A fantastic synopsis draws in the readers immediately. Within the first few pages we are led to wonder what has happened to Anna, and who is responsible? After this gripping prologue we learn that a tragic car crash left two dead and another critically injured, for which Anna carries round the guilt. Her solution? To escape to a Scottish island and start over. This is understandable, but the reader is led to wonder just how far can she run?
When working in a new hotel, and catering for seven new guests, suddenly things don't quite feel right. Anna notices things, begins to feel targeted, until then people start to die. Similarly to Anna, the reader is just beginning to get to know the seven guests, so it really is a 'guess who' trail as we are led to suspect the backgrounds and motives of every character.
The books chapters take different points of views between Anna, Mohammed (who was left injured in the crash), and Steve (father of one of the crash victims), so I was constantly left wondering how could any of these seven strangers link back to the initial car crash!? I couldn't figure it out. I was left stumped with no other leads for my brain to follow.
Also throughout the book are small excerpts of memorials left for otherwise unknown individuals. The identity of the person writing these was not known to the reader, but constantly directed dialogue to Anna. The word 'SLEEP' is consistently referred to as some kind of metaphor for death, but also ties in with the cause of the car accident, so there is certainly a very sinister feel to the book from the onset.
The final chapters were extremely fast paced and I found myself glued to every sentence. I gasped on just one line alone! The events really came together in my mind as if it were the final exciting scenes of a TV drama series that I had been hooked on for weeks. The book throughout is written in a way which doesn't let your attention lapse, and makes every paragraph contribute to the wider developments.
The book does touch on some dark themes, and after having read the Acknowledgements, I was in tears. It really made me reconsider how clever and compassionate the author has been to include these themes in the book, and touched me on a very personal level.
You probably could have guessed what my final rating was going to be before you even read the review, but I honestly just find Cally's work absolutely incredible. For this reason, it's a great five star review from me on Goodreads & as always, I will be keeping my eye on her future releases.
When working in a new hotel, and catering for seven new guests, suddenly things don't quite feel right. Anna notices things, begins to feel targeted, until then people start to die. Similarly to Anna, the reader is just beginning to get to know the seven guests, so it really is a 'guess who' trail as we are led to suspect the backgrounds and motives of every character.
The books chapters take different points of views between Anna, Mohammed (who was left injured in the crash), and Steve (father of one of the crash victims), so I was constantly left wondering how could any of these seven strangers link back to the initial car crash!? I couldn't figure it out. I was left stumped with no other leads for my brain to follow.
Also throughout the book are small excerpts of memorials left for otherwise unknown individuals. The identity of the person writing these was not known to the reader, but constantly directed dialogue to Anna. The word 'SLEEP' is consistently referred to as some kind of metaphor for death, but also ties in with the cause of the car accident, so there is certainly a very sinister feel to the book from the onset.
The final chapters were extremely fast paced and I found myself glued to every sentence. I gasped on just one line alone! The events really came together in my mind as if it were the final exciting scenes of a TV drama series that I had been hooked on for weeks. The book throughout is written in a way which doesn't let your attention lapse, and makes every paragraph contribute to the wider developments.
The book does touch on some dark themes, and after having read the Acknowledgements, I was in tears. It really made me reconsider how clever and compassionate the author has been to include these themes in the book, and touched me on a very personal level.
You probably could have guessed what my final rating was going to be before you even read the review, but I honestly just find Cally's work absolutely incredible. For this reason, it's a great five star review from me on Goodreads & as always, I will be keeping my eye on her future releases.