Don’t Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon

Lonely Together

Don’t Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon is a marvellous contemporary psychological read that will have you glued and guessing from the start. I just could not put it down.

The novel is written from two points of view – twin sisters, Sarah in the first person and Robin in the third person. The action alternates between childhood and present day.

The main theme is that of messed up childhoods having far reaching affects into adulthood. The actions of adults behind supposedly closed doors are seen and heard by young eyes and ears. Messed up adults project their messy lives onto their children who suffer in both the long and short term.

There are blended families, domestic abuse, homophobia, self harm, obsessive compulsive behaviour, drugs and alcohol themes within the novel. All are sensitively done, eliciting sympathy from the reader.

There is a hint of menace that gets the reader questioning – who is it? What do they want? Why now? Certainly an edge of the seat read at times.

Guilt and forgiveness go hand in hand. The reader understands the cause and the need to forgive.

Over the whole novel, there is love. The love of a sister. The love for a family. Love remains even when everything else is torn apart.

There is also loss. Loss affects us all in different ways and this can be seen within the novel.

Don’t Close Your Eyes was definitely a compulsive read that created varying emotions within me. It was cleverly constructed and I shall be looking out for more by Holly Seddon.

I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

JULIA WILSON

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “Don’t Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon

  1. I bet this would be a great audiobook, as well.
    Sounds great, Julia

    Holly is a new-to-me author, so I’ll be checking this out!
    Have a great weekend, ladies!

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