty thriller that will hook you with its first few pages.
2018-06-18 In Pinborough's (Behind Her Eyes, 2018, etc.) twisty, decade-spanning, multivoiced thriller, everyone has secrets: teenager Ava; her mom, Lisa; and Lisa's best friend, Marilyn.On the surface, all three women fulfill the roles expected of them, and they support and love one another, but they don't truly know each other. Ava, a competitive swimmer, is finishing up her exams and sneaking around with her first boyfriend while overly protective mom Lisa is about to clinch a big contract at work—and maybe even go on a date with a handsome millionaire client. Marilyn has been dealing with headaches at home, but she's still game for a shopping trip to outfit Lisa for that big date. Soon, however, they will discover that someone else in their lives has a secret much darker than any they carry. This person is a murderer who is stalking a childhood friend who, they believe, betrayed their deepest trust. There are a lot of plot twists and reveals within the novel, some of which are surprising, some of which are expected. Pinborough weaves several different time periods and several different narrative voices to create layers of character and conflict, but the characters are types often found in psychological thrillers, and while their problems are often relatable, at least at first, they aren't particularly engaging. It's clear which decisions, and which silences, are going to get them into trouble, and yet, as people do, they carry on anyway. The one element that sets Pinborough's novel apart from the slew of similar thrillers is the emphasis on female empowerment and the power of female relationships. These women need no one to save them, no knights in shining armor or handsome cops. As Marilyn succinctly puts it, "Fuck. That. Shit."Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will find this comfortingly familiar despite (or maybe because of?) the shocks and turns along the way.
Swift and entertaining… Cross Her Heart has a welcome sisterhood-is-powerful vibe; it’s a novel that defines women by their relationships with one another, even as their creator is ruthlessly shoving them into position for the next twist.” — New York Times Book Review
“The amazing Sarah Pinborough has done it again with this brilliant, pacy story of lies and deceit.” — B.A. Paris, author of Behind Closed Doors
“The past decade of crime fiction has been remarkable for the huge number of novels… featuring women... Some have been excellent, but most have been indistinguishable... Critics have spent much time searching for well-written, original examples. Sarah Pinborough passes the test. She… is adept at conjuring the unexpected.” — Times (London)
“The plotting in Cross Her Heart is calm, cool and beautifully orchestrated—until, WHAM, you marvel at what Pinborough has just tossed in your lap. There are plenty of I-can’t-believe-she-just-did-that moments that will have you sitting straight up in your chair. What a terrific ride.” — Meg Gardiner, author of Unsub
“As the narrative weaves among these three… characters, readers are pulled deeper into their connected webs of secrets and lies… Fans of Pinborough’s smash debut, Behind Her Eyes , won’t be disappointed… [This is] a fast-paced, twisty thriller... Devotees of B.A. Paris and Ruth Ware will be fascinated.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“[A] tension-driven page-turner… The anxiety builds relentlessly... Cross Her Heart is unapologetically feminist, driven by the strong relationships between women, for better or worse. This will be an easy sell for fans of all domestic suspense… especially fans of Liane Moriarty and Megan Abbott.” — Booklist
“The one element that sets Pinborough’s novel apart from similar thrillers is the emphasis on female empowerment and the power of female relationships.… Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will find this comfortingly familiar despite (or maybe because of?) the shocks and turns along the way.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[Pinborough’s] work invariably possesses a surreal, dreamlike quality... The juggling of multiple viewpoints shows great elan, and the author’s storytelling is as sure-footed as ever.” — The Guardian
“A masterclass in artful misdirection… brilliantly rendered and utterly harrowing. To say any more would be to give Pinborough’s high stakes game away: suffice to say those twists keep coming, each one a perfectly controlled explosion, right to the mesmerising final pages.” — Irish Times
“The first act lays the groundwork… But then Pinborough…puts her foot down, and throws more twists and turns into the road than Switzerland’s Grimsel Pass. Once the first reveal hits you in the face, you’ll be lucky if you can put the book down to go to bed.” — Independent (UK)
“Dark, unflinching and disturbing… Heart-breaking in places, twisty as hell. I’d like to claim that I guessed the ending but Sarah stayed one step ahead of me all the way through. Pacy, unnerving, addictive read with a dark, dark heart.” — C. L. Taylor, author of The Missing
“Cross Her Heart cements [Pinborough’s] reputation as a storyteller of immense power… As the plot unfolds, twists and shocks jump out unexpectedly, making this a page turning thriller difficult to put down… An addictive read. You’ll be hooked from the first chapter.” — CrimeSquad.com
“A pacy, twisty thriller that will hook you with its first few pages.” — Stylist (UK)
“Sarah Pinborough does it again with this disturbing descent into a heart of darkness. Highly recommended.” — Cass Hunter, author of The After Wife
“A dark and compulsive read.” — Woman and Home (UK)
“Behind Her Eyes is a cunning puzzle-box of a novel, a masterfully engineered thriller that brings to mind Hitchcock at his most uncanny, and Rendell at her most relentless. Lean and mean, dark and disturbing, this is the kind of novel that takes over your life. Sarah Pinborough slays.” — Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman
“Behind Her Eyes is a dark, electrifying page-turner with a corker of an ending. Sarah Pinborough is about to become your new obsession.” — Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fool Me Once
“You should read Behind Her Eyes …It’s bloody brilliant.” — Stephen King
“Pinborough shrewdly transforms a romantic suspense novel into an eerie thriller calculated to creep you out…Pinborough keeps us guessing about just who’s manipulating whom – until the ending reveals that we’ve been wholly complicit in this terrifying mind game.” — New York Times Book Review on Behind Her Eyes
“The season’s twistiest thriller …Like all powerful over-the-counter drugs, Behind Her Eyes deserves its own warning label... mindblowing, genre-bending, breakthrough psychological thriller…avoid any contact with the growing buzz concerning the novel’s ingenious, to-die-for twist .” — BookPage
“A masterpiece of suspense...A rare joy. ..Creates a sense of disorientation and dread that is highly satisfying. But it is with the plot, so tight and yet also intricate, that Pinborough shines. No detail or character is extraneous.” — Booklist (starred review) on Behind Her Eyes
“The strongest, most unsettling thriller of the year, with a final twist destined to provoke arguments for years to come . Read it now before someone spoils the ending for you.” — John Connolly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Charlie Parker novels
“Behind Her Eyes is as twisty as a steep mountain road, and just as nerve-wracking. The shocks just keep coming around those blind curves.” — Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series
“Twisty psychological thriller…Pinborough will keep even veteran genre readers guessing.” — Publishers Weekly on Behind Her Eyes
“A deliciously dark love story that will keep you guessing. Shocking, gleeful, and thrilling, welcome to the world of Sarah Pinborough.” — Sarah Langan, three-time Bran Stoker Award winning novelist on Behind Her Eyes
“If Behind Her Eyes isn’t the thriller of the year, there is no justice. Hugely entertaining, utterly compelling and the ending will leave you reeling.” — Sarah Lotz, author of The Three
“The second twist turns the creepy factor up to 11 and is a total wrong-footer. #WTFthatending indeed – the sort that makes you go back to the beginning to check if it all pans out. And it does.” — The Guardian on Behind Her Eyes
The past decade of crime fiction has been remarkable for the huge number of novels… featuring women... Some have been excellent, but most have been indistinguishable... Critics have spent much time searching for well-written, original examples. Sarah Pinborough passes the test. She… is adept at conjuring the unexpected.
The amazing Sarah Pinborough has done it again with this brilliant, pacy story of lies and deceit.
The first act lays the groundwork… But then Pinborough…puts her foot down, and throws more twists and turns into the road than Switzerland’s Grimsel Pass. Once the first reveal hits you in the face, you’ll be lucky if you can put the book down to go to bed.
Swift and entertaining… Cross Her Heart has a welcome sisterhood-is-powerful vibe; it’s a novel that defines women by their relationships with one another, even as their creator is ruthlessly shoving them into position for the next twist.
New York Times Book Review
A masterclass in artful misdirection… brilliantly rendered and utterly harrowing. To say any more would be to give Pinborough’s high stakes game away: suffice to say those twists keep coming, each one a perfectly controlled explosion, right to the mesmerising final pages.
Behind Her Eyes is a cunning puzzle-box of a novel, a masterfully engineered thriller that brings to mind Hitchcock at his most uncanny, and Rendell at her most relentless. Lean and mean, dark and disturbing, this is the kind of novel that takes over your life. Sarah Pinborough slays.”
A deliciously dark love story that will keep you guessing. Shocking, gleeful, and thrilling, welcome to the world of Sarah Pinborough.
Sarah Pinborough does it again with this disturbing descent into a heart of darkness. Highly recommended.
Behind Her Eyes is as twisty as a steep mountain road, and just as nerve-wracking. The shocks just keep coming around those blind curves.
You should read Behind Her Eyes …It’s bloody brilliant.”
Dark, unflinching and disturbing… Heart-breaking in places, twisty as hell. I’d like to claim that I guessed the ending but Sarah stayed one step ahead of me all the way through. Pacy, unnerving, addictive read with a dark, dark heart.
[A] tension-driven page-turner… The anxiety builds relentlessly... Cross Her Heart is unapologetically feminist, driven by the strong relationships between women, for better or worse. This will be an easy sell for fans of all domestic suspense… especially fans of Liane Moriarty and Megan Abbott.
The past decade of crime fiction has been remarkable for the huge number of novels… featuring women... Some have been excellent, but most have been indistinguishable... Critics have spent much time searching for well-written, original examples. Sarah Pinborough passes the test. She… is adept at conjuring the unexpected.
“A masterpiece of suspense...A rare joy. ..Creates a sense of disorientation and dread that is highly satisfying. But it is with the plot, so tight and yet also intricate, that Pinborough shines. No detail or character is extraneous.
Booklist on Behind Her Eyes