When his daughter disappears, he’s convinced that it’s all his fault. How can he live with himself, knowing he put his little girl in danger?

That’s the dilemma faced by Matthew Hill in Teresa Driscoll’s book, Close Your Eyes. But nothing is as it seems. At least, not at first.

The story follows private investigator Matthew Hill, his wife, and his police officer friend Melanie Sanders as they try to discover what happened to 8 year old, Amelie Hill. She was shopping with her mother, Sally, and really wanted to try on a certain dress, but Sally didn’t let her. When Sally took a phone call outside, Amelie disappeared soon thereafter.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. The guilt kicks in, then the shame, then the petrifying fear over the possibility that you will never see your child again.

Most of the story focuses on the investigation surrounding what happened to Amelie, but later on, the perspectives shift to focus on a young woman, Olivia, and her daughter Chloe. It’s revealed that Olivia was seeking out Matthew to help her find her missing mother who she hasn’t seen in years.

But then, it’s revealed that Olivia’s mentally unwell father is the one who took Amelie away. Her father brings them to a remote cabin, intending to ‘save’ them from the outside world. He’s hyper-religious, believing that God is talking to him and telling him to do this.

In a shocking twist, Olivia’s father grabs his shotgun and makes Amelie come outside the cabin with him. Inside, Olivia and Chloe hear gunshots, convincing them that he has killed Amelie.

Meanwhile, Matthew, Sally, and Melanie keep trying to bring attention to the case. Matthew is a bit unhinged, rightfully so, but he starts thinking that the parents of a young boy he believes he indirectly killed are involved in Amelie’s disappearance. Matthew believes that they want revenge over the death of his son, and this is his primary focus throughout most of the novel. He is absolutely convinced, so much so, he threatens the mother, Dawn Meadows, and forces his way into her house trying to find Amelie.

Of course, this all angers Melanie who is trying to conduct a proper investigation. Although she understands where Matthew is coming from, he is impending her investigation and she nearly loses her position as a result of his actions.

In the end, they figure out that it’s Olivia’s father who is the culprit. This part is a bit finicky, however. Matthew mentions Olivia’s name once, as well as her father’s name and occupation, and Melanie immediately deduces that he is the culprit. It’s a bit unrealistic, but this is a mystery novel so I’m willing to let it slide.

Let me talk about the book as a whole for a moment. Overall, it was one of those books that took a while to get interested in as you read. Of course, the main focus on the novel–Amelie’s disappearance–happens relatively quickly. But then, it feels the book is just slogging through until it gets interesting again, which doesn’t happen until Olivia is introduced fully into the story.

It was also a bit boring to read about Melanie’s investigation because, in the end, the police were hardly moving along with the investigation. I honestly feel as if Melanie’s POV chapters could have been omitted altogether; I didn’t feel personally invested in her story.

As for Matthew and Sally, I sympathized the most with Sally. As a mother with a child of my own, I would have to get sedated if my child suddenly went missing. That sense of anxiety was palpable whenever Sally’s chapters came along, and I found that realistic.

Matthew, however, was far too focused on the Meadows family. When he was younger, he chased a young boy out of a store due to theft and the boy tangled himself up in a live wired fence or gate, ending in his death. Ever since then, Matthew blamed himself for the death. Whether that’s warranted or not, it’s up to the reader to decide.

I think it was a bit of a stretch to continuously focus on the Meadows family throughout the story, though. I understand they were the red herring, but realistically, why would a grieving mother kidnap an innocent child and inflict more pain and suffering on another family? This point is touched upon in the novel. The only reason why the Meadows family were viable suspects is because the mother, Dawn Meadows, had sent intimidating notes to Matthew over the years.

So it made sense in Matthew’s mind, I suppose, to wonder if Dawn was still angry over her son’s death and wanted to make him pay. However, I think it’s pretty clear that the Meadows were not involved at all.

Instead, it’s a completely uninvolved family responsible for Amelie’s disappearance. As mentioned before, Olivia’s father is a religious fanatic who wanted to protect Olivia, and then Chloe, from the world. He would go to the extremes, like making them wash their hands multiple times a day while they verbally atoned for their sins.

It’s later revealed that Olivia’s father had been killing the people who he perceived as threats to Olivia and Chloe’s lives. That including his wife–Olivia’s mother. And that also included Olivia’s boyfriend, Daniel, who was also Chloe’s father. He also killed one of Olivia’s friends who had encouraged her to break free of her father’s clutches. Three people killed by this one man–and it makes me wonder why or how the police wouldn’t have gotten involved or suspicious?

Olivia’s father kidnapped Amelie because she looked similar to Olivia in her youth and thus he wanted to save her, as well. But later, when he leads her out of the cabin to shoot her, he can’t do it while facing her, so he wants her to run. In that way, he can shoot her in the back and feel less guilty about it. Amelie refuses, so instead, he shoots the air, ties her up, and puts her in the trunk of his car.

The police later swarm the cabin once Melanie puts together that Olivia’s father was responsible for everything. Olivia and Chloe are saved, Olivia’s father is arrested, and then Amelie is found in the back of the trunk.

At the story’s end, it’s revealed that Amelie, too, wants to become a private investigator to her parent’s hesitance. And then Amelie reveals what truly happened to her at the cabin, explaining how Olivia’s father was unwilling to shoot her while she stared at his eyes.

I was very tense reading these final chapters, as I really didn’t want Amelie to be dead in the end. I suppose this was the mother in me poking through, as I really hate to hear stories of children dying at an adult’s hand. So I’m very glad that Amelie ended up fine in the end.

The writing style of the story is alright. As I alluded to before, it wasn’t too enthralling. It was lukewarm at best, but it did a good job at ramping up the tension near the end.

I think my biggest gripe with the story is that there are multiple red herrings being planted and it’s pretty obvious that they are red herrings. For example, in the story the police get a tip about a body being found in the river near where Amelie disappeared. But it’s pretty obvious that it’s not related to Amelie’s disappearance.

Sure enough, it ends up being something else entirely. And the readers most likely knew that.

Because of this, I feel like a lot of the book could have been edited out as these little things served only to make the book longer, but not more substantial. 

I also had a problem with most of Melanie’s investigation. She hardly did much to advance the investigation and it was frustrating at some points because it felt like the police were truly going nowhere. So I found myself thinking, what is the point of Melanie’s POV anyway if she’s not doing much besides investigating the red herrings, holding press conferences, and dealing with the PR nightmare with Matthew butting into the investigation?

It would have been better if Melanie was more proactive in actually finding Amelie.

I also think that the idea of this random man kidnapping a girl and then being hesitant to kill her is all a bit strange. We learn he’s already killed three people before, one of them being a young girl who was his daughter’s friend. So it’s a bit unbelievable to think he would suddenly have issues killing this little girl, but who knows? He was an unlikable character through and through.

In this case, the ending fully saved the story for me. I would have hated Amelie dying in the end, so her getting saved and returned to her parents was a big plus for me. However, the other details were drawbacks that hampered my full enjoyment of this book, which is a shame because the premise is pretty interesting!

I’d give this one a 3.5/4 stars out of 5. 

Happy reading!