Those Empty Eyes

Starred review from February 20, 2023
In 2013, when Alexandra Quinlan, the appealing heroine of this excellent thriller from Donlea (Summit Lake), was 17, she hid as her parents and 13-year-old brother were murdered by an intruder in their McIntosh, Va., home. Alexandra earned the nickname Empty Eyes as she was led out of her family’s house in shock; the name stuck after she was arrested for the murders. Her case never went to trial, and she later won millions in a defamation lawsuit. Hounded by true-crime fanatics and unscrupulous tabloids, she changed her name to Alex Armstrong. In 2023, Alex works in Washington, D.C., as a legal investigator for Garrett Lancaster, the lawyer who won her defamation lawsuit and always believed her to be innocent. Alex’s latest case involves Matthew Claymore, a business major at McCormack University who is suspected in his girlfriend Laura McAllister’s disappearance. A student journalist, Laura was working on a major story about rape on McCormack’s campus. The engrossing plot leads Alex to the university’s faculty and fraternities, to the über-rich and well connected, as well as links to her own family’s murder. This searing look at the legal system, entitlement, and exploitation is not to be missed. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Lit.