After 3 or 4 books from her I think it’s time to finally conclude that Unger just isn’t the author for me. I continue to be interested in her books because the premises always sound so good but the execution just never gives me what I’m looking for; I feel like her books reel you in with the premise to start but once you get into the story it starts going in a completely different direction (this is her 3rd book in a row i’ve read that this has been the case). The survival game show setting was SO promising but it just wasn’t that interesting ultimately.

It started out as a social media stunt—an extreme game of hide and seek on the grounds of a crumbling abandoned hotel. Hosted by daredevil adventurer Maverick Dillan and his crew, the prize for the winner is a million dollars. But it quickly becomes a deadly game of survival when a storm blows in and an unknown threat is stalking the contestants. Adele is a single mother of two, struggling to make ends meet after her husband's deception. She's in it for the money, but also to prove her strength and independence to her kids. Even before the game begins things start to fall apart: the warnings of the island's inhabitants, the tension among the Extreme crew members, and the ominous groans of the hotel's foundation... will any of them make it out alive?
In the author's notes at the end, Lisa Unger admitted that the story is based on a real abandoned hotel, Monte Palace on the island of São Miguel where she visited with her family. Looking up pictures of the hotel helped me picture the ominous setting in my mind as I was reading the story with the addition of the storm adding to the tension. The chapters were told in multiple POV from Adele and each of her children to Mav and his crew, piecing the story together s you read along. I loved it!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

How far would you go to provide for and protect your family? Fitness influencer and single mother Adele is willing to go the distance when she signs up for an extreme game of hide and seek. But is it just a game she’s playing or are the lines blurring and is her past coming to find her? Maverick has had an incredible run as an extreme adventurer influencer. This new game of hide and seek is his chance to pivot after the last one went terribly wrong and a girl completely vanished. Will he be able to change the tides and his fickle viewers minds, or is he on the road to being a washed up has been?

This book was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the extreme aspect of it. Things I would never be able to experience, but the reality is that there are people out there doing this stuff. It’s just kind of mind boggling. I appreciate though that Laura didn’t just show the glitz and glamor side. Real life might not be as twisted and deadly, but I’m sure there is some gritty stuff every influencer hides.

I love how Laura is able to pull a story together, with so many seemingly unrelated pieces that just slowly fall in to place one after another. She’s writes characters that you love; now whether you love to love them or love to hate them is up to you, but the emotion is there!

I will say it felt like there was A LOT of pieces/stories and while they all fit, some just felt out of place. I understand the need for them they just felt off.

That said, it’s a fast paced book from beginning to end and will have you hooked from the start. I would absolutely recommend this book to friends and family when it is released on February 25 2025. I devoured it and would have read it even faster had responsibilities not gotten in the way.

I feel like in the beginning I was really invested into the story and what will happen. About 60 percent into the book too many story lines came out and none really felt finished. The ending kinda fell flat and wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be

This follows multiple perspectives and three different story lines. A few character’s enter into a game show of hide and seek to win money on an island.
This story was just okay for me. It had its really good moments, but I spent much of the book having a hard time following all the character’s and story lines. This style of writing just isn’t my favorite.
The big reveal wasn’t super surprising either, and I would have liked more suspense on the island, which wasn’t talked about enough in my opinion. It just over all wasn’t what I expected.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

𝘈 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺- 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 2 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦 - a single mom struggling, whose husband up and disappeared and signed up for a game show to win $1million (Hide and Seek) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬- the one that hosts the game.

» Uhh- I loved how this story started off.
So strong, and promising. And then it got extremely slow with tons of side plots that did absolutely nothing for me.

» There was no counting to 10? I feel like things were so crammed, and muddled leaving things hard to follow. It’s almost like the authors mind had so many ideas this just went way off track.

Sadly this author is not for me.

I really got sucked into this isolated setting book, filled with some shady characters, someone who needs a redemption arc and a plain old mom who wants to provide for her kids after her husband was caught embezzling and ditched them. I didn’t feel any sort of way about any of the characters though so to me, this wasn’t character driven at all and I was just kind of along for the ride, not connecting too much to any of them. It also sort of petered out at points or felt a bit repetitive but I was still hooked, thus my four star rating.

Lisa Unger's books always keep me hooked and this one was no different, I found myself drawn into the danger and not wanting to leave until I knew everything.

📖 Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger 🏝️🏃🏻‍♀️‍➡️

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was another good read by Lisa Unger. I always enjoy a book with multiple POVs and podcast/live feed components. It just adds so much to the story first me. I loved how much backstory was provided for the characters. It makes you root for Adele due to her past! A competitive game of hide and seek on an island was a fun concept! It includes deceit and some suspense. I enjoyed it overall.

Think of the childhood game of hide and seek but put a totally creepy spin on it and you have the premise of this book. A group of adventure seekers slash influencers run a reality show where contestants compete against each other for a grand prize. Problem is, someone went missing from their last challenge. They hid but were never found. Now all eyes are on this competition, and single mom of two teens struggling with finances signs up to compete. Once she arrives, it becomes obvious that things are not as they seemed online.

Overall, a solid thriller. I kept waiting for that point in the book where I was HOOKED, but that did not come. I enjoyed the ending, and there were enough twists to keep you guessing for a good amount of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc, all opinions are my own

Great thriller! While some things played out like I thought, other aspects of this book truly surprised me! I’d love to see some kind of sequel.

I love love an isolated location thriller so much, so was so excited to read this thriller set in an abandoned hotel on a remote island, and this book from Lisa Unger did absolutely suck me in.

After her husband embezzled from his business, ruined their reputation in the town, and took off with everything, Adele joins an extreme hide and seek to win a million dollars, urged on by her teenage kids. But Mac and the Extreme team are dealing with their own fallout, from the disappearance of a young contestant the last time they had an extreme challenge, movements against his shenanigans, and is loosing money. So an already dangerous game becomes more dangerous as creepy things start happening. Will Adele even make it out alive? And who is sabotaging the games?!

I really liked Adele as post-divorce work out badass and felt for her and her kids as they dealt with the fallout of her husband’s crimes. The commentary on all the ways young women do things because they should and then feel lost later in life really resonated with me. The building horror of the violence and sabotage happening on the island really worked to keep me sucked in. I also liked the commentary / way the internet and social media culture played into the way everyone in this book dealt with life. I do think there were a couple of threads I needed more to feel closure or understanding, but overall this was a fun thriller that kept me wondering!

This is a quick, easy to read, slow burn mystery. I loved the isolated setting and the multiple view points. There were a lot of characters but I was able to follow all the side stories and keep everyone straight. Adele and her children were my favorite. The tension in the book is palpable and there is a feeling of doom as the storm rages and the contestants fight to survive. I both read and listened to the story which is narrated by Vivienne Leheny. I thought she did an excellent job making all the characters voices distinct. Overall I thought this was a solid mystery with medium pacing and I enjoyed it.

3.5 stars

Lisa Unger stories are always entertaining. Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 brings a lot of recent book subjects together-true crime podcast, reality TV, influencers, people who live their lives online, women left behind by a man who had committed crimes, a group of people stuck somewhere remote with a storm coming in-and makes them into one wild story. I went back and forth between reading the ARC and listening to the audiobook. I preferred reading it. The narrator had some interesting choices for a few characters that made it hard for me to listen. Most of the characters were thinly written so it was difficult to think about whether or not their decisions made sense for their characters, because they didn't make sense for anything else sometimes. Overall, it was enjoyable and quick on a snowy morning.

If you love a thriller that you cannot put down this one is for you. At first the book started slow then BOOM it picked up!! I could not put it down!! I truly felt like I was on Falcoa Island myself! The intrigue and the mystery were soo good!! I also love Adele so much. She is such a strong mother and loved her kids so much. The family aspect of the book was a favorite part of mine. Lisa Unger ROCKED with this title! 👏🏻👏🏻

This book is an extreme game of hide and seek that turns deadly. Lisa Unger is one of the best at writing thrillers that keep the reader engaged. The characters were relatable, It was a good thriller that kept my attention throughout. I recommend. Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin for allowing to read this ARC.

Adele is struggling to pick up the pieces after her husband’s devastating betrayal. Not only has he swindled their company and deceived their friends and neighbors, but he’s also drained the family’s finances, leaving Adele to face an uncertain future. In a desperate attempt to secure a better life for herself and her two children, she must resort to bold and extreme measures. But what she uncovers in the process will push her beyond what she ever thought she’d be willing to do.
Enter Maverick Dillan, a daring YouTuber known for his extreme stunts. His next big project? A high-stakes game of hide and seek on a deserted island, with a massive cash prize at stake. However, Maverick’s past game, which ended in tragedy, looms over him. Can he shake the ghosts of that disaster, or will it mark the end of his career?
The premise of this book immediately hooked me, and I was intrigued by the concept of the abandoned building and the inspiration Unger drew from her own family trip. However, I did feel that the novel contained too many subplots that didn’t quite come together. I wished the story had focused more on the deserted island and the game show, with additional attention to the backstory of the main character and more exploration of her husband’s role in the narrative. However, the ending twists were expertly executed, delivering a sense of justice and wrapping up the story in a satisfying, neatly tied bow.

*Thank you to Lisa Unger, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

This was not good. It was my third Lisa Unger novel and I enjoyed the first two for the most part, a 4-star and a 3-star. This was definitely way worse. I love the cover, it's beautiful, even though nothing happens underwater so it's kind of strange that most of the cover is UNDER the island...but anyway. The story was mediocre to begin with and then it just got worse. Unlikable characters, terrible motivations (for some, not all), just kind of sloppy.

Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is Lisa Unger’s latest thrilling release. I really enjoyed the high stakes tension that this one brought and the fact that she wrote this book around a game of hide-and-seek was such a fun concept. Who hasn’t played that game at some point in their life? I also loved the idea that this was a social media competition. I love competition shows in general so reading something similar in a book is always a good time. However, keeping everyone’s storylines together was difficult for me. There’s just too much going on with each character that I had a hard time keeping track. If I don’t know who I’m reading about right away it takes away my enjoyment because I feel like I need to take notes and that’s just not something I want to do when reading. Aside from that, this is a really quick and easy read. Fun for those who like an isolated setting where characters are stranded and there’s something strange going on.

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙
❥ Reality TV thrillers
❥ Isolated Settings
❥ High Stakes
❥ Mysteries

I love reality tv and the thought of extreme hide and seek on a deserted island sounded like the perfect thriller. The book was fun with twists and turns but there were a lot of different characters which made the book feel a bit crowded. Overall it was a fun read and i recommend it to thriller lovers