Never Close Your Eyes

by Emma Burstall

[Leah]

Evie, Nic and Becca are three friends who have joined a writing group and all three of them are in with a chance of winning the national competition their group entered into. Trouble is, all three girls are hiding secrets and tragedies. Thirty years ago, one of the girls did something so horrific she had to change her name and entire identity to have any chance of living a normal life; there’s also denied alcoholism among the group as well as a husband with a very wrong secret fetish. Finally there’s a marriage break-up that threatens to ruin one of the women. Can the three women’s friendships stay in tact through all of the troubles?

I absolutely loved Emma Burstall’s debut novel, Gym and Slimline, and looked forward to reading her new book Never Close Your Eyes. Having written such a fantastic debut, I did wonder if Emma could manage it again with her follow-up book. Not only was Never Close Your Eyes a fantastic read, it was also better than Gym and Slimline which was no slouch.

I thought the storyline was excellent and before learning exactly which woman it was who had commited such a terrible crime I was guessing all the while. We do actually learn early on which of the three friends it is, but I’d hate to spoil it by saying which it actually is. We actually read of the crime right at the beginning of the book and I had my eyes wide in shock at how brutal it came across. Yet, Emma writes it so well I could also feel sympathy for Dawn and I could see what drove her to do such a dispicable act. Not only that but I was astounded to find that the character who committed the crime was a fantastic and likeable character. Huge kudos there to Emma for managing that.

That, for me, is the main storyline as it comes back into play in a huge way when a man named Gary threatens to expose Dawn’s new life. However there’s also other minor plot-lines weaving their way throughout the book making it, really, into one huge web of a storyline. As much as I liked Nic, I knew from the very beginning she was an alcoholic, we just needed Nic herself to acknowledge the fact and do something about it. For a while I wondered if she ever would and I willed her to get a hold of herself and realise she was seriously harming her son, Dominic. Evie’s storyline of her marriage break-up was more of a minor thing. I think for Evie her main storyline was that of her daughter Freya’s who was instant messaging a guy named Cal. Trouble is, Cal lied to Freya and misled her to believe he was a teenager when actually he’s a middle-aged man. Again, I guessed who Cal really was but, for me, that wasn’t the point of the matter. The point was the suspense building as Cal and Freya plotted their ways to be together. It was the climax to the two’s relationship that was the real story here. I thought Emma Burstall handled it immensely and really got into the mind of a troubled 13-year-old desperate for love. I could see why Freya loved Cal despite the fact he was miles older than her. It wasn’t that she loved him, it was that he showed her love. There were also a few more storylines running parallel with all the others the main one including Zelda and Carol, two sisters who seemingly at first have nothing to do with the three friends bar Carol being part of the same writing group and Zelda being a psychic, but there’s actually another reason those two are prominent to the book.

Now, reading all of that you would expect Emma Burstall was trying too hard with so many different threads to follow and so many characters to keep an eye on, but Emma manages it well and I found it easy linking all of the stories and characters together. There’s actually a large list at the beginning of the book telling us who everyone is and I panicked, thinking I’d forget who everyone was after 50 pages but actually it was totally the opposite. I had no trouble whatsoever remembering all of the characters and how they related to the book.

I’d have to say that while all the characters were prominent to the book I thought it was ultimately the three friends who were the ‘main’ characters – not to mention Dawn who is integral to the whole book, of course. The girls’ friendship didn’t seem at all fake and came across incredibly well despite all of the secrets they hid from each other. I liked Evie as a whole but thought her relationship with Steve was incredibly annoying, as I just couldn’t take to him. I also thought she was a bit harsh on Bill, her neighbour, calling him arrogant when I thought it came across that he was just trying to help. Despite everything Nic was going through I thought she was thoroughly enjoyable. Yes, she’s in denial about a lot of things but the fact is, she comes through in the end and that was the best part about her for me. Surprisingly I found that Becca was my favourite of the three friends. I know she moaned a lot about her husband Tom but deep down I knew she truly loved him. I felt that of the three I could relate to Becca most. She really was a nice character and I enjoyed the parts that included her. I actually really liked Dawn. What she did was awful but I could see why she did. I don’t condone it but I understood, if that makes sense. I thought she was a brilliant character, incredibly complex, and her transformation was outstanding.

The only sticking point for me was the ending. Don’t get me wrong, it was a sufficient ending, but it also left a few questions particularly regarding Becca’s relationship with her husband Tom. It seemed like an ending that should have read “to be continued” and would definitely pave the way for a sequel should Emma Burstall feel that way inclined.

Apart from that minor question mark I thought the whole book was perfect. Emma Burstall is an outstanding writer who doesn’t flinch away from unsettling subjects. She dealt with everything fantastically and in a very real way. Similar to Marian Keyes who also takes difficult subjects and manages to make them readable. I really found Never Close Your Eyes difficult to put down and I raced through the book in a bid to finish it and find out if everything would work out. A true contender for book of the year as far as I’m concerned. Truly outstanding.