Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross (2012, Paperback)
Product Details
Overview A horrible family tragedy that may not be what it seems . . . A past encounter with an infamous killer turns deadly today . . . An ordinary man must risk his own family to find the truth. Jay Erlich’s nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morrow Bay. It’s all just a tragic suicide, until secrets from the past begin to rear up again. Did a notorious killer, jailed for many decades, have his hand in this? When Jay heads out west to help his grieving brother, he is pulled back into his past—and begins to suspect that his nephew’s suicide may not have been a suicide at all. With eyes wide open, Jay puts his own life at risk to uncover the truth, a quest that goes beyond the edge of madness and a family haunted by a secret past . . . and into the depths of evil.
Specifications
- ISBN-13: 9780061655968
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date: 7/12/2011
- Pages: 352
- Sales rank: 242,573
- Product dimensions: 6.10 (w) x 8.90 (h) x 1.40 (d)
Reviews (0)
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5.0 / 5.0
In Morro Bay, California, twenty-one year old Evan Erlich leaps off a rock to his death in what was an apparent suicide. Evan's father Charlie calls his younger brother Jay with the news. Though the siblings are estranged, Jay leaves his medical practice to go across the country to Grover Beach to be there for his sibling and his sister-in-law Gabriella.Charlie tells Jay he had troubled Evan committed out of fear his son would kill himself, but does not believe the lad took his life. However the state released Evan just before he killed himself. Being a doctor, Jay believes the institution has negligence liability based on their releasing a potential suicidal person. Jay investigates his nephew's death and soon uncovers murky links to other questionable deaths and Charlie's 1970s relationship with cultist murderer Russell Houvnanian while the local cops starting with dedicated Detective Sherwood tell him to go home.With an obvious link to the Manson murders, this exciting thriller starts off as a slow paced family drama as parents and an uncle deal with the suicide of the next generation. However, once Jay begins his resolute obstinate inquiry, the plot accelerates as he begins to find a horrific murderers' row which targets the Erlich trio.Harriet Klausner
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4.0 / 5.0
Jay Erlich is a doctor practicing on the East Coast. He gets a call from Charlie, his estranged brother who lives on the West Coast. Charlie's son Evan had apparently committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. Jay hurries out to see Charlie and his wife Gabby. Evan was a troubled kid who required a great deal of medication. Apparently, he attempted to kill himself before and wanted to buy a guy. Charlie had Evan committed to a state run facility but they released him after a few days and he was able to wander off by himself. At first Jay is sure that the State was negligent, causing Evan's death. Charlie asks Jay to investigate further, insisting that Evan's death was not a suicide. As Jay starts looking into it further, he starts to suspect Charlie is right. However, the more clues that Jay gets regarding Evan, the more Charlie will not provide Jay with any further information. As Jay gets more suspicious by a series of coincidences, he takes his suspicions to the cop who had investigated Evan's death. The cop is put off by Jay and keeps insisting that Jay has no evidence that Evan's death was anything more than suicide and that Jay should just let it go. Jay will not let it go and the more he investigates, weird things start happening and he starts to suspect that an old Manson like cult may lead to the answer. As a matter of fact, the cults story seems almost like it was a copy of the Manson cult's Tate/LoBianco murders. More things happen that finally get the cop interested in helping Jay. The relationship between Jay and the cop is strained and starts to soften as the two start to learn more. The author does a good job of making the cop likable. The first hundred pages of the book are slow and then it picks up. There are some tense moments as Jay gets closer to the truth. The book is an above average thriller and does have a strange epilogue at the end.
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5.0 / 5.0
As a long time fan of Andrew Gross, I am happy to say he just gets better and better. Eyes Wide Open grabs the reader first page and be prepared to get so engossed in the story that at no point do you want to put down. I was so emerged in story that I actually could feel every emotion as if I was on the scene and that says alot for an author's style and ability. Gross is a true master story teller and he in my opinion is the leader in THRILLERS.
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5.0 / 5.0
**********Out of all the mystery books I've read, this will always be my favorite. A reading that I could not put down. The story reflected more than the dark side but, also, a human side. I cried reading Chapters 75-80. How sad, after Jay reconnects with his brother, Charlie, loses him in death. So tragic to lose, not only Charlie, but his entire family. I did not like the final ending where it appears Hournanian mad revenge will continue with Jay's son, Max being the target.
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2.0 / 5.0
I've read his other books and enjoyed them. This one...not so much. It's a thinly disguised retelling of the Manson (Squeeky, Tex and the rest) cult murders. Even the names Gross uses for his characters are similar.
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1.0 / 5.0
I have enjoyed Andrew Gross's other books, but I thought this book was not worth reading. I found the storyline to be very far fetched and unnecessarily violent.
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5.0 / 5.0
Another terrific story by Andrew Gross who seemingly had his writing career boosted to stardom by writing several books in collaboration with James Patterson. In \"Eyes Wide Open\" Jay Erlich, a physician had a wonderful family. Kathy was his wife and they had two grown children. Unfortunately, Jay had an older half-brother, Charley, who was not a good family man. Yes, he was married and had a son, Evan, who had to be on medication to make life near normal. Charley had moved to California but his life was always in turmoil. Jay received a phone call from a distressed Charley who had received the word that Evan had committed suicide jumping from high rocks. Charley, in his usual stupor, did not think that Evan had taken his own life and he pleaded with Jay to come to California and help him get to the truth. Jay didn't know if Charley knew what he was talking about or not but he reluctantly went after promising Kathy that he would only stay a day or two and would then return home. Upon Jay's arrival he learned all he could about the entire situation, not knowing what the truth was. Jay turned to Detective Don Sherwood who was handling the case for the coroner's office. After hearing the detective's description of what occurred, Jay had his doubts that this was a suicide and determined that he would dig into things. The detective said it is possible that it was not suicide but all he could go by was the coroners report. The first clue was the fact that the home Evan had been assigned to for his rehab released him in only one day, certainly not enough time for any rehab. This only made Jay dig deeper. The deeper Jay got into the investigation the more he suspected that something else dreadful had caused Evan's death, not a suicide. When some police involved in Evan's earlier life were found dead and with seemingly no open connection to his death, Jay started putting two and two together and coming up with several possibilities, none of which came to a suicide conclusion. He even convinced Detective Sherwood that something was wrong in this case. All during this time, Jay had kept calling his wife, Kathy, trying to explain why his day or two kept getting extended. Eventually Jay made a connection to a man that Charley had been associated with years earlier in his life. Russell Houvnanian was a very bad man. The deeper Jay and Detective Sherwood dug into the past history of Charley and Houvnanian the more they were convinced that there was a connection in the case of Evan and with some of the threats and some dead bodies that had been discovered, some also in the life of Charley and Houvnanian. You will not get bored with this story with its twists. I enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend it. As mystery writers go, Andrew Gross has taken his place among the best.
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4.0 / 5.0
I was fortunate to receive a free ARC copy of this book.This is one of those books that will catch your attention and not let go until the last line. One of those books that will still be in your hands long past bedtime. It is a complex storyline, with all the expected twists (and then some) and with a sinister backdrop that will chill you as you turn the pages.The characters are very interesting. The way the author handles the bipolar and schitzophrenic Evan, Charlie and Gabby shows how comfortable he is with his creations. Their dialogue feels natural and even their delusions have a steady core of truth. There is no melodrama here. Jay, the main character, provides a lucid wall for them to bounce against as he tries to discover just what happened to Evan, his nephew. The villain, a Manson-like cult leader, has that charm and coldness that rings real enough to frighten the reader. I will not be forgetting him any time soon.When it comes to the plot, I could tell how carefully planned it had been. Most of the pieces fit together perfectly, propelling the reader down through secrets that werekept hidden for too long. There are a couple of plot points that weren't completely resolved, and which left me wondering. They were not extremely important and could have easily been cut out, which make me question why they weren't. But don't let that put you off, this is a book to read.I can highly recommend this book to anyone who loves thrillers, mysteries, or just a well-crafted novel. Just don't be surprised if you can't look at a dollar bill quite the same ever again.
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2.0 / 5.0
Trade Galley/Vine: The story is of a well-to-do doctor who get sucked into his brother's past, which happens to parallel Charles Manson and the Tate/La Bianca murders. His brother, named Charlie, is a functioning mental patient, thanks to tons of medication, who's son is believed to have committed suicide. The doctor, having the means to take a two weeks off from work and travel across the country, harasses the terminally ill coroner's investigator into helping him. With nothing to lose, the two of them go forward into the past to see what Charlie really knows about the night 35 years ago. This was a galley and there are several minor errors that the publishing company still needs to fix. However, there is a lot of repetition of discovery and telling of evidence. There were several questions not answered and one major letdown. The book is readable, but I do not recommend it. The characters are limited or shallow. Andrew Gross writes at the end of the book that his own nephew committed suicide the same way as the evidence shows at the beginning of the book. His nephew's case was a tragic case of the system failing the patient that could have been prevented. However, I believe Gross should have used his talents writing a non-fiction investigation piece.