When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser

When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser ISBN-13: 9780764234446 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Bethany House Released: October 5, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
There is one story that novelist Josephine Bourdillon shirked from writing. And now she may never have a chance. Trapped in her memories, she lies in a coma.

The man who put her there is just as paralyzed. Former soldier Henry Hughes failed to complete the kill. What's more: he never received full payment--funds that would ensure a life-saving surgery for his critically-ill son.

As detectives investigate disturbing fan letters, a young but not-so-naïve Paige Bourdillon turns to her mother's turbulent past for answers. She was young during The Awful Year, when her mother received a fan letter that devastated her from a woman claiming that Josephine's novels had caused her daughter to commit suicide. Were there secrets hidden by her parents that might reveal who hired the assassin?


My Review:
When I Close My Eyes is a Christian fiction with three point-of-view characters: Josephine, an author that struggles with depression, Henry, the assassin that came from an abusive background, and Paige, Josephine's teenage daughter. Since Josephine was in a coma from the assassination attempt, we mainly got her viewpoint through flashbacks of her life from 1968 up to the present.

Josephine wrote impactful novels showing people who dealt with difficult circumstances who found hope through forgiveness and trust in God. Henry began to read Josephine's books after his assassination attempt went wrong. Though there was some mystery about who hired Henry, the focus of the novel was more about if Josephine really believed in the grace that she wrote about since she struggled so deeply with depression. The main characters were complex, realistic people, and I cared about what happened to them.

There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this well-written book.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.