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Reviewed by Gaius Konstantine for Readers' Favorite
“It’s best to live your life and take opportunities as they come.” While this sentiment can be true, does it extend to committing four murders in a single day? Mind The Blinds, a novel by Becky Anyanwu, delves into this question and more. The protagonist, 17-year-old Elyas, lives in Nigeria and is far from a typical teen. He is intelligent and studious, yet struggles with processing emotions, despite being capable of feeling jealousy and love for his four-year-old brother. One day, while walking home from school with his beautiful friend Chess, Elyas is assaulted by three boys who want to harm her. After a brief fight, Elyas leaves the attackers for dead and then returns home to kill his abusive father. From this point onward, the story takes an even darker turn. Elyas attracts the attention of the police, but more importantly, he draws the interest of a serial killer named Solomon, who sees a reflection of himself in the young boy. As the body count rises and betrayal unfolds, Elyas must confront a mirror image of himself before more people die and he succumbs to darkness.
Savage, raw, and shockingly effective, Mind the Blinds by Becky Anyanwu is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller of the highest caliber. The plot revolves around a teen who is far from ordinary as he grapples with life, slipping into insanity and violence, even if his motives are not entirely bad. Beneath this harrowing narrative, themes of corruption, mental instability, and the struggle to help others—when one cannot even help oneself—make the horrific violence secondary to the psychological depth of the story. The character development is superb, featuring a cast of unique individuals that keeps the tale fresh. As for the pacing, it resembles a boxing match where the fighters come out swinging haymakers and delivering body blows right from the start, only to intensify quickly and viciously. Overall, it’s a brutal tale that will thrill even the most hardcore fans of the genre and leave them in awe.
