THE SILENCE IN HER EYES is a tense and layered thriller. Correa shines with his character of Leah. She is a complex, unique, and flawed woman that propels the story forward.

From the beginning to the end, the author keeps the reader on their toes. The duplicity, misdirections, and constant readjusting of Leah’s reality allow the suspense to build. Then you have the ever-present looming fear of what will happen next. Is what Leah perceives the truth? Can the reader trust her? Or is there something more deceitful happening around her? These are all the questions that compounded in my head as I read this book. In the end, all were answered in a fabulous way.

THE SILENCE IN HER EYES pushes the boundaries of what one woman can take in her life. It pulls together all the various events and interactions to form a picture only to tear it apart. The author truly developed a psychological suspense that pulled you in and didn’t let go until the very end.

Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. For the last twenty years, she hasn’t been able to see movement. As she walks around her upper Manhattan neighborhood with her white stick tapping in front, most people assume she’s blind. But the truth is Leah sees a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice.
She has a quiet, orderly life, with little human contact beyond her longtime housekeeper, her doctor, and her elderly neighbor. That all changes when Alice moves into the apartment next door and Leah can immediately smell the anxiety wafting off her. Worse, Leah can’t help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor engage in a violent fight. Worried, she befriends her neighbor and discovers that Alice is in the middle of a messy divorce from an abusive husband.
Then one night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. She blacks out and in the morning is left wondering if she dreamt the episode. And yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength, and ultimately her sanity.
Not a psychological thriller. It was an ordinary story witha few thrill moments.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for giving me an advance copy.

This had me feeling really off kilter, which I think is the point. I have my own issues with vision and I work in a blind school so I loved reading a novel about a woman with another form of vision impairment. But I was feeling really off kilter the entire time. I maybe inserted my own self too much into this one.
I loved it and also hated it.
This was a masterpiece. I am glad I read it.

Armando Lucas Correa's new novel The Silence in Her Eyes is a noir-esque story with an interesting premise. The main character Leah suffers from akinetopsia, which prevents her from seeing movement. Leah is not blind, per say, but she can only see the world around her if it stands completely still. As it is, Leah's senses of hearing and smell are heightened, enabling her to experience the world in a way quite unlike the rest of us.

When Leah has a new neighbor, Alice, move into the apartment next to hers, she begins to suspect that Alice is in trouble due to the arguments she hears happening next door in the middle of the night. Leah suspects it is Alice's estranged husband causing trouble, and begins to associate the bergamot smell she picks up on in the middle of the night to him. After Leah befriends Alice in attempt to provide her some support and comfort, she notices that the bergamot scent seems to follow her everywhere. Is it possible that Leah is the one who is really in danger?

The Silence in Her Eyes is one of those slow-burning suspense novels where nothing too out of the ordinary seems to be happening ... until it is. This novel starts off strongly, introducing readers to Leah's decidedly unique world and building tension through the effects of Leah's heightened senses. However, the novel starts to lose steam toward the middle, slowing down and meandering without really going anywhere. The point of the story gets muddled and loses itself to superfluous detail and choppy, disjointed writing. However, The Silence in Her Eyes ends strongly, pulling out twists that I did not see coming. It is truly the incredulous end of the book that saved it for me, bumping this up to a 4 star read.

The Silence in Her Eyes
Leah had akinotopsia, a form of blindness that forbid her from seeing things in motion. This condition came in as the result of a freak accident when she was 8. Now she was 28 and living alone for the first time in her prewar apartment overlooking Riverside Park in NYC. Her mother had died and she was struggling with her new independence.
So when she met a new neighbor who moved in next door, she made a new friend. However the neighbor, Alice, was in the midst of a rancorous divorce. Leah became obsessed with Alice and her situation and they soon spent much time together. Alice’s estranged husband visited her apartment and there were violent encounters.
As the story unfolds we learn about the other people in Leah’s life. First is Antonia, an older woman who served as her housekeeper. We also meet Mark, a student who befriended Leah at his workplace, a nearby bookstore she visits regularly.
This thriller will make the reader anxious to find out what is going on. They will probably be shocked at the end when they find out about the accident that caused Leah’s condition at age 8. They will also be surprised at how the book ends.
I enjoyed this book and the ending was not at all what I was expecting.
I received this ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Silence in Her Eyes
A Novel
by Armando Lucas Correa
Pub Date 16 Jan 2024
Atria Books
General Fiction \(Adult\)| Mystery & Thrillers


Atria Books and Netgalley sent me a copy of The Silence in Her Eyes for review:



The author did a great job portraying a character with a rare condition, akinetopsia, or motion blindness.




Since she was a kid, Leah has had akinetopsia, or motion blindness. She hasn't been able to see movement for twenty years. She walks around upper Manhattan with her white stick tapping in front, so people think she's blind. But the truth is Leah sees a good deal, and with her acute senses of smell and hearing, very little escapes her notice.However, Leah sees a lot and hears a lot, so very little escapes her notice.



Besides her longtime housekeeper, her doctor, and her elderly neighbor, she lives a quiet, orderly life. Everything changes when Alice moves into the apartment next door and Leah can smell anxiety wafting off her. Leah can't help but hear Alice and a late-night visitor fighting. Worried, she befriends her neighbor and discovers that Alice is in the middle of a messy divorce from an abusive husband.She befriends her neighbor and discovers Alice is going through a messy divorce.


One night, Leah wakes up to someone in her apartment. After blacking out, she wonders if she dreamt it. Yet the scent of the intruder follows her everywhere. And when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help, Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, her strength, and ultimately her sanity.Leah makes a decision that will test her courage, strength, and ultimately her sanity when she hears Alice through the wall pleading for her help.

I give The Silence in Her Eyes five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This book was a departure from Correa’s past works, and its intriguing premise about a woman with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, had me excited to get reading. The visual impairment was something I had never heard about and was interesting because several books have come out recently about visual disparities (i.e. face blindness in Katherine Center’s Hello Stranger and Alice Feeny’s Rock Paper Scissors). Leah, the protagonist, has such heightened senses to compensate for her motion blindness, so we’re introduced to her altered perceptions of the environment and people around her. It was interesting to think about how one would live in a world that would essentially be viewed as snapshots.

While the book had many intriguing moments, the slow build-up to the climax of the story left me confused at times, and I found myself struggling to keep engaged with the characters. I liked how Leah’s eye condition set her up to be the perfect unreliable narrator because we aren’t able to pick up on the reaction of the characters around her. It may have been interesting to read the story from another character’s perspective to really pull the whole thing together.

Thank you to Armando Lucas Correa, Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of this book for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I liked Leah. I liked reading about her day to day experiences. However, this novel is not much of a thriller. The thriller aspect seems to come out of nowhere, and even though it is shocking, it would have been better if there was more of an explanation throughout the story.

Akinetopsia is an ultra-rare form of blindness. Those with this syndrome cannot see movement and their vision is a series of freeze frame images. The main character, Leah, has this condition but doesn’t let it hinder her. In fact, because of her heightened senses of smell and hearing, she is more in tune with her surroundings than most. When a new neighbor moves into the apartment next door, Leah is quickly drawn into the woman’s problematic life. The heart-pounding conclusion will have you reevaluating everything you thought you knew about everyone.

@suehylaeyoung narrates this book expertly, enhancing all the tension, fear, and anxiety surrounding this unique main character. This book can be easily binged in a day, especially if you choose to listen!

Although Leah is limited in sight, she is a strong character who utilizes her other senses to make up for that. The inclusion of her motion blindness gave the author a way to create a unique twist and bring more tension to an already suspenseful situation. I was immediately invested in the characters and shocked by the ending! If you’re looking for a quick page-turning read, definitely add this one to your list!

I had no idea where Armando Lucas Correa was taking us in The Silence in Her Eyes, but it didn’t matter. I was along for the ride, and loved every second of it. This isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s a bit of a slow-burn as we learn we more about Leah, her past, and all her secrets, but it has that dark psychological thriller vibe to it that I really enjoy. It’s a make-you-think-a-little thriller, and, when it’s all revealed, you’re left wondering how you missed the clues…

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this psychological thriller by Armando Lucas Correa - 4 stars!

Leah has been living with akinetopsia, or motion blindness, since she was a child. She walks through the Manhattan streets using her white cane, and people assume she is blind. But with her heightened senses, Leah sees much more than normal. She has a quiet, contained life, with her elderly neighbors and caretaker as friends, seeing her therapist, and going to the bookstore. That all changed when Alice moved in next door. She hears arguments with a man and can sense Alice's fear and even smell her attacker. Is Leah in danger as well?

This was a fascinating look into this disease and a thought-provoking look into how we perceive things in person and in photos as well. I was invested in Leah's character from the beginning and felt her loneliness and isolation. It's somewhat of a slow burn, with the tension increasing towards the end of the book to those final twists!

This had an interesting character who suffers from a blindness that cannot see motion. Leah befriends a new neighbor and the suspense ensues. A slow build up and then the end was like a different book filled c with revelations beyond what was even hinted at.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

The Silence in Her Eyes is a thriller novel with a female protagonist that has a visual impairment casually known as motion blindness. She can’t see movement. She can only see things that stay still. Think of her eyes as a camera shutter.

While this makes for one heck of an interesting approach to a thriller novel, it’s a shame author Armando Lucas Correa (making his thriller debut) isn’t a more practiced thriller author. If he were, this novel might have been heaps better than it was. In its current incarnation, it was rather boring.

For a very short book (272 pages), I expected a great deal of suspense hemmed in by a brisk pace, an economy of words, and a completely tense atmosphere. Instead, this book feels uneven. It feels like this book solely exists so the author could write the ending (which is one heck of an ending, but still).

A book should feel like a journey. Instead, what we have here is an author’s first attempt at thrills and chills where it seems like there were two salient parts that had to be in place and then the author just wrote everything else around it.

You might like it. I feel like it’s going to be one of those books where it’ll depend on the reader. But it wasn’t for me.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Owing to the rating of 3 stars or under this review will not be appearing on social media. Thank you.

Correa wrote this book in secret, a departure from his normal style, he wasn’t given much encouragement. When the pandemic hit, he found the time to finish and his editor loved it. His cross over book for me was slow, too slow. Leah has akinetopsia, or motion blindness. She can see more than others think, but she can’t see movement. With her blindness her mind captures images like photographs and her sense of smell is heightened so much that she can see them. She can also hear what others say from quite a distance and when a new neighbor moves in next door, she’s immediately worried for her safety. Sure that she needs her help, Leah makes a quick decision to help Alice, a decision that tests her strength courage and sanity. From the start the reader isn’t quite sure if Leah is an unreliable narrator or if she’s a victim of her own circumstances. There are some nice twists, but the pace and choppiness of the short chapters takes away from the overall story. Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

3.5/5!

I love a shorter thriller and The Silence In Her Eyes hits this mark by coming in at under 300 pages.

Within the pages of this book we meet our main character, Leah, who has just lost her mother and is learning to navigate a solo life while living with motion blindness. I didn’t know much about akinetopsia before picking this book up, but it felt like Correa was able to create a realistic representation of what life with this condition would be like. I really enjoyed how this played into Leah’s investigation of the strange series of events that start happening to and around her throughout this story.

The twists throughout this story were great and some were completely unexpected. What was lost on me was the repetitive feel that the story would take on at times. I felt like I was reading in a loop at certain points or there were exaggerated repetitions of facts we already knew. This could be a result of the translation for this story.

Overall, if you’re looking for a quick and interesting read, I definitely recommend giving this one a try!

A huge thank you to Atria for my gifted copy!

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book due to the slow build-up and lack of a really good climax/twist. I was intrigued by the possibilities this book had based off her eye condition.the author did a great job of describing how she sees things and the world around her, but in the end it was just too slow for my liking.

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and author Armando Lucas Correa for this gifted ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A thriller with a bookstagrammer?! Yes please!

This book was so interesting with the MC’s diagnosis and how it effects her interactions with the world as she can’t see items in movement but can see them when still based on her head injury from years prior.

The way her diagnosis and symptoms were weaved throughout the book to add to the story telling and created unreliable narrative vibes was so well done!

If you are looking for a different kind of thriller, I would definitely recommend this one! Thank you so much Atria for my ARC in exchange for my review!

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley for the arc. Leah has akinetopsia and she can see objects and people as long as they aren’t moving, and her other senses are really keen. Recently, Alice moved in next door and she seems to be having issues with her marriage and Leah hears what’s going on through the walls in her apartment. Leah befriends Alice and she winds ups telling Leah what’s going on with her. Leah wants to help and she does and all of these bad things start happening. The ending was crazy and unexpected!

Intriguing premise and filled with suspense.

I was hooked from the beginning of this book! Correa’s voice was strong throughout, keeping me turning the pages until the very end. The protagonist, Leah, lives with a form of visual impairment called akinetopsia, or motion blindness. Something I’d never heard of before but which created an intriguing premise. A clever detail which heightened her other senses, and an interesting angle to use in order to when describing her altered perceptions of her environment and people around her. However it also confused me, and I felt disoriented at times (which may have been the point). I love reading stories set in NYC, and this one was of personal interest to me since it took place in an apartment building a few blocks from where I used to live. The short chapters quickened the pace up and the characters felt very real. Leah’s motion blindness left me feeling suspicious of everyone around her, since it was difficult to pick up on their reactions, making Leah the perfect unreliable narrator.

After the midpoint, I found the story confusing at times, unable to tell what was real due to Leah’s state of panic. The reasoning behind the murder felt odd, as did the relationship between Alice and Mark, and their reasons for befriending Leah. Leah was an intriguing protagonist but the reveal of her true nature at the end came as a shock considering the lack of references to suggest otherwise (apart from the midpoint). I would have liked to read a different POV from someone who observed Leah, instead of it all coming directly from her. Her impaired perceptions definitely created suspense, but it also left a lot of the side characters feeling flat.

3/5⭐️⭐️⭐️

For readers who enjoy complex female characters, psychological suspense, and twisty reveals.

2.5 stars rounded to 3. While THE SILENCE IN HER EYES has a unique and original plot, the story itself suffers from plot holes and repetitive descriptions and dialogue that feels unnecessary and makes the book difficult to get through. I almost DNFed this book several times but decided to keep going. The plot felt all over the place.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.