Eye of the Beholder

Maddy Wright is a ghostwriter, telling the stories of famous people, often without credit. Then she is offered the chance to tell the life story of a world-renowned cosmetic surgeon, Angela Reynolds. Dr. Reynolds whisks Maddy from her home in London to a secluded estate in the dreary Scottish moors. There she meets Scott, Dr. Reynolds’s business partner. Unable to escape the feeling that she is being watched, Maddy falls for Scott. When she returns to London, she learns that Scott has died by suicide and is devastated, until one day she sees him in a Tube station. Confused, she sets out to find out what happened to him. Bamford’s (Deep Water) new novel is tense and fast-paced, twisted and atmospheric. Any longtime consumer of thrillers will be able to predict what happens, but narrator Jane Collingwood does an excellent job of setting the mood and keeping pace with the story’s beautiful, evocative, and increasingly claustrophobic settings.