Close Your Eyes and Count to 10
When the real game begins, who will make it to the count of 10?
Charismatic daredevil and extreme adventurer Maverick Dillan invites you to the ultimate game of hide-and-seek. But as the players gather on Falcao Island, the event quickly spirals into a chilling test of survival. A storm rages as a deadly threat stalks the contestants, turning the challenge into something far more sinister than the social media stunt it was intended to be.
Enter Adele, a single mother with a fierce determination to protect her children at all costs. When she begins the game, she unwittingly enters a twisted web of deception and intrigue. Can she maneuver through the treacherous storm and the relentless competition and get home to her family? In a ruthless battle for survival where the stakes are higher than ever, the blurry line between the virtual and the real proves that the only person we can trust is ourselves.
Awards and Honors
- USA Today Bestseller
- Publishers Weekly Bestseller
- Apple Books Bestseller
- Barnes & Noble Bestseller
- LibraryReads Hall of Fame Pick
- LoanStars Top 10 Pick
- Goodreads Biggest Mysteries & Thrillers of 2025
- BookBub Best Mysteries and Thrillers of Winter 2025
- Readworthy by BookBub Best Thrillers of March 2025
- Crime By The Box Book Club Pick for March
- Apple Books Most Anticipated Books of 2025
- SheReads Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2025
Praise
“As entertainment blurs with reality, this tense thriller asks how far someone might go to protect the ones they love.”
—The Washington Post
“Lisa Unger returns with another white-knuckle survival thriller... Twists arrive relentlessly, keeping readers on edge and guessing until the final, breath-stealing twist. Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 proves that sometimes the real threat is hiding in plain sight.”
—The Seattle Times
“Hide-and-seek is a classic kids’ game, but in Lisa Unger’s heart-pounding new thriller, Close Your Eyes and Count to 10, it’s far from child’s play... Her carefully crafted psychological thrillers are reliable bestsellers, thanks to her skill at creating engaging, complex characters and her mastery of the killer plot twist. This book does all that and, like many of her recent books, makes effective use of our dependence on our devices. The question is whether they save our lives or become the death of us.”
—Tampa Bay Times, Colette Bancroft
“Lisa Unger’s bold and bracing Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is already a leading contender for 2025’s most original and innovative thriller. In a genre world where everyone seems to keep serving up the same thing only different, Unger serves up something truly different and refreshing... a heady mix of an action and psychological thriller, with that raging storm thrown in for good measure. It’s essentially one long extended sequence that races along at breakneck speed from beginning to end.”
—BookTrib
“Weaving together multiple points of view from her believable characters, Unger plunges the reader right into a sense of dread, then skillfully ratchets up the physical terrors of the challenge while revealing one disturbing secret after another. The perils of the real and virtual worlds collide effectively in this relentlessly paced thriller.”
—Kirkus Starred Review
“Unger's latest is a fast-paced, atmospheric, locked-room thriller...Readers of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware will surely enjoy this nail-biter.”
—Booklist
“The queen of thrillers you can also discuss with your book club is back with this high-stakes suspense novel about a game of hide-and-seek that turns murderous.”
—BookPage
“What you would expect from a Lisa Unger novel --- complicated characters, dangerous settings, and plot twist after plot twist. It was nice to spend time with her as she put the competitive reality show genre under her literary microscope and spun it into something formidable.”
—BookReporter
“Love The White Lotus and wondering what to read after Season 3 wraps up? We’ve got you covered! These must-reads will keep you on the edge of your seat all in-between-seasons long... Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger.”
—Brit+Co
"[Unger's] great at keeping you interested and not seeing all the twists that are coming with a fabulous cat-mouse game."
—Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emmy-award winning actress
"Lisa Unger just gets better and better! In Close Your Eyes and Count to 10, we see her masterful hand at work as she weaves a compulsively readable story packed full of tension from the very first page. As an extreme game of hide and seek quickly turned from stunt to survival, I held my breath as the plot twisted and turned to its dramatic conclusion. Pacy and gripping, I couldn’t read fast enough. Take it on holiday and savor every deliciously dark page.”
—Sarah Pearse, New York Times bestselling author of The Wilds
“Twisty, riveting, and emotionally intense. You will NOT close your eyes once you start reading this book.”
—Kathy Reichs, New York Times bestselling author of Fire and Bones
“Lisa Unger is a consummate storyteller. With luminous prose, intricately developed characters, and elegantly crafted plots, her work captivates from the first page to the last.”
—Liv Constantine, New York Times bestselling author