Book Review of Look Closer by David Ellis – Loved this one!
We heard that the thriller book Look Closer by David Ellis was a wild rollercoaster of a read. We love a great thriller but are super skeptical because so many times they are hyped up and just disappoint us.
You will see, in our Look Closer book review, that this one DID live up to the hype! Check out our full book review of Look Closer by David Ellis below.
This is a thriller book blog post featuring the dizzyingly clever thriller Look Closer by David Ellis, with our book review and discussion, plus book recommendations for other similar thriller books we think you might enjoy.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which, if used for purchase, will result in a small commission, at no additional cost to the buyer.
Slowprose Review Format
Generally speaking, we don’t think of ourselves as “serious” reviewers, so our format may be a little different. Here is what to expect when you are reading Slowprose book reviews:
- Cover Review – doing the cliche of judging a book by its cover.
- Book Blurb – we share the book jacket or Goodreads blurb about the plot.
- Intrusive Thoughts – these are the general thoughts and feelings we have about the book while reading it.
- Book review – our overall review and star ranking of the book
- Book aesthetics – this is how gorgeous we thought the pages of the book were, or how easy/hard it was to read, or how good the narrator was if it is an audio book.
- Book recommendations – we talk about the author’s other books or other books that remind us of this book in some form or fashion. Basically, this is our catch-all to talk about anything else that we want to.
To see our full review system, including our method of assigning and weighting stars, go here.
COVER REVIEW – Look Closer
This fantastic picture of the outstanding thriller book Look Closer by David Ellis was taken by Chelsea over at chapters_and_crayons and is used here with her permission! She gave this book 5 stars as well! Her Instagram is so gorgeously curated, we highly recommend you go check it out and give her a follow!
Looks Closer gets 3.0 stars for this cover.
This is a pretty basic looking thriller book cover. Not bad, but very stereotypical and not super memorable. Looks dark and menacing and sets the right vibe, so it is serving its purpose in giving thriller book vibes. But in terms of being immediately recognizable to this book, it kind of gets lost in the shuffle.
After reading the book, we see how it ties into the story. It doesn’t really give you an indication of the complex plot of this brilliant thriller, or the great fun you will have reading it. We still consider this cover to be a decent cover.
BOOK BLURB – Look Closer by David Ellis
Given our extreme irrational fear of ever being a spoiler of an epic plot twist, we will just share the book insert or book blurb found on Goodreads to provide the information in terms of the plot:
Look Closer
Simon Dobias and Vicky couldn’t seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, & he is a respected law professor. Simon’s wife is an advocate for domestic violence victims and homeless people. A stable, if unexciting marriage. But one thing’s for sure … absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are the very definition of being far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer.
When the body of a beautiful socialite is found dressed in a skintight cat costume hanging over an ornate wrought iron railing from the second-floor landing in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky’s secrets begin to unravel. A secret whirlwind affair. A twenty-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and obsession with devious revenge. These are just a few of the lies that make up the complex web…and they will have devastating consequences. And while both Vicky and Simon are liars, just who exactly is conning who?
INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS – Look Closer by David Ellis
Yay! Halloween Night!
OH WOW! Starts off Strong!
Ok, super smart guy has family issues.
Seems like he loves his wife so WTF.
Ohhhh she is no dummy.
Yikes, is she falling for this bit?
Ugh. What a POS!!
He cannot be this dumb.
Uh oh.
Oh Snap!
Wow he did it.
OHHHHHH
Love it, Love it, Love it.
LOOK CLOSER BOOK REVIEW
Slowprose Star Rating – 5.0 Stars
This was an AWESOME thriller!!!
It shoots out of the gate like a rocket so you are invested in the story right away. From there, it starts to build the back story, particularly of Simon, and does it in an interesting way with good pacing. You get enough information without overload or getting bored.
The twists start early, with lots of exciting things happening to keep your interest. There is a lot going on with different POVs and different timelines, but the author does a good job in keeping it organized so that you don’t get lost. We were impressed! It all builds upon itself as the story progresses. We did not get bored or overwhelmed at all, and really loved the story.
There is some really juicy bits in this book, and it is definitely true that all is not as it seems. We don’t want to say too much because we are committed to being a spoiler free review, so you will just have to trust us that you have to read this through to the ending! Its best to go in as blind as possible and enjoy the ride!
One thing about this thriller that we really liked, and that we really like when a thriller can pull it off, is that it seemed believable. Like, this could actually have happened. It would be a little *crazy* but we could see this actually happening. The believability factor plays a huge factor in whether a thriller works or doesn’t work for us. It definitely works for us in Look Closer!
We give Look Closer by David Ellis 5 stars!
Slowprose Star Rating – 5.0 Stars
BOOK AESTHETICS – Look Closer by David Ellis
We listened to this via audiobook, and really enjoyed it. It has a cast of narrators and they all did a great job with all parts of the story, with its exciting plot, unexpected turns and romantic triangles. It was tremendous fun, completely engaging and so well done. We highly recommend the audiobook version of Look Closer! We absolutely think that thrillers are the perfect genre of book to listen to.
Slowprose Feature – Book Content Creator
Typically we have two books going at once – one audio and one physical.
Most of the time, when we listen to an audiobook we don’t have a physical copy of the book to take pictures of. We love to feature pictures of the book because, well, we are nerdy like that. We love book pics!
So, we figured that reviews of audio books would be a great opportunity to feature other content creators and their incredible book pictures!
In this post, you have seen the incredible picture from Chelsea over at chapters_and_crayons featured. Please do go visit her beautiful feed and support fellow book nerds and creators!
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
This was our first David Ellis book, so imagine our surprise when we saw that he has authored several books with James Patterson. We honestly had not heard of him before but after looking him up, we see now why he has so many legal aspects incorporated into Look Closer. Here is a little bit of information we learned about him:
- David Ellis is a lawyer, attending Northwestern Law School and starting his legal career in private practice in Chicago in 1993. He served as the House Prosecutor who tried and convicted Illinois Governor Blagojevich in the Impeachment Trial before the Illinois Senate. In December, 2014, he was sworn in as the youngest-serving Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District.
Ellis is an Edgar-award-winning author for Best First Novel for Line of Vision. He has written ten novels of crime fiction, as well as eight books co-authored with James Patterson. His books have been reviewed by publishers weekly, kirkus reviews, and New York Times book review, to include the Jason Kolarich Series: “The Hidden Man” (2009), “Breach of Trust” (2012), “The Wrong Man” (2012), and “The Last Alibi” (2013); and his standalone novels “Life Sentence,” “In the Company of Liars,” “Line of Vision,” “Eye of the Beholder,” “Guilty Wives,” and “The Wrong Man.”
He has a new book coming out July 23, 2024 called The Best Lies. Here is the blurb for it:
Leo Balanoff is a diagnosed pathological liar with unthinkable skeletons in his family's closet. He's also a crusading attorney who seeks justice at all costs. When a ruthless drug dealer is found dead and Leo’s fingerprints show up on the murder weapon, no one believes a word he says. But he might be the FBI’s only shot at taking down the dealer’s brutal syndicate. Risk his life going undercover for the feds or head straight to prison for murder? Leo accepts the FBI’s offer—but it comes with a price, including a collision course with his ex, Andi Piotrowski, a former cop and “the one who got away.” Forced to walk a tightrope between an ambitious FBI agent and a cruel, calculating crime boss, Leo’s trapped in a corner. But he has more secrets than anyone realizes, and a few more cards left to play …
Given how much we loved Look Closer, we considering ourselves to be among his new fans! We will definitely be checking out The Best Lies.
Look Closer – A Great Non Romance Beach Read
We highly recommend Look Closer by David Ellis as a great beach read. If you love a good beach read that isn’t a romance, Look Closer is a great book for you. It is super fast paced, completely intriguing with unexpected twists and a really well done web of deception. It is so juicy (even has some spicy scenes!) and would make a great summer read. We actually feature it in our post of non romance beach reads, so go check that out for some more suggestions!
You can find all these and more in our storefront, Slowestuff Books From The Blog storefront.
We hope you enjoyed our Look Closer book review! If you pick it up, let us know what you thought of it once you read or listened to it! If you know of other thrillers that you think we will love, please let us know what they are. We love to get book recs from fellow readers.
If you want more book posts, check out the Slowprose section of the blog where we have more book reviews, book lists, favorite authors and more.
Hey Book Nerds! Lets be friends on Goodreads and BookTok!
Happy reading!
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[…] it unfolds as well as another timeline that takes you on the investigation. Very clever, very fun. We did a full book review of Look Closer, so check that out for […]