Customer Reviews

Doll's Eyes

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I was prompted to read "Doll's Eyes" after seeing the movie, "In Dreams," which was supposedly based on the book. Well, other than having a psychic heroine, there is very little resemblance between the movie and the book. The movie was good on its own, but I think the book is a little more involving and coherent.

We meet Eve Stein who has been "blessed" or "cursed" with psychic abilities. While visiting her estranged husband at his new lakeside residence, she touches a swing and flashes on a vision of a woman being killed nearby. We learn the killer's identity early and he is certainly a cold, heartless murderer.

Eve tells her vision to a local cop, Dave Levotsky, an almost local legendary detective, who doesn't believe her until she touches him and tells him things about himself that no one could possibly know.

From thereon, Wood takes us on a deep, disturbing journey as the killer learns of the psychic's ability and does everything he can to find her and kill her --- but not before he forces her to reveal what horrible thing happened in his childhood that left him with serious physical and mental scars.

While I usually dislike writers who try to justify their villains' heinous crimes and make you feel sorry for them, Wood pulls this one off nicely. Adam Fuller DID have a horrible childhood and one can certainly see why he feels compelled to murder.

The final confrontation between Adam and Eve (ha!) in the cemetery is chilling and even touching. However, I was kind of disturbed at Eve's sudden "sympathy" for the man who was going to kill her, but the open-ended ending lets you know that things will work out for Eve.

A good solid thriller and highly recommended. Watch "In Dreams" too even though it's nothing like the book!

This is the first book I have read by Bari Wood. And it will not be the last. Even though you know who the killer is from the start. You are still sitting on the edge of your seat. Ms Wood has a way with words to strike that chilling nerve in the back of your neck. While reading this book I kept checking to make sure I was alone. The characters had a lot of depth and were very believable. Great job.

I really enjoyed Doll's Eyes because it took me into the mind of a psychopathic serial killer. I appreciated the fact that it isn't a one-sided story that depicts the killer as pure evil. Instead, Wood takes us back to the killer's childhood, where we find out that he was both physically and sexually abused by his mother. To one's almost-disbelief, it forces the reader to find sympathy for the supposedly cold-blooded murderer. There is no black or white in Doll's Eyes, just shades of grey. This is why I found Doll's Eyes to be such a fascinating novel. One I just couldn't put down. If you're a fan of psycho-horror thrillers, then get ready to put Doll's Eyes on your list of favorites.

Bari Wood, Doll's Eyes (William Morrow, 1993)

What is it that makes a book a quintessential seventies mystery novel?I'm not entirely sure, but I do know it has something to do with the writing style of the book's author; reading a mystery written by one of the scions of the seventies mystery novel is a different experience than reading one written by one of the newer breed of mystery writers. The newer novels are faster-paced, breezy almost, with more plot twists, more red herrings, less leisurely speculation on the nature of the mystery. There are a number of authors proficient in this; Daoma Winston, Naomi Hintze, and Bari Wood are just the first three that spring to mind. And make no mistake-- Wood may have released Doll's Eyes in 1993, but it is very much a seventies mystery novel in the same vein as her wonderful The Tribe or Twins.

Because of this, the book does feel a little dated, but that has nothing to do with the action therein. The plot is very nineties. Eve Klein, a psychic, goes to see her estranged husband, Sam, in the small New York town of Raven Lake. When she gets there, she has a vision of a murder being committed by a serial killer. This gets her involved with local police detective Dave Lavotsky, who's been tracking the serial killer. Together, the two of them have to find a way to stop the guy before he kills again.

The Tribe will always be the pinnacle of Wood's authorial career, and once again, Doll's Eyes doesn't quite live up to the incredible potential she showed in that book. However, that said, this is still a cracking mystery. Instead of whodunit-- we know that from the get-go-- the mystery here is whether the killer finding his repressed memories will cure him of the desire to kill. And whether it will happen before he finds out who Eve is and kills her.

It may seem dated, but that doesn't make it any less a pleasure to read. Bari Wood is a strong writer and delivers here another solid book in the corpus. Wood has faded into entirely undeserved obscurity these days (despite her novel Twins having been turned into one of the most popular cult films of all time, David Cronenberg's brilliant Dead Ringers); if you're a mystery fan, do yourself a favor and get to know Bari Wood if you already don't. I'd start with The Tribe, but there's no Bari Wood book out there that isn't worth reading. *** ½

This book will leave you in awe and suspense. I have had the chance to read both the book, Doll's Eyes, and seen the movie based on the novel, In Dreams. I loved the storyline, the plot, the characters, and the suspense the book left you with in the end. You feel pity and joy for all characters.

This was a good book. I enjoyed the quick pace and the ending turned out to be different than I expected. It was also nice to know what the killer is thinking about through the book, instead of being suprised at the end to find out who the killer is.

Eve Klein had one chance, and it's crumbling. See, Eve has psychic powers. She can see past tragedies, and future crimes, she can see soon-too-be-dead people. She can also see your secrets, and it is this that has driven her husband Sam to run to Raven Lake, and away to from her. This power is inherited. It drove her mother to suicide, and has laid waste to her life, leaving her a haunted woman, and her marriage in shambles. But, she's still in love, and wants to go to him with the hope of keeping her marriage together. When she does, she has several visions. One of which is about a bloody murder, and the other about a small child being viciously tortured.

The murder that Eve sees is one of a series of sadistic murders that are happening in the area. Bari quickly informs the novel's readers that the good, kind, and considerate Dr. Adam Fuller is the psychopathic serial killer behind these murders. It seems that he has been traumatized and is now dead inside, and he's committing these murders in the hope that he will eventually feel something. And it's not working.

We will soon be introduced to the mammothly beefy Detective Lieutenant David Latovsky who is investigating the murders. Eve and David's paths will cross, and she will inform him that she has seen the killing, and the killer, but from the most recent victim's eyes. Latovsky of course doesn't initially believe her, but gradually, as her visions keep proving true, he is forced to believe.

However, he can't take it all on faith. So, he takes her to see his psychiatrist Terence "Bunny" Bunner for an examination, and to Bunner's chagrin there is nothing that he can do to trip Eve up; she's the real deal. On the way out, she warns him not to go to a dinner. Stubbornly, he decides to go anyway, and when he does he talks to Fuller who is also his patient. Through Bunner, Fuller finds out that there is a psychic that may have seen him through her visions, and that the police through David, are listening to her. Unfortunately, Bunner, doesn't know her name, and so the second half of the novel starts. The police are trying to find the killer, the killer is trying to find the psychic, and the psychic is just trying to find peace. The biggest problem is that Eve has seen that Adam has found her, despite David's efforts to protect her, and her visions are never wrong.

Wood's novel was just a little ahead of its time. There were few psychic detective thrillers at the time, although the genre would soon explode, and while the novel has some rudimentary romance, it is by no stretch of the imagination a romantic thriller. You will keep hoping that something will develop between David and Eve. This is one of those books that would be well served with a sequel, but we never got one. Her last book was in 1995, fifteen years ago.

If the idea of a haunted psychic helping the police solve a crime sounds familiar, then the tv series "Medium" owes more than a little bit of its storyline to this book. It's too late now, but this book cries out to be made into a movie. This 1993 novel WAS the basis for the 1999 movie In Dreams with Annette Bening, Robert Downey, and Paul Gulifoyle, but it didn't have the same plot, characters, or any of the same scenes as the novel. Although I vaguely remember liking the movie, the writers Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) and Bruce Robinson (Jennifer 8 (Widescreen Edition)) clearly failed in creating a good adaptation for the silver screen, but we still have the original. Wood would write seven novels before retiring from the writing business. Too bad. I think that several of them are well worth reprinting. If you like psychic thrillers with likable characters then "Doll's Eyes" should be on your list of too-be-reads.

I really enjoyed this book, as well. Both the heroine and the villain were unusual characters and I especially liked the twist of having the psychic 'see' the killer's childhood torment. Though it is a little hard to believe that she was so willing to forgive him for all those gruesome murders and to be angry with her saviour.

Is Ms. Woods setting up a sequel, do you think?

The best Bari Wood book that I have ever read. I wish that more people would comment about this fantasic author.