A thriller highlighting a secluded island and the ultimate game of hide and seek? Yes please! With multiple POVs and characters, this slow burn whodunit was entertaining from the beginning to the end. It was fun to read a story with trendy topics/specialities like social media influencers and reality tv shows. If you enjoy secluded islands, reality tv, and locked room thrillers, I highly suggest this one.
Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is out tomorrow, 02.25.25!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the ALC and the chance to review it honestly 🤗

“What did they need with a game like this? But, of course, there was only one answer ever: money. People, she learned, would do just about any asinine thing for it, especially if they didn’t have to actually earn it.”

What would you do for followers? Me? Nothing. 😂😂

Extreme hide and seek…but with influencers. Oh my haha. This book started off rather slow for a thriller. Although it did pick up as the games begin there are a plethora of characters and that may have been a deterrent. It is told from multiple pov which keeps the suspense up but ultimately I enjoy a faster paced thriller.

I did enjoy the audiobook, though. The narration keeps the suspense up quite nicely.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin Audio, Park Row Books, and the author for the ALC and ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

What could go wrong with a game of hide-and-seek in a dilapidated building?

Death, murder, mayhem, and a tropical storm become players in this twisted game. Who to trust? Each character can only trust themselves, or trusting another could result in deadly circumstances.

Overall, it was an enjoyable slow burn. I was able to get an advanced copy of the audiobook thanks to Lisa Unger, Netgalley and Harlequin Audio. There were times I got confused listening to the audiobook, and it wasn't until about 30 seconds to a minute in did I realize what was going on. At times, I had to rewind and listen to a section over again.

For me, I enjoyed the storyline, even though I felt there were too many subplots going on, and would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Lisa Unger and for those who like a slow burn thriller/suspense.

Overall I would give this read: 3.5 ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to listen to "Close Your Eyes and Count to 10" by Lisa Unger.

I had high expectations for this title going in as I have enjoyed some of Lisa Unger's previous novels. It didn't quite hit the bar for me and dragged in spots, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It was definitely a slow burn kind until about the last 15% of the book. Some of it was really predictable, some spots were a little out there.

Maverick Dillion is a fitting name for the main character, though I fully expected it to be revealed as a stage name. I admired Adele's reasoning to want to win the challenge. There's nothing a mama won't do for her kiddos!

It seems as though the social media influencer and challenge based books are becoming more popular. I totally understand why... It's totally the world we live in at the present

I might not be quick to recommend it to others that enjoy the mystery/thriller genre. But others may enjoy it! This is just my opinion.

🎧 I enjoyed Vivienne Leheny's performance! Her narration kept my attention, she did a great job conveying the tension between the characters on the island. 4 stars for the narration.

This reminded me of Beast Games! My 9-year-old just made me watch it. 😂 Maverick Dillan (the Mr. Beast of the operation) is hosting an extreme game of hide and seek on an abandoned island. There are several contestants that make the trip to Falcao Island, Portugal to compete for one million dollars. Chaos ensues almost immediately and nothing goes as planned. This was a fun locked room popcorn thriller. The characters were a little one dimensional, but overall, this was a solid 3.5 for the pacing and the entertaining plot.

Thanks to Netgalley and Park Row publishing for this arc. I enjoyed this thriller but did feel like the premise was a bit of a stretch. Contestants from very different backgrounds come together on a remote island with a dark past to compete in a narcissistic, influencer's daring game of hide and seek. The suspense and intrigue was definitely there but the connections between the characters and their reasoning behind competing were weak in my opinion. I also felt there were certain plot lines that were given a lot of attention at the beginning of the book but were never fully resolved or were hurriedly done so at the end. An interesting idea that was a fun read but did not quite meet my expectations having enjoyed Lisa Unger's other books.

2,5 stars.

This one was a miss for me. Although I enjoyed the concept and was very intrigued before starting, I found that the book dragged and was bogged down by too much unnecessary information. I found myself bored, waiting for something to happen, and in the end it was more of a whimper than a bang, I wasn't surprised by anything that happened, nor did I have a drive to find out how it was going to end.

I was distracted by the dialogue. I found it very cringey, like it was internet speak but people talking to each other. It felt like it was written by someone who read internet speak online, heard a teenager talk like that once then assumed everyone with an Instagram account speaks like that now.

Lisa Unger just doesn't seem to be the author for me. Ive tried several times and always love the idea, but then I'm underwhelmed by the execution.

thank you @htpbooks for the gifted ARC and @netgalley for the gifted ALC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
📆 pub date: 2/25/25
✍️ author: Lisa Unger
🎙️ narrator: Vivienne Leheny
⏰ length: 11hrs, 33min

Lisa Unger is one of my auto-buy authors. My collection of her books is always growing!

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO 10 puts a unique spin on the locked island thriller. I’ve read so many of them at this point and they’re always hit or miss for me, so I loved the concept of an extreme game of hide and seek!

I’m glad I listened to the audiobook because I felt like it put me right on the island with the characters. I enjoyed getting the backstory of Adele and her marriage, along with her children’s POVs.

As usual when it comes to island thrillers, a storm rages and traps the characters. There was a lot of action, especially towards the end, and I felt at times that too much was happening at once.

This book was all over the place. I think there were too many storylines and characters thrown in. Sadly I would not recommend but this book, but I have enjoyed this author’s work in the past and will continue to read her!

The story starts as a slow burn in the first half. Lots of characters to be introduced and their back stories to be told. Adele is a single mother to two teenage children. Adele has had a lot thrown at her the past couple of years, starting with her husband embezzling money then leaving the family high and dry for the fallout. To make ends meet Adele becomes a social media influencer. Maverick Dillan is an adrenaline junkie always looking for the next thrill. His company hosts high stakes adventures for huge payouts that are streamed live for their followers. A game of hide and seek doesn't sound that high stakes, but put it on an island property that seems to be falling down around them, add to that a huge storm that knocks out power (but for some reason does not knock out cell service, because they can still stream everything live), and friends that back stab each other for breakfast, it becomes a page turning thriller that just needs to be read. While all that is going on, there is a side story with Adele's teenagers back at home. I tended to care more about the kids than what was going on at the game on the island, but the way they all intertwined was nice.

"Close Your Eyes and Count to 10" really took its time getting into gear, but once it did? The suspense was 🔥! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t fully hooked until about 55-60% into the book, but once it picked up, I was intrigued. This one is a slow burn with multiple POVs, so it took a bit to weave everything together.

The premise had me intrigued right off the bat—an intense game of hide-and-seek on a remote island for a cash prize? Spy Kids meets Survivor vibes all the way, but I was hoping for a bit more... action, I guess? The plot is pretty busy with a ton of characters and subplots, and I’ll admit, there were several loose ends that didn’t quite get tied up. It’s one of those books where the drama keeps you entertained, but you still want more at the end.

But let me tell you, the last 25%? That’s where it truly shines. The twists came at me left and right, and there were even some emotional, heartwarming moments (maybe even a tad cheesy, but who cares, it worked).

Now, Vivienne Leheny—where do I even begin?! She absolutely NAILED the narration. Her voice work is impeccable, especially with all the different characters and perspectives. Each voice was distinct and helped bring clarity to the storyline, which honestly could’ve been hard to follow without her. She gave life to the characters and made even the slower parts engaging. Truly, I could’ve listened to her narrate for hours.

Bottom line: "Close Your Eyes and Count to 10" is perfect for fans of reality TV, multiple POVs, and isolated island settings. It’s got drama, secrets, and twists—just don’t expect a fast paced thriller. I gave it 3 stars, mostly because it was entertaining, but the story didn’t quite live up to its full potential for me.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to listen early and review.

I regret that this book did not hold my attention at all. I was bored throughout the first quarter of the novel.
I have only on other book by Lisa Unger and really enjoyed it!! This was not what I expected from this author. I have quickly discovered with some other novels, the reality game show scenario is not my jam -- should have realized this when requesting. I almost DNF'd at 30% but wanted to see it through. At 50% I was not invested. By 70% I found myself skipping to 80 and then 90 and it just did nothing for me.

I'm sorry that I was not the right audience.

What extreme lengths would you go to keep those you loved safe and comfortable?

This was an ever-moving story about a once in a lifetime competition of extreme hide and seek, but so much more hidden with people not wanting to be found out.

It was fun to get multiple points of view and different backstories, but I was hoping to get more flushed out for each characters tale. Even though there were multiple povs, it was still very easy to follow along and guess what would happen. Having this as an audiobook definitely brought different accents and tones for each of the characters and really brought it to life.

It was fairly visual in both the real world and the gaming/social media realm. Makes me wonder what inspired the author to choose such a location as a backdrop.

This is my first story read from Lisa Unger, but now I’m very ready for more! Thank you so much to the author, Lisa Unger, Harlequin Audio, and NetGalley for this audiobook arc of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10!

This story depicts all of the highs and lows of social media. A successful company headed by founder Maverick Dillian hosts online challenges around the world. His company Extreme is made up of his best friends and girlfriend. They use their profits for good, for their followers and for themselves. His latest stunt is an extreme game of hide and seek on an island in the middle of the Atlantic. Single mother Adele, decides to enter the contest in hope of winning the one million dollar prize that will help her struggling family. She finds herself immersed in a more dangerous game than she ever imagined.

The premise and idea for this story was so good. The back stories of the characters were also very interesting. The story starts off slowly as the characters stories begin to develop and we are shown gradually their secrets. Then the story kind of got a little murky. I was left with too many “whys.” Most of the characters were pretty unlikable so that might be part of it. I just wasn’t invested in their story.

3 ⭐️

While the idea for this book sounded intriguing, this book was just alright in my eyes. I had hard time following what was happening at times and was not finding myself excited about reading it to find out the ending, though I was interested enough in the plot to want to know how it ended. The narration did a great job of trying to change the voice for different characters.

This story had multiple POVs that were hard to follow at times and sometimes didn’t make sense on how they fit together in the story. There were too many side plot lines going on throughout the story and I felt that for how much they talked about the extreme hide and seek game, the actual event itself was barely a focus point in the story. The ending also felt very rushed and while it made sense, I felt more details could have been given to wrap up several of the different story lines.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for the ALC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is a fun, mysterious, and a little suspenseful popcorn thriller about an extreme game of hide and seek with influencers and master gamers as the contestants. Set on a remote island in an old abandoned hotel. Of course, being highly centered around social media, and their sponsors, the game is being live streamed and documented by the hosts and each contestant. Told through multiple POVs including a true crimes podcast, social media posts, and viewers comments.

I was worried this was going to be a book that has already been done multiple times, but it was actually more of a behind the scenes of the game leading up to the start of the game, instead of the game itself, which was interesting. I thought it was a good representation of how social media and/or gaming tend to be a big focus in our lives and how some feel like they have to post everything they do, the good, the bad and the ugly, hoping to go viral usually for views and fame. I will say, I giggled at the names given in replace of real life social media names.

A lot of POVs and a lot of secrets but pretty predictable. I really enjoyed the story and was completely immersed but I kept waiting for a twist or reveal that never really came. There were so many ways it could have gone but I felt like it went the most predictable way. And of course, like in most remote island thrillers, before the game actually gets started, a tropical storm hits the island…but I felt like the story was missing the dark and stormy atmospheric vibes.

The narrator did a great job with giving the characters their own distinct voices making it easy to follow and giving an entertaining performance from start to finish.

This book was filled with twists and turns that will keep you guessing what will happen next. I liked the closeness that this contest held to reality shows like Fear Factor or Survivor, and the relevant influencer/social media aspects included in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for an advanced audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of this one. The narration was decent but as there were multiple perspectives from many characters sometimes it took me a second to figure out what was going on even with the character name being at the beginning of each change. I enjoyed the premise of this one quite a lot and thought it would be a fun fast-paced ride. Instead, it was pretty much a drag the entire way through. The use of flash-forward for some parts of the novel was interesting but then I felt like nothing paid off when it arrived. And I saw the ending coming from a million miles away to the point where I didn't understand how the characters themselves didn't see it coming. I think this one had a lot of moving parts and perspectives none of which were as defined as they needed to be and it made for a confusing, jumbled story. The characters felt very two dimensional and I struggled to care about what was happening. The setting for the majority of this book was awesome and probably my favorite part of the entire experience.

I enjoyed the building tension and suspense with Adele setting out to win an ultimate hide and seek challenge in a remote location surrounded by a dilapidated hotel on a remote island with a tropical storm rolling in. Then you add in the tumultuous relationships amongst the owners of the extreme adventure company and Adele’s backstory with a missing husband on the run and kids to support. With so much going on and all the players, I was immersed in the story, needing to know how it would play out.