A mega hit podcast that has reopened a murder case threatens to disrupt the lives of the family again. Josie has made a new life for herself after her Father was murdered and her twin sister and her are estranged. Now her Mother has committed suicide after being in a cult since the murder, and she needs to go home for the funeral. Another problem, she has lied to her boyfriend Caleb about who she really is. This is a fast paced read with plenty of twists that keep you guessing until the end.

3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a book about Josie. Josie has been running trying to escape her past and then a podcast starts looking into the murder of her father 13 years previously. The murderer was sentenced and is in jail. But did he really do it? Josie's twin sister Lanie saw the neighbour Warren Cave pull the trigger and shoot her father in the back of the head. But now with the podcast everyone is questioning Lanie's character. Did she really see this happen?


I enjoyed this book but I feel it just lacks something. It probably doesn't help that half the time Josie annoyed me. I'm also not one for pet names so the fact that her boyfriend calls her "love" all the time irritated me as well.
The plus side is I didn't see the ending coming.. but then maybe I wasn't really looking that hard or predicting who the murderer was.. I was just enjoying the ride.

Ugh...I was so disappointed in the ending of this book. I loved 80% of it until the author decided to just suddenly tie it all up with bow. I needed more twist or at least some complexity in the resolution.

Impressive debut work from Barber! Insightful look at sibling and, more particularly, twin dynamics & family dysfunction. A decidedly contemporary thriller that skillfully weaves popular culture & technology into the story -- it is practically a character & certainly a plot force. Looking forward to more from Barber!

A father is murdered, one daughter witnessed it, but did she really see what she thought she saw? After thirteen years the case is being looked into and the truth will come out. After their dad is murdered, the family falls apart. The twins go in separate directions and their mother leaves them to live in a cult somewhere in California. When questions about the case arise, their mother commits suicide and the twins come to her funeral. This book felt more like a family drama than a suspense novel, but I still really enjoyed it.

Josie has spent the last several years hiding from her past. She developed a relationship with her boyfriend Caleb, but lied about her past. In reality, Josie's father was murdered when she was a teenager, her mother is part of a cult, and for some reason Josie has been estranged from her twin sister. When a podcast begins exposing the murder and Josie's mother suddenly dies, her life is turned upside down and she is not only forced to confront her childhood demons, but trying to determine how she can explain her lies and family to Caleb.

I thought Are You Sleeping was very engaging. It was a page-turner for me as Josie's past came back to haunt her. It was a slowly unfolding mystery as everyone wants to understand if the man convicted of murdering Josie's father is really guilty, or if someone else murdered him. Although it was slow, it managed to captivate me and pull me into Josie's life and want to uncover the mystery myself.

Aunt Amelia used to tell us nothing good happens after midnight. As Josie grew older she found trouble is the only thing that happens between midnight and and sunrise. Caleb was three weeks into a trip overseeing Aid workers. Josie worked in book store Clara was the closest thing Josie had for a friend in N Y. Caleb emailed Josie that the work was going good there and he should be home in another week or so. Josie’s father was Chuck Buhrman. It had been ten years since her father's murder. Warren Case was seventeen years old when he had murdered Josie’s father in his own kitchen and Josie’s twin sister Lanie had seen him kill their father. Josie had legally changed her name and traveled abroad for five years before settling down in New York. Josue’s mother couldn’t cope with her husband’s murder and took off to California and joined a cult. Josie and her twin sister Lanie had been left with their aunt Amelia/A. Lanie strikes out at everyone she loves. But Poppy Painel is bringing up the question what if Warren didn’t do it and had created a podcast. Warren had been in prison thirteen years already for the murder. Caleb knows nothing of Josie’s past. Josie hadn’t talked to her twin Lanie in over ten years.
This was a good story and I liked the plot and the pace which was quick. This kept me on the edge of my chair. At times Josie frustrated em but I couldn’t help to still really like her. I also liked Josie;s cousin Ellen and chuckled at her. This book kept my attention with no problem. This also showed how a murder case can completely devastate a family. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

Despite the slow start in this thriller, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and plot of this novel. Once things starting picking up, I was constantly on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out the real murderer. The book's biggest flaw is definitely the lack of privacy and security for their family after the podcast has started. I feel as though that should have been a bigger issue, but somehow this reporter was just walking into their house. Overall, still very enjoyable.

Unique format - this novel used a fictional podcast and it's social media posts to move the story along. I thought it was clever and made this family drama / murder mystery more interesting.
I would have liked to have the story be more about Josie and her life rather than dwell so much on her self destructive twin. Josie's boyfriend and Lanie's husband seemed two dimensional. They clearly loved Josie and Lanie. I think there should have been more about the back story of each couple.

I am glad I was wrong about who did it - that was a good red herring! This book was entertaining and I don't feel as if I wasted my time reading it, but I didn't care enough about the characters to make it a suspenseful page turner.

The cover is what drew me to this book-- every time I saw it, I wanted to pick it up. I started reading it without seeing what the description was and immediately was hooked. Interesting characters, amazing story, and a conclusion you didn't see coming. Looking forward to sharing this with my customers!

I loved the premise of this book but it didn't quite work for me. Everyone felt a little one-dimensional, which make sit hard for me to care about characters or get sucked into the mystery. I did like the podcast excerpts and social media highlights. They were often very frustrating (because people can be so cruel) and rang true. Honestly, I wish that Poppy had been the main character, even though she bordered snake-oil territory by the end - but that also felt true and real. While I didn't love this book, I believe Barber still shows great promise and I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in about two days – it was really hard to put down.

Barber’s writing is immersive and entertaining, balancing fantastic dialogue with just the right about of delving into the emotional journey of our protagonist, Jo, and snippets of modern media – reddit threads, twitter feeds and, the most important, podcast transcripts. All these elements blend together really well, flow seamlessly from one section to the other.

I really enjoyed reading the podcast transcripts and experiencing this murder mystery through the eyes of those outside of the family, especially when these characters crossover with the main body of the story.

Josie has done everything she can to construct a normal life in New York with her handsome and devoted boyfriend. When a true crime podcast dredges up her father’s murder from a decade ago, then goes viral, Josie finds her fragile new world blown apart. “Reconsidered” begins investigating the possibility that the man accused of her father’s murder is innocent. The accused was convicted almost entirely based on eyewitness testimony from Josie’s now estranged twin, Lanie. The podcast, coupled with the sudden, violent death of her mother, forces Josie to return to her hometown and confront her past, her sister, and all that she’s believed in this suspenseful thriller.

What a fantastic premise! A subtle dig at true crime lovers, myself included. We all enjoy speculating about what happened in another’s tragedy and Kathleen Barber makes us see this rabid speculation from another side–the side of the loved ones directly effected by the tragedy. Barber’s characters are solid and developed, the relationship between the twins, their aunt, and cousin is beautiful. Told in part through Josie’s eyes, in transcriptions from the podcast, and in tweets from podcast fans it is a very modern thriller. A fast, suspenseful novel with weight to it. A must read for mystery/thriller lovers and true crime enthusiasts alike. 4.25/5 stars

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Josie Buhrman and her family, and how their lives are all turned upside down (again) when a woman starts a podcast to reexamine the murder of Josie's father, Chuck. Thirteen years ago, Chuck Buhrman was murdered in his home with his twin girls in the house. A man named Warren Cave was arrested, tried and convicted on scant evidence that he had killed Chuck, and now Poppy Parnell, an "investigative journalist," is using the case as a subject matter for her true crime podcast. Josie and her twin sister Lanie were both affected in different ways by the murder of their father and their mother's subsequent abandonment. And after all that happened too, Lanie did some very awful things to her sister that cause Josie to run away and basically abandon her whole life. After traveling abroad for 5 years, she returns to the States and settles in New York City with her boyfriend Caleb. The podcast though, is bringing a lot of truths to light and there will be unfortunate consequences.

Overall I liked this book. There were some pieces of it that I couldn't buy into (Josie's reaction and the running away to Europe seemed extreme and I thought Lanie should've actually like apologized without trying to also be manipulative) but overall I didn't want to put this book down. I was dying to find out who the real killer was and what would happen in the end. And maybe it was that build up of extreme tension throughout the book that made the ending kind of seem slightly anti-climactic but I think that's how I ended up feeling. I was so intensely into the story but then at the end I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and it never really did. And none of the characters in the book were particularly likable, they all had so many flaws and many of them were actually awful not nice people. Even with these draw backs though I still really liked the story and I would recommend it!

Are You Sleeping is a psychological thriller that uses social media and its intrusive nature to dissect a decade’s old murder and the characters who were affected by it. Two sisters are torn apart by the murder of their father, the abandonment of their mother, and a shocking betrayal, must come together and finally deal with the past. Barber flips back and forth between the podcasts and Josie as she struggles to understand what is happening and how to control the damage being created by it. Through Josie, we are guided down a long and twisting road of lies and secrets, manipulated by faulty recollections and the obligations of family.

While the mystery is a strong base the story is built on, I found the character dynamics far more prevalent. Josie is an intense neurotic character whose fear and anxiety are a tangible presence. She annoys, distracts, and wears you out as she tells her story, showing us the different ways people react to grief. Josie chooses to disappear. She leaves her hometown and heads to NYC to reinvent herself, leaving her past and family behind as she felt they left her. Now she is poised to lose it all. Her mother’s suicide sends her home and here the real Josie begins to emerge.

There is almost a sense of self-punishment involved as Josie simultaneously avoids the interview attempts of the extremely pushy Poppy Parnell (the investigator) while religiously listening to the podcasts and reading all the threads devoted to the podcast as the public begins to weigh in on the podcasts, asking their own questions and offering up advice and condemnation.

As the story plays out, Barber lets us form our own opinions about what happened as we follow along with the investigation and hear from all those involved from the police detectives to the man convicted of the murder itself. Barber does an excellent job of balancing the mystery with the internal conflict between Josie and her sister, Lanie. We learn the reasons behind their estrangement and watch their awkward attempts to move past it. We see the fragile yet unbreakable bonds that tie us to those we love regardless of how desperately we seek to escape them. Barber highlights the complicated dynamics that make up family, made more so by parental influence, flawed memories, and personal experiences.

As we head towards the finale and Barber begins to tie off all loose threads, the answers we have been seeking become crystal clear as the truth is finally revealed. I did have some issues. I wish Lanie and Caleb had evolved more beyond their preconceived roles. Both were never able to fully grow beyond Josie’s shadow. Josie’s lies about her past and reluctance to come clean to Caleb was odd and I felt she dragged it out for all too long. Also, I found the narrative tended to repeat itself when expounding on Josie’s past.

Regardless, Are You Sleeping is an engaging story that addresses the pervasiveness of social media and the harm it causes when it is used as judge and jury.

Grade: C+

A blogger/podcaster takes on a long forgotten, but putatively solved, murder case and begins to ask questions about its resolution. As she digs, she upends the lives of the Buhrman family in ways that they could never have expected.

The main characters of this book, Lanie and Jo, the Buhrman daughters, their mother, aunt, cousin, and partners along with the podcast are richly developed and believable, if not necessarily likable. This is a quick and entertaining read.

Kathleen Barber presents her story of Are You Sleeping through the lense of social media. Poppy Parnell, an investigative reporter, is resurrecting a murder case from 2002. It involves a beloved college professor from Elm Park College in Illinois. Although the murderer has been convicted and serving his sentence, Poppy feels that there is more to this story.

Enter Josie Buhrman. Josie is the victim's daughter who has purposefully embraced the anonymous lifestyle of New York City. She's made no contact with her twin sister, Lanie, in over ten years. Lanie has made sure of that with quite the betrayal from years ago. Josie lives with her boyfriend, Caleb, who is presently working in the Congo. She met him while traipsing through Europe and Africa on her avoidance tour.

But there's plenty of breadcrumbs left behind on this Josie trail. Poppy eventually locates Josie and pursues her with her relentless podcast. Josie has erected stone walls in the form of jagged lies in regard to Caleb. He has no idea about her backstory until this "orphan's" mother dies and she must return to Elm Park. The jig is up and it's time for Josie to face the music and the sister she left behind.

Are You Sleeping had all the makings of quite the read. Kathleen Barber created a story lined with all the intrusiveness of social media into our lives topped off with the subjective nature of the human eye. What exactly is our own truth and how much of it is brushed with the strokes of other's verbal involvement? How easily are we swayed by another's words?

I know that there are and will be much higher reviews for this one. The element of "time" did me in. Barber sets out a loop that has widened over the years in this novel. To cinch it back in was a cumbersome undertaking for the reader. Of all the gin mills in all the world, Poppy picks this one. The actions taking place in the finale were so contrived. The tension at this place point was not due to a surprise element, but it was more in question of how to get all the disjointed pieces back in the box.

Wonderfully readable. Compulsive even. Loved the podcast, twitter, and Reddit angles. Very modern. Definite "pick."

Well guys, it’s time for me to officially topple your summer reading list. Sorry, but I’m not sorry! (Not even a little bit, haha) Are You Sleeping is a perfect addition to your TBR, it’s compulsive, engrossing and highly addictive, I loved it!

Two things that always catch my eye in a thriller is sister or twin relationships and a cold case and this gem had both. Josie and Lanie have an extremely complex relationship and haven’t seen or talked to each other in ten years. Both were the kind of character that can frustrate the hell out of you on one page and then the next they’re tugging on your heartstrings. That sense of unease and uncertainty really added to this tale of lies and betrayals. The girls moved in with their Aunt A and cousin Ellen after their father was killed and I really liked Ellen. She’s kind of bossy and overbearing, but she has a huge heart and was super endearing.

My favorite thing about this book was how engaging it was, there is something about Barber’s writing style that just hooked me. There is a great social media addition in the form of podcast excerpts, Reddit threads and updates from Twitter and Facebook feeds that added something really unique and current. If you’ve read Six Stories there is a similarity but not completely the same, this one easily stands on its own feet.

This was one of those reads where I kept thinking I had things all figured out and then Barber would throw in a new twist to shake things up. Ultimately, I did have some aspects worked out but it absolutely did not take away from my enjoyment of this highly entertaining read. This would be perfect for readers who don’t like graphic violence, it’s on the lighter side and has very few truly dark moments, but it’s still very compelling. Pack this one in your bag next time you’re going on vacation, I think it would be ideal!

Her father was murdered, her mother left her and her twin sister Lanie to join a cult, and she and Lanie haven't talked in ten years, but all of this is in the past for Josie Buhrman. She now lives a quiet and normal life with her boyfriend Caleb in New York until a reporter starts a podcast to investigate the 13-year-old murder of her father. The podcast goes viral and everywhere she goes Josie hears people talking about it. And Josie has never told Caleb the truth about her past that is now catching up with her.

I was addicted to this suspenseful novel from the beginning. The author does an amazing job in keeping the reader glued to the page by creating well-developed characters and a unique and consuming storyline. The transcripts of the podcast along with comments and tweets from the followers are realistic and entertaining and perfectly portray the power of social media in today's society. Unlike many psychological thrillers I have read recently, this novel is not violent because, although the murder of Josie's father is central to the story, most of the novel focuses on her relationship with her family and her boyfriend. A fresh and unforgettable novel that you can't (and won't) put down!