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    Eyes Wide Open
    Eyes Wide Open
    Eyes Wide Open
    Audiobook9 hours

    Eyes Wide Open

    Written by Andrew Gross

    Narrated by Christian Hoff

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “Gross is a top-notch thriller writer.”
    —Chicago Sun-Times

    “Andrew Gross knows how to make your skin crawl. Eyes Wide Open should be read with the door shut and the lights on; a truly terrifying descent into evil.”
    —Nelson DeMille

    New York Times bestselling author Andrew Gross solidifies his position as one of today’s very best suspense authors with Eyes Wide Open. Joining his previous bestsellers The Blue Zone, The Dark Tide, Don’t Look Twice, and Reckless, Eyes Wide Open is another brilliant example of the contemporary thriller done absolutely right. In this relentlessly exciting page-turner, a man must investigate a shattering personal tragedy that is somehow connected with a charismatic cult leader from the ‘60s. James Patterson, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, John Grisham, Jonathan Kellerman, Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Gardner, Nelson DeMille, Tess Gerritsen—Andrew Gross stands tall in their elite company.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 12, 2011
    ISBN9780062072719
    Eyes Wide Open
    Author

    Andrew Gross

    Andrew Gross is the author of the New York Times and international bestsellers Everything to Lose, No Way Back, 15 Seconds, Eyes Wide Open, Reckless, Don't Look Back, The Dark Tide, and The Blue Zone. He is also coauthor of five number one bestsellers with James Patterson, including Judge & Jury and Lifeguard. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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    Reviews for Eyes Wide Open

    3.5/5

    154 ratings32 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I'm afraid I can't concur with most of the reviews here. The author's note at the end of the book explained to me why Mr. Gross wrote the book and I can certainly see that it was a therapeutic activity for him. His family tragedy formed the seed for this book but it essentially was not enough to justify the Manson-like nature of the plot. The thriller aspects of the plot took away any drama I felt for the family's tragedy and the hanging ending, begging for a sequel, really left me cold.There were too many loose ends that led nowhere (maybe these will be followed in the sequel) but I felt, halfway through the book, that enough story lines had been introduced to reduce the effect of any one of them. It devolved into a common thriller which lessened the impact of the originating story.After reading the other reviews here I concur completely with that of Johnfgaines.I will not be reading any more books by Mr. Gross.
    • 4/5
      Watch out who you run around with. They may seem like your friends but WATCH OUT. They may be using you for their own benefit.Charlie likes to party a lot. His father does the same. They hang out with a group of people who are not very likable. They all get into trouble. Charlie calls the police and most of them go to jail. Some have 20 years sentences, others get 15 year sentences. The head of the group receives a life sentence.Many years later, suicides are happening around town. Are these REALLY suicides or are people in the group coming back and planning revenge? How can this be when the head of the group is in jail?The prologue of this book is full of suspense. It starts to drag after that. And then the suspense picks up about towards the end. It could have a sequel but not sure if Gross intends to write it.Andrew Gross co-authors with James Patterson. This is the first book I've read of his where he is only author.
    • 3/5


      Well written. Reasonably smooth read. Story had some unpredicted twists. Overall a very solid book. Worth a read.
    • 5/5
      Really liked it!
    • 4/5
      Murder, edge of my seat thrills, drama? When I received the ARC of Eyes Wide Open, I was intrigued. It had me at "horrible family tragedy." I’ll start off by saying I didn't enjoy the short chapters in this novel. I felt it was unnecessary. They served no purpose other than being the book's equivalent of a commercial break. The second thing I didn't like was how seemingly perfect Dr. Jay Erlich was. He was a little too perfect and characters need flaws to be human. Perhaps Andrew Gross did give Jay flaws because Charlie, his brother, was a hot mess. Of all the characters, I liked him the best. I appreciated and respected his strength and his need to protect his family. Did he go about it all wrong? Absolutely, but that is what endeared me to him. He was flawed, he was human, he was real. I enjoyed reading how Jay and Charlie's relationship developed. The author succeeds in bringing realism to the brothers. He pulled me into their relationship and that is what made me continue reading. It wasn’t the drama or the mystery that needed to be solved but how these two very different brothers strengthened their bond. I enjoyed how the story developed. In hindsight, I see where Mr. Gross dropped clues for the reader. I'm sure someone who is a fan of the genre would have picked up on them, I had to wait to the end to find out. I believe this is the first novel in a new series. I'm not sure where Mr. Gross is going to take it. I can't imagine where it could go. Then again, I'm not the writer, just a reader he sucked in. What moved me the most was the author's note at the end of the novel. I will admit it changed my view of the story, it caused me to see it in a different light and appreciate it in a different way.If you enjoy a good thriller, I think you'll like this one. I'm not a typical reader of them and I enjoyed it very much. I'm not sure I'll pick up another Andrew Gross novel, but I will read the next one in the series just to see what the doc uncovers next.
    • 5/5
      Not Gross' best book, drags a bit, too much internal dialogue.
    • 4/5
      This is a fictional thriller involving actual events, it describes the lives and families of two different brothers, the Erlich's. Jay a surgeon from New York, gets a call from his brother Charlie, saying, "that his son, "Evan" has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff of an apparent suicide". All of Charlie's family have been diegnosed with bipolar and are living on Social Security checks, just making ends meat. Jay goes out to California to comfort his brother's family, while out there he notices that this might not have been a suicide, but foul play might have been involved, now the mystery unfolds. I really enjoyed this novel, it kept the pages turning, not wanting to put it down till the end.
    • 4/5
      Eyes Wide Open, a fictional mystery inspired by actual events, opens with Jay Erlich, a surgeon in New York, getting word that his nephew committed suicide by jumping off of Moro Rock in California. This mirrors closely the actual death of the author’s nephew. In the book the reader learns that Evan, the fictional nephew, may have been the victim of shady, or at least negligent practices at the hands of the authorities who were supposedly treating him for his bipolar disorder. Jay flies out to be with his brother and, while there, starts investigating the events surrounding Evan’s death.Up to this point, the book closely mirrors the actual suicide of the author’s own nephew and I get the impression that one of the reasons this story was written was to allow Andrew Gross an opportunity to work through his grief and anger over this senseless death.Spoiler warningAt this point in the book I was puzzled as to how this book was going to turn out. Was there some sort of fantastical hospital conspiracy ala Robin Cook that Dr. Erlich was going to ferret out or was it somehow connected to the time decades before when Jay’s brother, Charlie, lived on a ranch with a hippy commune headed by a charismatic ex-con who went on to lead many of them on a highly publicized killing spree? I did say this was inspired by actual events, didn’t I?Having come of age in the late 1960s, I still remember the aura of fear surrounding the Manson murders. The murder of one of the attorneys during the trial made many people think that the horror was far from over. The question as to whether such a character has mystical powers that he can use to strike out at his enemies from even the securest prison provides rich fields for an imaginative author such as Andrew Gross to frolic in.I found Eyes Wide Open to be an enjoyable, if not entirely credible, read with equal measures of mystery and thriller. These kept me going despite some choppiness, that might have been improved by better editing. As an example two chapters, specifically chapters 62 and 65, appear to serve the same purpose. Both divulge the exact same information to the reader. The only difference is that chapter 62 is written from the point of view of the detective who learns certain pieces of information in conversations with other officers whereas chapter 65 is written from Jay’s perspective as the detective passes the same information on to him. My impression from reading the two chapters is that Andrew Gross was undecided as to how to present this information and wrote up the scene from two different POVs and that both ended up being published, possibly by accident. It doesn’t really detract from the story and does give the reader an intriguing sense of getting an illicit peak at the man behind the curtain.The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the LibraryThing Earler Reviewer program.
    • 4/5
      My first encounter of Andrew Gross was the two books he co-authored with James Patterson. This was the first novel of his that I have read and I found it to be enjoyable. It was fast paced and intriguing until the end. I would recommend to others.
    • 4/5
      Great book! I could not put it down. I was really impressed how well the characters are developed with realistic lives. This is a great book for any one with that crazy or just different family member.
    • 4/5
      This is Andrew Gross best stand alone book that he has came out with. It starts put slow but it picks up and does not let of the gas intill the very end. Would recommend to any one that reads his books. He is up there with the likes of Patterson, Woods and Parker.
    • 3/5
      Imagine if someone took the first 40-50 pages of a random medical thriller and glued it to the last 300 pages of Helter Skeltor. You would have something resembling this book. Neither section would be bad, but the overall effect would be seriously disjointed.The book opens with a random murder in Michigan. This violent crime will not be referred for another 200 pages (but thats ok - standard thriller device). What is not OK is the next portion of the story where our hero Jay's mentally ill nephew seemingly commits suicide in California. The plot segues into a medical thriller. Jay investigates the hospital that threated Evan, the halfway home that he was released to, and there is even a sinister sounding conversation between the police officer assigned to investigate the suicide and the Doctor at the hospital about tying up loose ends before everything unravels.Maybe it is because I just finished (finally) The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest, but I read these early pages as a suggestion of a sinister government sponsored experiment on mentally ill patients. The book suddenly felt nothing like the description of a cult-like past coming back to haunt Jay's older brother, and very much like something I didn't care to read. I have to say I put the book down for several weeks at this point. Only my obligation to LTER (and my self-imposed restriction of reading LTER books before my ever growing TBR pile) forced me to return.Curiously, if I had managed to force myself to read just a few more pages my dislike of evil experimenting doctors wouldn't have been an issue. The plot about the hospital and halfway house is completely dropped. The detective who sounded like he was going to be a villain is now a good guy.We move on to discover that Jay's brother Charlie was once involved with Charlie Manson, and that someone is killing off people associated with the Tate-LaBianca murders. Well almost, Charlie was involved with a cult leader in the named Russell Houvanians whose followers murdered a large group of people at a dinner party as well as another couple.This part of the book was much more enjoyable. It was fast paced and engrossing. If only the author had shown a little more originality in his cult story (seriously it way too closely paralleled Manson) I would have given it 4 stars. But I'm someone who hates "ripped from the headlines" (or in this case history books) type plots.I would be remiss if I didn't mention the authors note at the end. The author's nephew died under circumstances nearly identical to Jay's nephew. My earlier feelings of disjointedness were explained. The first 50 pages were deeply personal and therefore tended not to truly relate to the overall plot. A stronger editor would have really helped the author here. Either the first part should have been seriously curtailed, or the author should have continued to story his narrative suggested (my misreading of a sinister plot afoot at the hospital). Both would have made for a stronger book, but I suspect the author was too emotionally invested to see that. I can forgive the author this.
    • 3/5
      Overall I enjoyed reading this book. I thought the main characters were interesting and generally well developed. There is plenty of suspense and murder to make this an interesting read.
    • 4/5
      I've read most of Mr. Gross's other solo works and enjoyed them very much. This work did not disappoint me. The writing is fast paced and never boring. I can't wait for his next novel.
    • 3/5
      This is a fairly good thriller which has as its center a thinly disguised portrait of Charles Manson and his "family" thirty years after the horrendous events which brought them to the public eye. Some fairly good plotting and characters are undermined by leaden dialogue and so-so descriptive passages.
    • 1/5
      I read the author's notes early on and learned this was, in part, based on the author's own nephew's suicide which made me really want to like this book. But I just couldn't it was so incredibly slow, with no climax, no twists, and the end you could see coming from a mile away. I wouldn't recommend ths book to anyone.
    • 4/5
      This book was received from LibraryThing through their Early Reviewers program.Story begins with a young man jumping from a cliff to his death. When his uncle, Jay Erlich receives a call from the boy’s desperate father (his brother, Charles) the question of why Evan, his bi-polar nephew committed suicide is asked.As a successful doctor, Jay drops everything and sets out from the east coast, across the country to California to support and console Charles and his wife Gabriella. Questions are asked but never seem to be fully answered and the demise of this nephew has many details that are not making sense.Using whoever will listen, Jay follows the reports and starts to investigate with the help of Detective Sherwood. This fast paced thriller draws you in deeper and deeper.The reasons for the growing stockpile of murders start to become connected because of Charles, the ex-hippy. He hid for so many years…but the past is coming back to haunt him.This story follows a “Charles Manson & Helter Skelter” like evil persona. His name is Houvnanian and he never forgets.Some parts of the book are gruesome in detail and the death count in the end is monumental. I recommend this book to readers who like a hardcore mystery and want a quick thrilling read.
    • 3/5
      Moves at a fairly fast pace and has a fair share of gore to it. There is a very strong connection to a real case --almost too coincidental. Still have no idea what the heck happened? The author's note at the end at least answers some of the reader's WTH questions, but don't read it beforehand! Gross deserves some degree of respect for having written this novel at all.
    • 5/5
      Charlie Erlich spent his youth stoned and playing music, but there’s a darker side to what happened all those years ago and it just caught up with him with deadly force when his son Evan is found dead at the bottom of a canyon, at first glance it’s a slam dunk suicide but sometimes things aren’t as simple as they look.Jay Erlich is the good brother to Charlie’s screw-up and it’s no different in adulthood, Jay is used to getting phone calls for help from Charlie and his dysfunctional family but this time it’s different when the call is to report Jay’s nephew’s death. Jay rushes to his brother’s aide leaving his own family and career. As Jay investigates the supposed suicide it begins to look more and more sinister and it looks to be connected to Charlie’s youth and a horrible crime that was committed by members of a cult that he was involved with. Who will be safe and who will be sorry and who will have their “Eyes Wide Open “.Andrew Gross may have started out as a co-author with James Patterson but with the sale of his first solo novel his masterful storytelling has become more and more evident, this one takes us away from Ty Hauck his protagonist from the last few novels, but have no fear because he introduces us to some memorable new ones. His plot is filled with dangerous twists and murderous turns so you lovers of dark thrillers will be happy with all the mayhem. His narrative is easy to read and follow and flows smoothly from start to finish with dialogue that describes and reflects on his characters and his scenes. His characters are remarkable from the smallest part to the biggest role and Mr. Gross does an outstanding job giving each one their individual voice that readers will be able to hear loud and clear. The brothers Jay and Charlie will definitely get under your skin with their polar opposite personalities and actions, from Charlie’s bipolar, ex-hippy self to Jay’s by the book, upstanding citizen, surgeon self. If mystery, murder and dark plots are your cup of tea, have a cuppa this because you won’t find a better roller coaster ride than the one you’ll climb on here. If you like characters with character, you’ll find them between the pages of this novel. If you just like an unforgettable story, you’ll remember this one for a long time.
    • 5/5
      I finished this book about a week ago and resisted an urge to write about it right away. I’m glad I waited because when I finished the book I felt the characters of Jay’s brother and his wife were shallow, without any substance. Since then I realized that people with the kind of problems Charlie and Gabby dealt with are not deep, they tend to wear their hearts on their sleeve so Andrew nailed it with those characters. The Hero, Jay Erlich, is a loving father and successful doctor. While celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary with his wife Kathy he receives a call from his half-brother Charlie. Charlie suffers with bi-polar disorder and lives a heavily medicated life from prescribed medicines and some recreational ones as well. Charlie has some terrible news; Jay’s nephew, Charlie’s only son, is dead.Always close, Jay feels a responsibility to fly from the East Coast to California to help Charlie and his wife Gabriella cope with this devastating loss. This is where I mistakenly took Charlie and Gabby to be shallow characters, one dimensional because of their lack of initiative when it appears that Evan may not have killed himself. The police are calling it a suicide but Jay just can’t quite bring himself to accept that. Charlie insists the Evan would not commit suicide and as Jay digs further into the mystery it begins to appear that Charlie may be right.What start’s as a disturbed young man’s death and his equally disturbed parents inability to cope with the matter quickly becomes a game of hide and seek with elements of Charlie’s past. The excitement ramps up and the action moves quickly. The action keeps tensions high as events unfold and the story gets more than a little frightening as Jay closes in on the truth. Charlie’s past is haunting him and not just from his memories. The story comes to an exciting but tragic end when Jay exposes the truth, but the truth comes with a great cost.This is a great read with lots of action and intense emotional intrigue but it had an extra quality that I couldn’t quantify until I got to the author’s notes at the end of the book. This story was inspired by a personal tragedy Andrew Gross experienced. You can feel this while you are reading the book.
    • 4/5
      -----Spoiler Alert-----Inspired by the death of his own Nephew, Andrew Gross has written a remarkable psychological thriller beyond simple who-done-it and how-did-they-do-it novels. "Eyes Wide Open" is written in a first person point of view, being told by Jay Erlich. It starts off with the apparent suicide of Jay's 21 year old nephew, Evan. Certain missing links begin to pile up making Jay believe that this may not have been as apparent a suicide then initially thought. As Jay begins to dive deeper into the mystery involving Evan's death, more and more trouble begins to arrive in his, and his family's life. Just when you think nothing else can go wrong, the local policeman investigating the crime begins to get wrapped up in the mayhem. As more and more bodies pile up, Jay is forced to confront his brother Charlie (Evan's father) about his past, in which may reveal the mystery of Evan's death.Being only 350+/- pages and 3-4 page chapters this was an easy read and always kept u on the edge of your seat. Overall I give this a 4 Star rating; definitely recommending it to any James Patterson fan, or Thriller fans.
    • 4/5
      I have followed Andrew Gross since he was writing with James Patterson and Eyes Wide Open is one of my favorites. I have followed him closely enough to have recognized that the plot line of the book was linked to his private life. I have found very few books that scare me as I am reading them. This one did. It was very fast paced, kept me guessing and has left me hoping there will be a sequel.This is definitely worth the read. However, my favorite is still The Blue Zone. If you like thrillers this book and all of Gross's books are worth a try!
    • 4/5
      After I finished reading this exciting thriller, I realized the author took the winning formula from James Patterson while he co-wrote five #1 best sellers with Patterson. The two writing styles of the authors are the same, with short chapters that pick up the pace. "Eyes Wide Open" is a page-turner and a potential best seller. The story to me was riveting and the characters are alive and memorable. The Charles Manson-like cult leader in the book is creepy and believable. The plot has many twists and turns with scenes that really surprised me. This is a good read.I recommend this book to all Patterson fans.
    • 5/5
      This is my first Andrew Gross book. It was captivating from the beginning. Lots of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages.
    • 5/5
      Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross is a story that builds and builds and builds, until you suddenly realize you are reading something that is an intriguing, creepy (and getting creepier every moment), and complicated too. The story starts with Jay and his wife celebrating their wedding anniversary and appreciating the comfortable life they have together. Then they are called by Jay's brother Charlie to be told that their nephew, Charlies only son Evan, has just committed suicide. Jay flies out to support Charlie & his wife Gabby. They both struggle with mental illness, as did Evan, and they live simply. Jay goes along with this brother & sister in law to see the police, caregivers, Evan's friends, and so on, and Jay slowly comes to believe that Evan was murdered. And once he believes it, even creepier things occur...The book was very well written and I stayed up late several nights in order to finish it. Recommended!
    • 2/5
      When reading a new book, I have often followed the “fifty-page rule.” No matter how boring or bad the book begins, I will stick with it for 50 pages. Then, I know enough to make a decision about whether the book is worth finishing. If the author has not convinced me that reading the book is a worthwhile use of my time, I am through. Some books make for a close call. That was true for Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Cross. If I had been observing a “thirty-page rule,” it would have been a no-brainer. This book starts off like the dud of all duds. I was wondering why editors at a reputable imprint like William Morrow ever would have accepted such a novel for publication. But it slowly gets better. By page 50, I was debating whether or not to continue. If Eyes Wide Open had been a library check-out, I would have slipped it in the returns slot without any regrets. But having an obligation to write this review, I felt the need to be fair so I plodded ahead and got caught up in the plot enough to finish the reading. Being on a cross-country flight with nothing else to read helped me keep going.New York doctor Jay Elich travels to California to comfort his older brother, whose son has died by falling from a rocky cliff along the central California coast. Authorities are ready to rule the death a suicide, but Elich finds enough inconsistencies to keep pushing the detective in charge of the case to investigate further. It is a long and convoluted path, but by the end of the 300+ page book, truth has been discovered. Whether or not justice has been served is a matter of interpretation. While Eyes Wide Open does not deserve a glowing recommendation, it does not end up being as bad as my first judgment indicated. Any reader needed to pass a few hours of time with nothing better to do might find this book serviceable. At the end of the day, that is about the best I can say.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. Once I started reading Eyes Wide Open I couldn't put it down. Eyes Wide Open captures your attention in the first few pages.Eyes Wide Open is a thriller, mystery and so much more in a very quick moving novel. The main characters are Jay Erlich, his brother Charles, his wife Gabby and their son Evan. Jay receives a call from his brother's wife Gabby informing him about their son's death. Is their son's death a suicide or was he murdered? is the question that Jay comes to when he goes to California to be with his brother and his wife.Has Charlie's past caught up with him? Does this have anything to do with what Charlie did when he was strung out on drugs? are some of the other questions that Jay starts asking himself. The ending of the story did not surprise me as much as I thought it would. I kind of had a feeling that the story wasn't over.
    • 5/5
      Andrew Gross is a superb writer of mystery thrillers. His stories capture our interest, have good quick-moving plot development, suspense, and excellent characterization. This is his fifth crime novel in which he is the sole author. He also wrote five best-sellers with James Patterson.Jay Erhlich, his protagonist, is a successful surgeon living an ideal life with his wife of twenty years and his kids. His father was mentally unstable, probably bi-polar, had charm which he misused illegally and caused self-inflicted injuries. He married and divorced several women. Jay’s older half-brother, Charlie, from another wife, inherited his father’s unhealthy mental disposition, is deeply disturbed, and unable to function well in society. Charlie has a son, Evan, who is as disturbed as his father and grandfather. Charlie’s family is supported by disability State payments, and Jay helps out with frequent cash contributions.Jay hears that Evan apparently committed suicide by jumping off of a high cliff. He leaves his lucrative medical practice, planning to return within a few days, and rushes to help console his brother and his brother’s wife, but he uncovers puzzles that stop him from returning home. Evan had been institutionalized because of violent behavior and attempted suicide, but was negligently placed in an “open home,” that he could leave at will, after just several days at the institution. When Jay tries to question the institution and the police, both seem to be covering up something. Jay discovers that a woman who Charlie knew when he belonged to a cult was just released from prison after serving for three decades. Several officials involved in her capture and imprisonment are murdered. Jay receives some help from a retired dying police officer who he must constantly push. He receives threats to drop his investigation and get out of town. Readers will be caught up in the suspense of finding out: What was Charlie’s involvement with the cult? Is he guilty of any crimes? Did he help capture the recently released woman? Is the woman seeking revenge? Are the institution and the police covering up something and, if so, what is it? Was Charlie’s son’s death a suicide or murder? What is the significance of the wide-open eyes?
    • 5/5
      Eyes Wide Open is a fast-paced thrilling murder mystery with an easy to read format of short clean chapters. It hooks you from the first couple pages with a murder and further sinks it's "teeth" into you with a suicide and a struggling relationship between a brother that has succeeded in family and professional life and a brother who barely survives through his, his wife's and his son's being bi-polar. The past relationship between brothers and what they learn about each other through this trauma and danger is developed nicely. The investigation and search for answers to why the nephew/son fell to his death and the ultimate exposure of past secrets and the evil behind them, keeps you glued tot the book until the last pages.
    • 4/5
      Eyes Wide Open is an enjoyable thriller following the story of 2 brothers, who are very different, but still close. I especially enjoyed the story line, as I am of the age that remembers all too well the times of Charlie Manson & Helter Skelter. This would be a great beach read: an exciting story, easy to read, with good characters and an entertaining pace. If you enjoy James Patterson (I believe Mr. Gross has co-authored with him), you will definitely enjoy Eyes Wide Open.