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kimberleybates's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
melissadelongcox's review against another edition
1.0
*Thanks to HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter + NetGalley for the ARC!*
I can't even review this one without spoilers, so let's just say for the spoiler-free comments: I hated this so much.
Lily is checking her security camera from work one day and sees someone standing in her garden wearing a mask of her young daughter. Creepy. She, of course, calls the police to check everything out and despite a creep being in her yard, there's nothing else amiss. Filler, filler, her and her daughter go to bed but when they wake up the next morning, they're in a replica of their home.
The concept was interesting! I don't recall ever reading something with this plot concept, so I was intrigued. Of course, you have to suspend disbelief for a story like this but hey! It's quarantimes, let's do it!
Y'all... where do I start. Roughly 85% of the book happens in this replica home, and despite a few conversations with their captor and a sighting of a random person, nothing happens. Around the 80% mark, they found a way to escape (an alternate entrance/exit), and then there's another probably 10% of total book length describing them trying to run away, but it could've been SEVERAL pages shorter and conveyed the exact same scene.
The reason for their captivity? Lily's father was a psychologist and took a patient of his captive for nearly a year. During that time, he was raping the patient, and eventually impregnates her (with the man who was assisting in this plot - the man from the garden). Lily's ex-husband eventually shows up on-scene, they kill the woman, the man is injured but alive, and Lily, her daughter, and ex-husband all make it out alive.
The last paragraphs of the story is Lily thinking back over the times in the replica house where she was likely drugged, and wonders if her half brother was raping her the way her father raped his captive - we end on her taking a test, no result.
I can't. I sat through all this nonsense, which was mostly unnecessary filler - literally if you cut this book down to the NECESSARY pages that develop the plot, it could've been maybe 30% of the content that made the cut - and then you LEAVE US ON A CLIFFHANGER? I haven't been this angry at a book in a while, so that's something!
I can't even review this one without spoilers, so let's just say for the spoiler-free comments: I hated this so much.
Spoiler
Okay! Spoilers ahead. Trigger warning for rape.Lily is checking her security camera from work one day and sees someone standing in her garden wearing a mask of her young daughter. Creepy. She, of course, calls the police to check everything out and despite a creep being in her yard, there's nothing else amiss. Filler, filler, her and her daughter go to bed but when they wake up the next morning, they're in a replica of their home.
The concept was interesting! I don't recall ever reading something with this plot concept, so I was intrigued. Of course, you have to suspend disbelief for a story like this but hey! It's quarantimes, let's do it!
Y'all... where do I start. Roughly 85% of the book happens in this replica home, and despite a few conversations with their captor and a sighting of a random person, nothing happens. Around the 80% mark, they found a way to escape (an alternate entrance/exit), and then there's another probably 10% of total book length describing them trying to run away, but it could've been SEVERAL pages shorter and conveyed the exact same scene.
The reason for their captivity? Lily's father was a psychologist and took a patient of his captive for nearly a year. During that time, he was raping the patient, and eventually impregnates her (with the man who was assisting in this plot - the man from the garden). Lily's ex-husband eventually shows up on-scene, they kill the woman, the man is injured but alive, and Lily, her daughter, and ex-husband all make it out alive.
The last paragraphs of the story is Lily thinking back over the times in the replica house where she was likely drugged, and wonders if her half brother was raping her the way her father raped his captive - we end on her taking a test, no result.
I can't. I sat through all this nonsense, which was mostly unnecessary filler - literally if you cut this book down to the NECESSARY pages that develop the plot, it could've been maybe 30% of the content that made the cut - and then you LEAVE US ON A CLIFFHANGER? I haven't been this angry at a book in a while, so that's something!
jeaniehealy's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lottiesbooksandlattes's review against another edition
1.0
Lily Russell is alerted that there is a stranger in her garden wearing a mask of her 5 year old daughter Maisie's face. Lily calls the police and the next day wakes up safe in her home. Only, this isn't her home, its a direct replica with no escape. Lily and Maisie are being held captive and someone is watching them.
So, up until about half way I was honestly LOVING this book. It had me hooked. Who was holding them captive? Where were they? and what was going to happen to them? My only qualm was with the representation of the character Maisie. I had to ask myself several times how old she was meant to be because, one minute she is portrayed as a child unable to climb stairs one leg at a time, and the next she is able to deceive and fool her captors with improvised conversation guided through reading and understanding her mothers facial expressions. I found myself seriously disliking Maisie throughout, but on reflection, I think that this was due to her poor presentation.
But, where the book totally lost me was the ending. I am still trying to comprehend the sloppy mess that I just finished. When I tell you the ending came out of nowhere, OMG I cant even understand how it was decided upon. Its as if it was just plucked out of thin air. I feel like there were so many solid potential alternatives with the few other characters that were introduced in the earlier chapters. Also, there is a lot of action towards the end and I always find that really hard to follow personally. I get lost/bored listening to how someone is trying to untie their hands behind their back or whatever, its just not for me.
But, I don't want to be too negative here because the premise of the book I think is brilliantly chilling and gripping and would make for a wonderful thriller with a bit of tweaking.
So, up until about half way I was honestly LOVING this book. It had me hooked. Who was holding them captive? Where were they? and what was going to happen to them? My only qualm was with the representation of the character Maisie. I had to ask myself several times how old she was meant to be because, one minute she is portrayed as a child unable to climb stairs one leg at a time, and the next she is able to deceive and fool her captors with improvised conversation guided through reading and understanding her mothers facial expressions. I found myself seriously disliking Maisie throughout, but on reflection, I think that this was due to her poor presentation.
But, where the book totally lost me was the ending. I am still trying to comprehend the sloppy mess that I just finished. When I tell you the ending came out of nowhere, OMG I cant even understand how it was decided upon. Its as if it was just plucked out of thin air. I feel like there were so many solid potential alternatives with the few other characters that were introduced in the earlier chapters. Also, there is a lot of action towards the end and I always find that really hard to follow personally. I get lost/bored listening to how someone is trying to untie their hands behind their back or whatever, its just not for me.
But, I don't want to be too negative here because the premise of the book I think is brilliantly chilling and gripping and would make for a wonderful thriller with a bit of tweaking.
readitwithred's review against another edition
5.0
Where do I even begin...
This book blew me away, I was hooked from the beginning and binged it in 3 days.
RJ perfectly ends each chapter hanging off a cliff, luring the reader to turn the page for more suspence and thrills.
The strength of Lily for her daughter Maisie, the way she thought.
The celltope and hair was genius and something I will keep with me.
The twist at the end that tied everything together and asked all the lingering questions that I had been asking from the start.
And the last line, made me squel. A question we will never know the answer to. One we may speculate for ourselves.
Honestly, do yourselves a favour and pick this book up for a thrilling read.
This book blew me away, I was hooked from the beginning and binged it in 3 days.
RJ perfectly ends each chapter hanging off a cliff, luring the reader to turn the page for more suspence and thrills.
The strength of Lily for her daughter Maisie, the way she thought.
The celltope and hair was genius and something I will keep with me.
The twist at the end that tied everything together and asked all the lingering questions that I had been asking from the start.
And the last line, made me squel. A question we will never know the answer to. One we may speculate for ourselves.
Honestly, do yourselves a favour and pick this book up for a thrilling read.
kookie9200's review against another edition
2.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.
Lily's terrified when she sees a man wearing a mask of her daughter's face on her security cam. This strange occurrence is magnified when she and Maisie wake up in their home...but it's not their home.
I knew pretty much from the first pages this wasn't a book for me. There was something about the writing style that threw me, but I hung in there. What really killed this book for me was how unbelievable it was. It was wildly improbable, the ending twist was just weird, and nothing fit right. Characters were dropped (like Sam) only to last about 2 pages before disappearing again. By the end, I really didn't care what happened, it was all too crazy.
Lily's terrified when she sees a man wearing a mask of her daughter's face on her security cam. This strange occurrence is magnified when she and Maisie wake up in their home...but it's not their home.
I knew pretty much from the first pages this wasn't a book for me. There was something about the writing style that threw me, but I hung in there. What really killed this book for me was how unbelievable it was. It was wildly improbable, the ending twist was just weird, and nothing fit right. Characters were dropped (like Sam) only to last about 2 pages before disappearing again. By the end, I really didn't care what happened, it was all too crazy.
mommasaystoread's review against another edition
2.0
While You Slept grabbed me from the minute I read the blurb. Then I started reading and it looked like it was going to be a sit up and take notice kind of thriller. Then... it lost me. The beginning was everything I expected, including some truly creepy moments, but all that fizzled and the story was just kind of choppy. That wasn't helped at all by a noticeable lack of character development. Enough so that it became increasingly hard to connect with anyone. And after all that, the ending, or lack of, was thoroughly unsatisfying. Now, I don't know if the author plans on giving us some actual character and story development in the next book or not, but this ended up being disappointing.
lianareadsblog's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
The description of this story had me wanting to read it asap but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
The first half of the book is a fast-paced read with a lot of scary and edge of your seat moments, a lot of questions like Who and Why and How? And Is this for real? I don’t think I’ll be having the same behaviour as the heroine especially having my daughter with me and not knowing what is actually happening and what to answer to her questions. In my opinion, the daughter felt a bit older or more mature in her interaction with her mother. The second half of the book felt dragging a lot and quite repetitive in many moments but the end was a surprise as it has an unexpected twist.
Overall it’s a good book, my first by the author and I’ll definitely try other stories by her.
The description of this story had me wanting to read it asap but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
The first half of the book is a fast-paced read with a lot of scary and edge of your seat moments, a lot of questions like Who and Why and How? And Is this for real? I don’t think I’ll be having the same behaviour as the heroine especially having my daughter with me and not knowing what is actually happening and what to answer to her questions. In my opinion, the daughter felt a bit older or more mature in her interaction with her mother. The second half of the book felt dragging a lot and quite repetitive in many moments but the end was a surprise as it has an unexpected twist.
Overall it’s a good book, my first by the author and I’ll definitely try other stories by her.
wafflepolly's review against another edition
2.0
Hmmmm. HMMMMM.
This is not a "good book". BUT... is it the biggest page-turner I've read in ages? Yes. For people who watched the ITV drama "The Stranger" – based on the Harlan Coben novel – it's got a similar feel. It's utterly ludicrous and makes a suspension of disbelief almost impossible; it's kind of badly written; and the ending has no satisfaction... but you keep watching, or reading, regardless. Sometimes you just need a page-turner, especially if your brain has been particularly bad at focusing on tasks lately, like mine has.
But let's start at the beginning. Because the first few chapters of this book are genuinely the creepiest thing I (a self-titled wuss) have read in a long time. Lily gets a push notification from her home security app while she's at work – and sees a man standing in her garden... a man who is wearing a mask of her 5 year old daughter's face.
And that hooked me in instantly. The book does not let up on the pace or the tension once throughout, and I went from taking a month to get through my last book to struggling to put this one down. Things happen at breakneck speed, with building paranoia and dread chapter by chapter.
I was willing to give this a higher rating, just for pure ridiculousness, but the ending really let me down. I don't want to spoil things but there's little explanation for the mystery's resolve, the character resolve is entirely too neat and needed a whole load of explanation, and the final line is just flat-out gross.
I'll give it 2.5 stars and round it up to 3 just because it felt good to have a book properly hook me in, despite its flaws.
This is not a "good book". BUT... is it the biggest page-turner I've read in ages? Yes. For people who watched the ITV drama "The Stranger" – based on the Harlan Coben novel – it's got a similar feel. It's utterly ludicrous and makes a suspension of disbelief almost impossible; it's kind of badly written; and the ending has no satisfaction... but you keep watching, or reading, regardless. Sometimes you just need a page-turner, especially if your brain has been particularly bad at focusing on tasks lately, like mine has.
But let's start at the beginning. Because the first few chapters of this book are genuinely the creepiest thing I (a self-titled wuss) have read in a long time. Lily gets a push notification from her home security app while she's at work – and sees a man standing in her garden... a man who is wearing a mask of her 5 year old daughter's face.
And that hooked me in instantly. The book does not let up on the pace or the tension once throughout, and I went from taking a month to get through my last book to struggling to put this one down. Things happen at breakneck speed, with building paranoia and dread chapter by chapter.
I was willing to give this a higher rating, just for pure ridiculousness, but the ending really let me down. I don't want to spoil things but there's little explanation for the mystery's resolve, the character resolve is entirely too neat and needed a whole load of explanation, and the final line is just flat-out gross.
I'll give it 2.5 stars and round it up to 3 just because it felt good to have a book properly hook me in, despite its flaws.
josiannepf's review against another edition
5.0
**MAY HAVE SOME SPOILERS**
I read The Dinner Party a few months ago and absolutely loved it! I was so excited to get my hands on a new R.J Parker book!
What a great book! This book had me staying up all night because I just had to know if Maisie and Lily make it out alive.
This book starts off with Lily noticing a strange intruder in her garden wearing a picture mask of her 5 year old daughter, Maisie. She calls the police, but they don’t catch the intruder. The next day, Maisie and Lily wake up in their home… but it’s not their home just an exact replica. They’re trapped and cannot get out or call for help.
This book is quite fast and definitely brings the creep factor. I did struggle with Maisie as she didn’t sound like a 5 year old and she was definitely a little annoying for my liking and found her to be a little distracting to the overall story… I enjoyed the ‘surprise’ connection of the kidnappers, but felt like I need more of their backstory to make sense of it…I had a lot of questions, but I guess that may be the point!!
*Review posted on Netgalley*
I read The Dinner Party a few months ago and absolutely loved it! I was so excited to get my hands on a new R.J Parker book!
What a great book! This book had me staying up all night because I just had to know if Maisie and Lily make it out alive.
This book starts off with Lily noticing a strange intruder in her garden wearing a picture mask of her 5 year old daughter, Maisie. She calls the police, but they don’t catch the intruder. The next day, Maisie and Lily wake up in their home… but it’s not their home just an exact replica. They’re trapped and cannot get out or call for help.
This book is quite fast and definitely brings the creep factor. I did struggle with Maisie as she didn’t sound like a 5 year old and she was definitely a little annoying for my liking and found her to be a little distracting to the overall story… I enjoyed the ‘surprise’ connection of the kidnappers, but felt like I need more of their backstory to make sense of it…I had a lot of questions, but I guess that may be the point!!
*Review posted on Netgalley*