Alice Close Your Eyes

by Averil Dean

Overview

With haunting prose and deft psychological insight, Averil Dean spins a chilling story that explores the dark corners of obsession—love, pain and revenge. 

Ten years ago, someone ruined Alice Croft's life. Now, she has a chance to right that wrong—and she thinks she's found the perfect man to carry out her plan. 

After watching him for weeks, she breaks into Jack Calabrese's house to collect the evidence that will confirm her hopes. When Jack comes home unexpectedly, Alice hides in the closet, fearing for her life. But upon finding her, Jack is strangely calm, solicitous…and intrigued. 

That night is the start of a dark and intense attraction, and soon Alice finds herself drawn into a labyrinth of terrifying surrender to a man who is more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. As their relationship spirals toward a breaking point, Alice starts to see just how deep Jack's secrets run—and how deadly they could be. 

"Crisply written, wickedly suspenseful….[Alice Close Your Eyes] reads like a dark, sensual nightmare, and it is the reader who won't want to close her eyes until all of the book's tantalizing secrets are finally revealed. Don't miss it." 

—David Bell, author of Never Come Back and Cemetery Girl

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459295148
Publisher:	MIRA Books
Publication date:	02/15/2016
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	464 KB

About the Author

Averil Dean was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She left school at sixteen and went on to sell donuts, goldfish and power tools before answering the call of the cubicle, where she spent the next twenty years building up her tolerance for burnt coffee and the dot-matrix printer. She left this dream life in 2012 when she moved with her husband and the youngest of their three kids to Lacey, Washington and now devotes her time to writing and photography. Visit her at www.averildean.com

Editorial Reviews

11/11/2013
Set primarily on Washington’s Vashon Island in Puget Sound, Dean’s first novel opens with Alice Croft breaking into Jack Calabrese’s home in order to steal his box of mementoes—a type of box, she asserts, “everyone has.” She doesn’t know Jack, but wants to learn if he’s the kind of man who will kill for her and, when he finds her in his house, the two soon discover they share an interest in sadomasochism. Alice and Jack target a potential murder victim, who remains unidentified until near the end; vignettes show the reader Alice’s horrific childhood, which may or may not have had a direct effect on her need to kill. Few will be surprised that the crime plot takes a backseat to Alice’s sex addiction and Jack’s increasingly abusive behavior toward her. This lurid combination of erotica and twisted psychopathy will not be to every taste. Agent: Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Dean's debut is an absorbing, deeply disturbing, darkly erotic psychological thriller of tragedy and revenge. Fans of...Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)... will love this disquieting novel." –Library Journal, Starred Review

"Debut author Dean pens a haunting, intense novel... Taut pacing and skilled storytelling support a breathtaking plot... It's scorching, disturbing, and tragic but well-crafted and impressively written." –Kirkus Reviews

"A cross between steamy exotic romance and spooky thriller, Alice Close Your Eyes will have readers on the edge of their seats. Promising newcomer Dean spins a web out of the deepest human obsessions ... to reveal a haunting story. ...Dean's tricky tale of psychological romantic suspense will leave readers wanting more." -Booklist

"ALICE CLOSE YOUR EYES is a crisply written, wickedly suspenseful debut. The novel reads like a dark, sensual nightmare, and it is the reader who won't want to close her eyes until all of the book's tantalizing secrets are finally revealed. Don't miss it."
-David Bell, author of Never Come Back

"Dean's marvelous debut is dark, gritty and relentless in its graphic pursuit of Alice's self-proclaimed justice. The story is so intense that the ending is a bit unexpected. This psychological thriller boarders on the erotic as it draws the reader into its web." –RT Magazine, 4 stars

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2014
In the decade since she was orphaned, Alice Croft has been busy plotting her own true crime drama, but she is caught red-handed by the unsuspecting man she's been stalking, whom she's chosen to star unwillingly in this drama. Jack Calabrese, having spent time in prison for a crime he only wishes he'd committed against his wife, now confronts a beautiful thief, a woman he will not report because he's not finished with her. As the plot unfolds, readers will wonder: Who are the villains, and who are the victims? VERDICT Dean's debut is an absorbing, deeply disturbing, darkly erotic psychological thriller of tragedy and revenge. Fans of Agatha Christie, Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), and Thomas Harris (The Silence of the Lambs) will love this disquieting novel.—Debbie Haupt, St. Charles City-Cty. Lib. Dist., St Peters, MO

Library Journal

2013-11-25
Since aging out of the foster-care system, Alice has been looking for a man who can help her exact revenge on the person she blames for the bleak direction of her life, but finding him will lead them both on a path of obsession, pain and violence. Alice has quietly tracked a man she thinks might be a good candidate to help her seek vengeance for the tragedy that ruined her life. She breaks into his house to find more evidence, but as she's exploring Jack Calabrese's house, he catches her in the act. Angry but also intrigued, Jack secures her contact information then pursues her, and the two wind up in a relationship that combines a spectrum of romantic, obsessive and dangerous emotions. Alice's vengeful intentions are well-met in Jack, but her schemes have always been theoretical, and now that their fulfillment is a possibility, she may need to revisit her plans and her past. Jack is everything she's ever wanted, which could be a sign that she has to rethink her life, her desires and her salvation. Debut author Dean pens a haunting, intense novel that is at once psychologically compelling and emotionally unsettling. Taut pacing and skilled storytelling support a breathtaking plot and characters that are heartbreaking and horrifying yet somehow still accessible and sympathetic. With troubling psychological and sexual violence, this book is not for the faint of heart. It's scorching, disturbing, and tragic but well-crafted and impressively written.

Kirkus Reviews