My review

The story goes something like this, a phone call about a missing child, who has eyes like the protagonist, Nora. And that starts the ball rolling with the past and present clashing up with Nora right in the middle of it. 

The author, Sheena Kamal has walked the off-beaten path where main character is a recovering alcoholic investigator, who keeps falling off the bandwagon. She is so non-descriptive that throughout the book, I searched for her facets, to understand her better. The only person who wholeheartedly loved her was her dog cum partner, Whisper. They make such an unlikely likable combination. 

The book works only because of the raw grittiness of the protagonist, she is everything never seen in a main character, but she is everything seen in a woman who has touched the murky depths of the abyss, yet has risen up only by the sheer strength of her will power. She just refuses to curl away and give up. 

The main character, Nora is fascinating, I could almost never take my eyes off her. The other characters, too drift in and out of the story, and they do a fairly decent job. But Nora outshines them all by being so ordinary both in description and thoughts but extraordinary in her determination. 

There are a few niggles, I took 4 days to finish this book, and that is because the tension is not well maintained in the book. Every time there is an interesting occurrence, instead of completing that sequence, the author goes into detailed background explanation. That dilutes the whole pumped up curiosity. At one point I switched over to another novel. At others, I was left screaming – get to the point. Soon I learnt to skip over the explanation and get to the main story. 

The plot line is fantastic, filled with missing daughter, medical mystery, a beaten-up protagonist, powerful villains, murder, abuse, investigation and a wonderful dog and partner, Whisper. But the delivery could have been way better. Still it does make good reading for a debut. 

This book embodies a real truth, a mother’s love for her child, arises from the soul, even if that child has been unwanted and given away. 

The womb, the heart, and the blood speaks when actions do not… 

My rating : 3.5 stars 

About the Author 

Sheena Kamal holds an HBA in Political Science from the University of Toronto, which she attended on Canada’s most prestigious scholarship, received for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness in Toronto. She went on to work in the film and TV industry, most recently as a researcher for a crime drama series being developed for television. Her research into crime and investigative journalism inspired Eyes Like Mine.

Book blurb 

It’s late. The phone rings.

The man on the other end says his daughter is missing.

Your daughter. 

The baby you gave away over fifteen years ago. 

What do you do? 

Product Details 

Publication date : 9th February 2017

Publisher : Bonnier Zaffre

Language : English 

Available on Amazon