Aren't we all hot?...at least in a menopause way? Do you need a good steamy romance for the beach or pool? I recommend Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. This was actually released in 2017 but I recently stumbled upon it in paperback in the “popular” section of my local Target and it looked intriguing. I’m so glad I found it. It is definitely a page turner and full of mystery, suspense, and hot romance.
This psychological thriller is set in London and written by an English author. I always find English novels fascinating with their slight variations of the English language a little different than our American English. I would describe this novel as “Hitchcock” meets “Gone Girl" with a side of Tabasco.
The central character, Louise, a divorcée, finds herself in a strange love triangle. She meets a charming man in a pub and they make an emotional connection ending with a passionate kiss. Much to her chagrin, when she goes into work the next day to meet her new boss it is none other than the mysterious man she met the night before, David, who turns out to be married, of course. They have some awkward moments but he apologizes and seems to be a genuinely nice man that she just can’t stop thinking about.
Meanwhile, a couple of days later, she literally bumps into a woman on the street who turns out to be David’s wife, Adele, whom she recognizes from the picture on his desk. Adele is sweet, though lonely, and asks Louise to join her for coffee. Before you know it, they are fast friends and Adele asks Louise to keep their friendship a secret from David because “he doesn’t like to mix friendships with work.” So Louise finds herself being drawn to the handsome David and his charms, while having a genuine friendship with his wife, who seems to be a woman in need, in the middle of a very controlling marriage. It gets much stickier from there, but I’ll let you read it for yourself. It turns out there are many secrets in the marriage which you’re about to discover.
The cover of the book notes that this was made into a Netflix series by the same name which was released in February. After reading the book, I couldn’t wait to binge-watch the series and was impressed by how well they followed the book. There were just some minor changes that didn’t affect the integrity of the story. (I’m one of those people who just hates it when a movie is different than the book). I highly advise reading the book before you watch the series. There are just some aspects of the plot that are hard to convey on the screen and the book gives you a better perspective of the characters and their idiosyncrasies. The series is a compliment to the book, but if you watch the series without reading the book, it can drag a little while they’re trying to set up the introduction of the characters. On top of that, the series ending is a little hard to understand if you haven’t read the book. Spoiler alert!…do NOT search this online or the surprise ending will be ruined for you.
The Netflix series actors are Simona Brown (Louise), Tom Bateman from “Murder on the Orient Express," and Eve Hewson (Adele). I haven’t seen any of them before but they were all superb in their parts and very well cast for the characters. On top of that, Tom Bateman has a strong Scottish accent (at least he does in this series) and who doesn’t like the sound of that? PEARRR-fect, right? Tune in and you’ll know what I mean, wink wink. The series is really steamy so make sure the grandkids are out of the room for this one!
I hope you enjoy this book and series as much as I did.
Wishing you all the best in entertainment,
Hot (as in hot-flash) Nana Alison