Actual rating 3.5. This one will definitely have you burning the candle at both ends! Anna O is basically living my dream and has been asleep for months on end after committing a horrendous crime (sorry, that bit isn’t my dream - just the hibernation part!!), and this addictive novel explores both the psychology behind the long sleep and the truth behind the murders. It’s a pacy read that had me hooked, and is definitely one for psychological thriller fans as it goes quite deep into the why’s etc! I liked the fact that I was kept guessing throughout the book, and even when I thought I’d figured it all out, I was then left shocked again - did not see that ending coming! Obviously you do have to suspend belief a fair bit, but if you’re looking for a thriller that’s done from a whole new angle, with plenty of twists and turns, it’s so worth a read

A special thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy of this book to review. As a mood reader, I have been searching for a thriller to sink my teeth into, and Anna O by Matthew Blake was exactly what I was looking for. It was honestly such an intriguing read and I spent a lot of time formulating my own theories as I was going through. I had a gut feeling from the beginning about the ending, but the storytelling was so well done that I found myself doubting if I was right. I can only describe the plot twists as *chefs kiss~* Very well timed and really threw a spanner in the works of my thinking. Its the kind of book I could see being made into a TV Drama Series or even a film - I spent the whole time thinking Suranne Jones would be the perfect fit for a role if it ever happened. The only thing I would say is the last few chapters of the book felt a little rushed - I think I was around the 85% mark of the book and it felt like the final scenes crescendoed very quickly. Aside from that, I found it a flawless read and I would definitely recommend this novel to others.

This book took me down a murky rabbit hole of crimes committed when people are asleep -the amount of Ringbell footage of people just standing outside is rather harrowing - I never knew such a thing existed. Thanks for all the new reasons for that noise outside at night Mr Blake - eek! Anna O is famous for killing her friends, she is the only one who knows what happened that night. The case is still open & she hasn't been formally charged as she hasn't woken since it all took place. Trying to scrabble up the ladder & make his case in sleep studies Dr Benedict Prince is lucky to get himself onto the case as she is moved to their sleep centre. Can he be on the team that manage to wake her? Will his method work? Surely Sleeping Beauty will wake for her Dr Prince? As the story is put together from other parties & case history, nothing is as it seems. Smart with tension stretching through the pages I found I couldn't sleep as I questioned whether Anna did it or not. Who else could have been there? An intriguing thriller that put me in mind of The Silent Patient, Before I Go To Sleep & Emily Koch's If I Die Before I Wake. Wrap up warm & get a large cup of cocoa ready, Anna O will have you up all night. Thank you HarperInsider for my gifted proof copy, I didn't need the sleeping mask until a few nights after ;)

Anna Ogilvy hasn’t opened her eyes for four years Not since that night at The Farm when she was found asleep with a kitchen knife in her hand, her clothes bloodstained, the bodies of her two best friends lying close. She’d committed the crime of the century – but nothing and no-one could wake her from the nightmare. Believers in her innocence call her Anna O. Believers in her guilt call her Sleeping Beauty. Well, this is certainly different. Great writing and plenty of intrigue. I particularly liked the short chapters meaning I could pick it up as and when. More authors should think of their readers. The story is a little long winded with lots of medical descriptions and terminology which might put some readers off. I found that it read as a mix of fact and fiction which I like. It’s an intricate and involving story but one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It’s well worth sticking with until the end.

‘Believers in her innocence call her Anna O. Believers in her guilt call her Sleeping Beauty.’ My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Anna O’ by Matthew Blake. In August 2019 Anna Ogilvy was found asleep in her cabin at a farmhouse retreat, wearing bloodstained clothing. A large kitchen knife was close by. In a nearby cabin the bodies of her two best friends, Indira and Douglas, were found. Forensics identified the blood on Anna’s clothing as theirs and her fingerprints on the knife. Yet Anna hasn’t opened her eyes since. Given Anna’s privileged background and the nature of the crime, it became a media sensation. Four years later and the CPS want the case to go to trial but Anna has to be awake and competent to do so. As a result, she is being transferred to the Abbey Sleep Clinic, under the direction of Professor Virginia Bloom. Prof. Bloom calls in Dr Benedict Prince, a sleep doctor who studies people who commit crimes when they sleep. Ben hopes to use his innovative techniques to wake Anna. No further details to avoid spoilers. This work of psychological suspense is Blake’s debut. I found it a fascinating, twisty thriller that kept me guessing. Blake refers to a number of Hitchcock films along the way as Ben often watches them and compares himself to various of Hitchcock’s male characters. Blake also examines the rise in popularity of True Crime, including some of its darker elements. Anna herself was researching an investigative piece for the magazine she cofounded on the case of Sally Turner, who in 1999 was accused of murdering her two stepchildren in Stockwell with a kitchen knife. At her trial Sally had claimed that she was sleepwalking. Clearly there are echoes of Anna’s case twenty years later. There is a lot of information about the psychology of sleep and sleep related disorders within the narrative. While I have been interested in dreaming, much of this was new information. Overall, I found ‘Anna O’, a slow burn novel that delivered on the suspense with the kind of twists that impressed for how neatly they changed my perception of what was going on.