A teenage girl is the only survivor when her family are gunned down in the middle of the night.
A TV crew are at the house when she’s led out of the house in handcuffs.
The reporter, a young up and comer who is desperate to make her name, looks at her and says to the camera. Her eyes are empty.
Charged with the murder she spends two months in juvenile prison before the case is dropped. But the damage is done. The world knows Alexandra Quinlan as the girl with empty eyes, and with nobody else charged with the murder her guilt is assumed by nearly everyone
That leads to her life being made a misery by the “True-Crime-Junkies” who live their lives as armchair detectives.
Driven to change her name and move abroad she becomes Alex Armstrong and joins the armchair detective brigade as she tries to find out who killed her family.
This story looks at the problems caused by over zealous reporting hanging tags on people before guilt is proven, with the struggle to find the real murderer the only way of ever having peace.
Whilst looking into the death of her parents Alex uncovers some crimes which run parallel to her investigations.
Eerily similar to Jeffery Epstein and his celebrity sex rings there is an undercurrent of abuse that reaches high levels.
This s a cracking story.
It is realistic in every way. U.K. crime fans will be more aware of the problems that have besieged some innocent people in the States since the Nicola Bulley debacle.
This forms the spine of this story, which spreads over 10 years.
The transformation from Alexandra Quinlan to Alex Armstrong is mesmerising.
The interactions she has along the way, friendships formed, allegiances made and characters met are compelling.
I’ve been struggling of late to stick with a book. Most readers go through these phases and it only takes one good book to kick you back into the reading habit.
Those Empty Eyes was that book for me. It’s the first book I’ve picked up for months that I’ve read in one go, cover to cover, and enjoyed every page.
Pages: 384. Publisher: Canelo Crime. Publishing Date 4th May 2023
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