Loved this. Such good crime. Such good characterisation and clever plotting. Very vivid setting, very gripping story.

Fine writing and good characters .. I am self aware enough as reader to realise that my disinclination to read lots of flashbacks can limit my enjoyment of novels, and this novel relies on flashbacks. Ulp. But what was more difficult was to read the misogyny and abuse that is at heart of the novel's dilemma and narrative trajectory... so it was a tough, dark read and I quit. Others are more tolerant and will be fine with it, and she's an admirable author without doubt.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
The information provided explains that there are 3 main female characters in the book: Cora, an artist, her daughter Freya and Angel who works in a wolf sanctuary. The women live in different parts of the world and the narrative flits between them. There are frequent references to violence and abuse but these are not fully explained by a third of the way through the book so that there is a continuous undercurrent of threat and evil without clarity. The narrative style made the story too disjointed for me and the thread of the disappearance of Yves who links the women in some unexplained way made the novel limp along far too slowly for me. I could not read beyond 34%.

Throughout her career, South African crime author and journalist Margie Orford has dealt extensively with the way trauma manifests itself in countries with a turbulent political history such as South Africa and Namibia. She’s particularly interested in how it permeates the social structure, often culminating in violence against women. In her first crime fiction novel since 2013’s Water Music, the author returns to the topic and The Eye of the Beholder tells the tale of several women whose stories are connected by psychological and physical abuse over several decades.

Full review on my blog (https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2022/08/11/the-eye-of-the-beholder-margie-orford/) or on Crime Fiction Lover (https://crimefictionlover.com/2022/08/the-eye-of-the-beholder-by-margie-orford/)

This was totally different to what I was expecting. A really dark story with strong female characters, but I didn't connect with any of them and also found the mother and daughter quite irritating. I'm also not a huge fan of flashbacks which happened fairly regularly in this read. However, the exploration of each characters trauma was done very well and although not an easy read, a quick read that perhaps needs more fleshing out regarding the main characters.

This is such a tense story, a very well written story but I did struggle with some of the content. It's initially a slow burn but it soon picks up and keeps you hooked

The Eye Of The Beholder is not my usual read. The story itself is a slow burner, but I was immediately drawn in by the descriptions which made me picture the scenes perfectly and take myself to the different locations in the novel. It was particularly enjoyable to imagine myself in the snow in Canada in the middle of the heatwave!

The novel focuses on three women, Cora, Angel and Freya. They are very different in terms of personality, and for some parts of the novel, I found it difficult to connect with them. However, I understand that this is a technique used by the author to show us how their experiences have affected them and their relationships with others. The characters are constructed very well and I wanted to know more about them as the novel progressed.

The Eye Of The Beholder deals with some uncomfortable subjects and for that reason, it is not easy to read. It is very hard hitting and I will be thinking about these characters for a long time to come.

Overall I found this novel a tense, powerful, and extremely inspiring read that had wonderfully written and developed characters, a great usage of different narrations, and a steady and string plot weaved throughout.
As it goes for most novels that have more than one point of view, you either normally connect to the character/s that either have through similar things, to relate to them deeply, or the character with the strongest development and breath.
This time around I felt all three counteracting characters that drove the story were equally developed greatly, and all felt natural and extremely relatable. I also feel the dialogue was great, the writing itself was detailed and rich but the dialogue quite simple and ordinary-which worked very well, I’m such a fan of “purple” or “poetic” prose but when it goes into conversations and dialogue it just feels so forced as no one takes in detailed paragraphs in daily life conversations. So I very much appreciated that the detailed, rich writing didn’t come out in the dialogue too.
I also really felt the three stories were done quite well, they each has a distinctive voice to the three characters and the pace of each weren’t too rushed through. I do feel, however, the strongest moments of the darkest places within this book could’ve been more. I know I’m more in favour for dark novels, but I feel it could’ve had just a but more dark in between the surreal normality of these three lives.
I do also feel it became a,little predictable, but it wasn’t extremely do and overall I’d love to reread it again and also possibly give for w recommendation to a friend.
I also saw great reviews for the author’s dark detective series so I’d very much like to check that out.

A brilliant deeply disturbing story.

Cora, a flamboyant artist, produced a set of miniatures to represent her life as a young girl on her parent’s farm in South Africa. Unfortunately, the press has branded them as child pornography. Yves, an art dealer enters her life in this chaotic stage of her life. He goes out of his way to seduce her, even telling her a horrific secret. Will she be strong enough to break his hold over her?

Angel, a young woman with a past who lives close to Yves’ cabin, in the winter’s frozen lake district of Canada is part of a volunteer group looking after a pack of wolves near Yves’s cottage. She is mentally scarred by her past. Has she an agenda for taking the job with the wolves?

Margie Orford has produced a masterpiece in this novel that had me questioning every character, every situation and cringing with horror in several scenes. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, however, I was so caught up in the storyline that I couldn’t stop reading well into the early hours of the morning waiting to see how it would all end.

Rony

Elite Reviews received a copy of the book to review.

Cora carries secrets her daughter can't know. Freya is frightened by what her mother leaves unsaid. Angel will only bury the past if it means putting her abusers into the ground. One act of violence sets three women on a collision course, each desperate to find the truth when the people they love are not what they seem.

The Eye of the Beholder is a dark revenge thriller about trauma, female identity and the male gaze. This is a hauntingly, and chilling read.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

"Cora carries secrets her daughter can't know.
Freya is frightened by what her mother leaves unsaid.
Angel will only bury the past if it means putting her abusers into the ground."
The publisher's description really intrigued me so when I was offered a chance to review this for NetGalley I eagerly accepted the opportunity. Unfortunately, though I found that this book wasn't for me. It wasn't that I didn't like the author's way of writing or the way that the different strands came together - in fact I thought the way the story was constructed was quite good. It was the fact that this book centred so much on violence, misogyny and child sexual abuse that I really didn't like - I found it a sad and depressing read. Had I know that this was what the book would be centering upon I definitely wouldn't have chosen to read it.

Readers have had to wait almost a decade for a new novel from Orford, who earned a reputation as the South African Queen of Crime with her excellent Cape Town-set series starring journo and police profiler Clare Hart. With The Eye of the Beholder, Orford delivers something different in terms of setting and characters, while confronting some of the same tough issues (eg violence against women and children) as her series..

Cora Berger is a renowned painter living in Scotland who tries to turn trauma into art, whether capturing the stories of women who’ve survived war crimes, or her own troubled childhood in rural South Africa. But her fame recently turned to infamy thanks to her ‘Forbidden Fruit’ exhibition, which sparked a media and public furore and had police questioning Cora’s adult daughter Freya. Has Cora’s often-edgy art crossed a dangerous line? Meanwhile, a young woman named Angel cares for wolves in a snowy wilderness while trying to bury her past. When art dealer Yves Fournier disappears from his cabin, Angel is determined to find him. Cora, Freya, Angel, and Yves all have secrets, and as their lives entwine and collide, the consequences could be deadly.

Orford masterfully spins a chilling tale that takes readers into some uncomfortable, confronting areas, including child abuse and online pornography. As she did with her Clare Hart series, Orford centres her female characters and deeply explores real-life fears and salient issues such as abuse endured by women and children and its poisonous impact that lingers far beyond the violent act itself. Orford is fearless in her storytelling, which given the content won’t be for every reader, but is very, very good.

Chilling story showing another side to the burning effects of abuse and vioence that never go away. Two strong women who have to deal with that fallout in their own way - fighting violence with violence. An uneasy read as you question your own morality when you can see some justice in this.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

a dark read that some people might enjoy i found it quite slow and couldnt really get into it

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Eye of the Beholder is a thriller, a book about revenge and keeping secrets. Its the story about the secrets of Cora, her relationship with her daughter Freya and Angel who is determined to take revenge on her past abusers. Its starts slowly but quickly builds up pace. I was gripped and read it quickly.

The Eye of the Beholder by Margie Orford is a dark and gripping thriller that begins with a woman,Cora, fleeing a shack in an isolated forest cabin in Canada ,with the owner's dog in hot pursuit. She then leaves the country as quickly as possible. When the injured dog,usually constantly at her owner's side, is taken to a Wolf sanctuary by a passer-by the young woman who runs it,Angel, realises that something must be badly wrong. As time passes and the cabin owner cannot be found police suspicions fall on Angel who is a girl with a past.

A difficult book to give a synopsis of not containing spoilers this is a hard-hitting drama that centres around events in the lives of both Cora and Angel and the traumatic events that lead them to the things they do and the decisions they make with Cora's daughter Freya reluctantly being dragged into her mother's world, a mother who had been neglectful and selfish as she grew up.

There are a few threads to the story and it does feel rather "cluttered" at times, Cora has achieved infamy with a controversial piece of artwork which is an important part of the story but seemed to almost take over the book at one point while a much more exciting things were frustratingly put on hold.
That aside it's a good read and very atmospheric,especially the scenes in the wilds of Canada with it's roaming wolves. It also made me think about societal changes that all women experience as they change from girls to young women that as a male I'd never considered. That prompted me to have some enlightening conversations with female friends ,always a good thing when any book makes you think.

A good read that addresses some difficult but important issues. It does occasionally lose focus on the main story and the art controversy part for example seemed to take up more time than it warranted.

I love the way Margie Oford adresses the topic of abuse in such an original, creepy and vengeful way.
I have to say that it was tough to read at some points but I am so happy to have finished it.

I am new to this author so am unable to make comparisons with Margie Orford's earlier novels, but in this one the characterisation is quite weak. Most of the characters feel more like cardboard cut-outs than living, breathing people experiencing trauma. Cora is the only one who comes into her own and takes the reader with her on her journey through the novel.

The Eye of the Beholder is a dark revenge thriller about past trauma, female identity, the male gaze, coming-of-age and how that changes who we are, .The novel's pace is uneven and its structure of mixing flashbacks, action and internal reflections about what it means to be human doesn't work well. The reader finds herself questioning things that are answered later, but which should have been addressed earlier to make the story hang together better. While the last part of the narrative is full of gaps, the ending is disappointingly predictable. A couple of additional twists might have made it a more satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to Canongate Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

After reading the blurb for this book I really wanted to enjoy this book more, but for me it was too busy and often became disjointed. I understand that the flash backs were an integral part of the story but why so many and so repetitive. A predictable tale, dark in places but unfortunately did not hold my attention. Saying that I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I found the synopsis better than the actual book. It was an ok read but I found the plot and characters a little confusing. An interesting challenge and storyline.