Review of DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES by Christie Craig

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

In DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES (Texas Justice #1) by Christie Craig (due out August 28th 2018 by Forever), Annie Lakes reconnects with her mother's side of the family only to realize that they are hiding a major secret. Annie has been plagued by the same nightmare ever since she was a little girl. Reconnecting with her mother's family causes her to realize that this nightmare is more than just a dream - everything in the nightmare really happened. When Annie was a little girl, her cousin, Jenny, died under mysterious circumstances and Annie and another cousin witnessed her body being disposed of. Annie has no way of proving any of this. And her family sure isn't talking. Enlisting the help of Detective Mark Sutton of the cold case squad, the two work together to find out what happened to Annie's cousin.

I found DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES to be a an interesting read, but I just couldn't get into it like I wanted to. I think that had to do with the two main characters - I didn't like either of them and couldn't bring myself to really care about what happened to them. Annie comes off as crazy and immature. And Sutton was just annoying. Other than not liking any of the characters, I did find the main mystery to be compelling. I did want to know what happened to Annie's cousin just because the family seemed so intent on keeping it covered up. The secondary mysteries - what is going on with Annie's mother's family, who is threatening Annie's life, where is cousin Fran, and Sutton's investigation into a little girl who was murdered years earlier - all provide extra storylines that help enhance the main story. There is also a romantic storyline between Annie and Sutton that might keep certain readers engaged - personally, I didn't care. While all of the storylines were interesting, I felt that the mysteries all wrapped up a little too neatly and quickly. I also found some of the outcomes to be a little bit of a let down and anticlimactic. Aside from that, it was an all right novel.