While You Were Sleeping Kathryn Croft.
Where do I start with a book like this? What a story.
Until recently I hadn’t read a psychological thriller that I enjoyed for some time; but recently the lady crime writers are coming up trumps, and this is right up there with the best.
Kathryn Croft has spun a spider’s web of a story which revolves around the family of the main protagonist Tara.
Tara is married to Noah and has 2 children, 17-year-old Rosie, and 11-year-old Spencer.
It would be fair to say that the family is not a happy one, but they are together, and living in the same house.
The story starts with Tara waking up naked in a neighbours bed, with his bloody body carved open at the side of her. With no recollection of what happened except that she received a text from the man’s wife asking her to go to the house, only to find the husband home alone, Tara panics and runs home to her empty house.
That weekend her son is away for the night, her daughter is staying with a friend, and her husband is on a business trip to New York.
In her panic and confusion, she decides not to tell the Police, her first mistake.
As the story unfolds the reader is introduced to Tara’s immediate family and her sister Lisa; as well as the wife of the dead man Serena, and one of Tara’s work colleague’s Mikey.
Tara’s family and friends are full of lies, deceit and half-truths.
Is anybody above suspicion? No.
Does everybody seem to have a reason to want the neighbour dead? Yes.
This compelling story has twists and turns a-plenty, but they all flow so well.
There are over 30 chapters and I think I must have built nearly as many hypotheses as to who had killed the man, his name is Lee by the way.
I swung from being convinced that Tara was actually guilty to her being totally innocent many times. Each of these was interjected by me thinking, for one reason or another, that one of the others had killed him. Only for my latest theory to be destroyed by the actions of somebody else.
I loved this book.
It is not often I get to the end and think, well I didn’t think they did it; but then look back and think all the indications were there and that I hadn’t missed a clue. There are no real late revelations that made me think, well if I’d have known that earlier.
It is just a masterpiece of masterpiece of writing that managed to keep me in suspense until right up to the end.
This book is not published till November the 16th.
If you are looking for a Christmas gift for somebody who enjoys a good read, look no further.
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