Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger is a tension filled read that will keep you guessing.
Adele is struggling to raise two teens after her husband goes on the run rather than be arrested for embezzling money from his company. When her son comes to her, proposing she enter a contest that could result in her winning a million dollars, she is soon off to a remote island for an extreme game of hide and seek, but things don’t turn out the way she had hoped.
I really enjoyed Close Your Eyes and Count to 10, but I felt like the story didn’t really match the book description, so that was a bit disappointing.
The book is written from multiple points of view, some first person from the point of view of a character, and some in 3rd person purportedly from the game’s perspective, which felt a bit odd at times. I generally enjoy a book written from multiple points of view, but I almost felt like there were too many points of view in this book.
The prologue really started on a high note and pulled me into the story immediately. Unfortunately it slowed down relatively quickly after that beginning. With so many points of view the chapters were relatively short, so this kept the story moving at a decent pace. I did feel like the story started to drag a bit in the middle, but happily not for long.
I think what made this interesting to me was that the main characters were all influencers, and not only were they competing for the prize from this game, but they were also all basically competitors in real life, competing for followers and views.
In all, my disappointments with this book were fairly minor, and I think many thriller readers will enjoy it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 will be available on February 25 2025.
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