‘You won’t be able to look away‘
–Keep Your Eyes On Me
Keep Your Eyes On Me is the first standalone thriller by Sam Blake following on from the very successful crime fiction series, the Cat Connolly Trilogy. Due for publication with Corvus Books on January 2nd 2020, Keep Your Eyes On Me is described as ‘a twisting tale of vengeance’
On reading Keep Your Eyes On Me, one very well known saying immediately popped into my head – ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned‘
Read on to find out why….
[ About the Book ]
You won’t be able to look away
When Vittoria Devine and Lily Power find themselves sitting next to each other on a flight to New York, they discover they both have men in their lives whose impact has been devastating. Lily’s family life is in turmoil, her brother left on the brink of ruin by a con man. Vittoria’s philandering husband’s latest mistress is pregnant.
By the time they land, Vittoria and Lily have realised that they can help each other right the balance. But only one of them knows the real story…
[ My Review ]
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the Cat Connolly series by Sam Blake, I was very much looking forward to reading Keep Your Eyes On Me. What I was not prepared for, was how very different it would be, in both writing style and tone. Keep Your Eyes On Me is a tale of revenge, a story of payback, with the reader being asked who is innocent and who is guilty as the drama unfolds.
Vittoria Devine has been through hell and back. All her life Vittoria was driven to dance, to become a professional and successful ballerina. But a tragic accident shattered her plans taking her life down a very different path. Vittoria is Italian. She married Marcus Devine, a man of some means but with a very wandering eye. Vittoria overlooked his dalliances, as she worked on achieving an alternative career for herself, but now she can no longer ignore the evidence in front of her. Marcus’s actress girlfriend is pregnant and Marcus has not revealed this bit of information to Vittoria. Through her own means she makes this discovery and decides that she is worth more than this. She will not be demeaned or embarrassed by Marcus’s hidden life. She will make him pay…..
Meanwhile, Lily Power is an up and coming jewelry designer with the prospect of an incredible career ahead of her. She receives news of an amazing opportunity in New York with a potential of a job in sight but it requires a trip to the US for an interview. Lily is so excited, preparing herself for the beginning of an exciting adventure when trouble lands at her feet. Her brother, Jack, has lost the family business, a specialized store, in a card game. A reckless bet, an out-of-character event and Jack is distraught. Lily is upset with Jack, annoyed with the sheer stupidity of his actions. But Lily is also angry. She is determined to get to the root of this disastrous news and get back what rightfully belongs to her family, whatever it takes…..
A chance meeting on a plane to New York, brings these two ladies together and an immediate connection is felt on both sides. They chat, they become comfortable in each other’s company and as their journey over the Atlantic continues, a friendship is formed, an alliance created, a plan of revenge is hatched…
Keep Your Eyes On Me has quite an old school feel off it in the genre of a Hitchcock classic. The cloak and dagger activities of both women is set in a very high tech setting yet the nature of their actions is with an intent to get back at the men in their lives who have caused them hurt and pain.
Vittoria could be characterised as the femme fatal, the hot-blooded and strong willed Italian who will not be scorned. Lily is the ambitious young go-getter about to embark on a life she has always dreamed of and is not prepared to let anything stop her in her tracks.
Vittoria and Lily, while similar in some ways, are very different. Vittoria is more experienced, more able and sees the end game clearly. Lily is willing to almost blindly accept Vittoria’s solution, highlighting her youth and, most certainly at times, her naivety. Lily is very protective of her brother and accepts Vittoria’s suggestions with blind faith and trust. Can these two women pull off an incredible scheme? Is their budding friendship strong enough?
Sam Blake has created characters and locations that would cross over very well to the big screen. The duplicity and the schemes are quite fascinating to read about but to see them played out would add an extra dimension to the frenetic aspect of the plot.
Keep Your Eyes On Me is quite a unique read. For me parts of the plot-line were exaggerated in their nature but this is not a book to question the how but instead just to enjoy the ride and be entertained by the pure ingenuity of the plan played out on paper.
The visual aspect of the story are greatly enhanced by Sam Blake’s ability to set the scene. I was brushing the cobwebs out of my hair. I could hear the waves crashing and I could smell the greed.
Revenge is a dish best served cold but do Vittoria and Lily get to serve it up as planned?
With subtle twists and unexpected turns, Keep Your Eyes On Me is a very entertaining tale with some dark and unsavoury players. It reads like a Hollywood movie, packed with glamour, successful women and retribution….with the Sam Blake twist!
[ Bio ]
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and the hugely popular national writing resources website writing.ie.
She is Ireland’s leading literary scout and has assisted many award-winning and bestselling authors to publication. Vanessa has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.
Twitter ~ @samblakebooks
Woah look at that cover. Lovely review. Let me see if I can get it
It is a very cool cover Shalini! Thank you 🙂