I liked the story, and I liked that I figured out who the murderer was around the same time as the detective main character and not sooner. The crimes were sufficiently creepy to keep me interested, and I actually learned some things. What I didn't like was how the author keeps conversations going by having the speakers not understand each other. For intelligent people, they're all discouragingly slow on the uptake and apparently incapable of remembering a comment made only a few sentences earlier. They are constantly asking each other, basically, "what did you say?" It got tiresome.Also I could've done without all the coffee drinking. For God's sake, I get it: Gurney's a detective who likes coffee. If I'd been reading this book instead of listening to it, I'd have put a tick next to each mention, to keep pace with the author's tic.What I didn't like: the rampant misogyny. Female characters are straight out of Psychopathis Sexualis, or they are aging know-it-alls who raised tragically messed-up men, or they are withholding and suspicious, or they are nosy, or they are "modern," meaning sexually assertive but basically foolish and vain. The lone positive female character appears at the beginning of the book for precisely no reason other than to make Gurney look smart. That said ... I'd read Verdon again. I'd give him another chance to drink less coffee, make better women characters, make people better conversationalists. Shut Your Eyes Tight is a solid page-turner. This book improves on John Verdon's previous novel, Think of a Number, in almost every way. For one, the clues are much better hidden and will keep you guessing as to what the real reason behind the murders are. Also, the relationship between Dave Gurney with his wife seems much more fleshed out than before, when it just seemed like a pointless addition to an otherwise good mystery. (This isn't to say his wife isn't still annoying. Considering how wonderful Gurney thinks she is, she sure is a remarkably selfish woman.) The ending isn't that great--even though it's been solidly set up, it still seems to come out of nowhere--but otherwise, this was a great read. Highly recommended for fans of gritty mysteries.
Do You like book Gözlerini Sımsıkı Kapat (2012)?
This is another one of the best I've read. I love you, Verdon.
—Cocopuffs82
Mucho mejor que el primer libro, ya soy fan de míster Gurney.
—nonni31
