Unfortunately this book just didn’t work for me, which I am quite disappointed about as I adored this author’s earlier books.

I found it impossible to connect or sympathise with any of the characters and that made it difficult for me to enjoy the book.

Being a psychological thriller there is the required twists and turns, but when I reached the twist reveal, I actually felt disappointed rather than shocked.

Sorry, but I just didn’t rate this book as highly as her previous ones. I’m hoping that it’s me and not the book, but this one didn’t do it for me.

This book was cruising for all the stars right up until a certain moment. I'm not going to explain here - spoilers - but I think you'll know that point when you get to it.
Jessie has been caring for her ailing mother for a couple of years until her passing. She had literally put her own life on hold. Obviously now, with her mother gone, she is free to kickstart her own life. To that end, she decides on a clean break, moving into a rented apartment and applying to college to complete her education. But then something rather bizarre happens. The social security number she gave the college has been flagged. Apparently it appears on a list of invalid numbers, specifically belonging to someone deceased. This confuses her as she is very obviously alive and well. But when on further investigation, things starts to get even stranger, Jessie starts to doubt everything she previously believed in. Doubting to the point of obsession, her inability to sleep not really helping her think things through rationally.
This book for me seemed to be going in a very straight line all the way through. As well as what is going on in the present, we see a story being played out in the past. Putting the two together seems the logical thing to do. But then, "that" happens, and even though I was not necessarily expecting things to run as they looked like they were, I really wasn't expecting that and, if I'm honest, and I have to be, I felt quite cheated. If I hadn't been so near to the end of the book I would have DNFd it.
It's a shame really as, up to that point, I was immersed in what I was reading. Yes Jessie's parts were a little strange, but she wasn't sleeping and that made her somewhat unreliable, which was fine, there was just enough credible to hold on to. The bits in the past were really quite emotional at times due to the nature of what was happening to the characters. But even they were sullied somewhat in hindsight when the twist happened, as they then just appeared to me as being a bit of a stooge to set up the reader.
To be honest, I could write so much more about this book but I won't for two reasons. One, it would probably skirt too close to spoilers and Two, I feel I have wasted enough of my time with this book. I've read much better books by this author so it probably won't put me off her totally but I will definitely go into future books with my eyes wider open. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I read this in a day as from the moment I started it I did not want to put it down. I lost count of how many times I thought I knew for sure what was happening only to realise I had been thoroughly hoodwinked. The narrative is split between Jessie’s story in current time and her mother Eden’s story from 20 years previous. I was really drawn into Eden’s story and found myself close to tears. It would be so easy to spoil this for other readers so I will just say that I think that Mary Kubica has been very bold here and it makes this a standout book and I applaud her. Highly recommended.

A great pshycological read that is beautifully written and keeps you guessing until the very end.

I have to disagree with others in regards to being disappointed about how the story panned out. The great thing about Mary Kubicas books is that you never know what you;re going to get. The stories are extremely varied and the twists are always completely unexpected.

The only thing I seriously disliked about book was the letter in the end. The book would have been near perfect if she just left that out. I don't think it was believable at all, it was spreading the already unbelievable circumstances even more thin.

A very unusual story full of twists and red herrings. A story of desperation and obsession and how it affects our lives and relationships.

I'm a huge Mary Kubica fan and The Good Girl is one of my all time favourites. This new book is beautifully written and so atmospheric and I was really enjoying....until the twist near the end!! I'm shocked that this is the way she chose to take her conclusion and it didn't work for me and felt a bit of a cheat! I was so disappointed with the last 10% plotwise even though it was just so emotionally charged. Stunning narrative with believable characters but hated the ending!

Despite getting half way through this and struggling to keep interest, I did plough on with this and ended it wondering why I bothered. I really hated the twist, and I felt like I'd wasted hours previous reading the lead up. Great writing style, I adore Mary's work usually, but this really wasn't for me.

I've read each of Mary Kubica's books, always hoping for the dizzying heights of The Good Girl, but unfortunately each have fallen short of what I expected. The synopsis of When The Lights Go Out is very intriguing and I couldn't wait to find out who the real Jessie Sloane really was.

The story is written over two timelines; twenty years ago with Eden who was struggling to become pregnant and whose marriage is taking the toll of failure each month, and present day with Jessie whose mother is in hospital and dying. Jessie is understandably overcome with worry and grief and is suffering from severe insomnia. Her mind is wandering, she lacks concentration, hears voices and has hallucinatons.

Most of the story I was taken in by, thought I'd find out who Jessie Sloane really was, and if the story had taken a different course I'm sure I would have enjoyed it. But as it is; and I don't want to give away why, I felt let down and rather cheated. The whole premise of the story was fed to me and then snatched away.

This book alternates two points of view.

One of the two main characters is Jessica Sloane. Jessie’s mum has just died and she’s plunged into terrible grief and insomnia. She then finds out her social security number is invalid and this starts a hunt for the truth about her ‘real’ identity.

Jessie starts to question everything in the past. She also questions everything happening in the present since the insomnia is messing with her mind.

The other woman in the story is Eden. Eden is driven almost crazy by her desire for a baby. She and her partner are trying all kinds of fertility treatments and nothing seems to be working.

The most compelling part of the book for me was the exploration of Eden’s desperation. This felt very lifelike and the way she slipped from being a stable woman into a person obsessed, was handled really well. There were creepy aspects to this and unsettling ones, as Eden explores how far she’s prepared to go to get what she wants.

I found Jessica’s difficulties a tad less compelling. At first she got my sympathy, yet her crisis drank in everyone and everything around her, and this started to feel a bit strained. At the end of the story, we will find out the why all of this happened but the understanding only comes at the very end.

Of course, Jessie and Eden are linked but we have to wait until the second half of the book to find out how. We slowly unpick the reality from the nightmares and mind games.

If I’m being honest, I have to say it lost my interest a bit somewhere in the second half. Nothing much new was happening and a plot that started out as a great idea didn’t deliver the punch I’d expected it to. This is one of my favourite authors so I suppose I was expecting more.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this book. This is my honest review.

Mary Kubica has taken a foray in a unusual direction from her usual psychological thrillers with this mystery featuring Jessie Sloane set in Chicago. She is a young woman who has spent so much of her life caring for her dying mother, Eden, afflicted with a debilitating form of cancer. There has only been her mum and Jessie, for as long as Jessie can remember, with her mother being less than forthcoming as to the identity of her father. Before she dies, her mother tells her to find herself and forge a new path in her life. Jessie has found somewhere new to live, with plans to enrol on a college course, a path that is derailed when the college contacts her to inform her that her social security number belongs to a long dead 3 year old child called Jess. Along with a story narrated by Jessie, there is a parallel narrative from Eden in a journal from the 1990s, with a happy home and marriage to Aaron, but racked by a desperate plight, her inability to have children. Where will her terrible predicament take her?

Burdened by a grief and sorrow that is tearing her apart, a shell shocked Jessie embarks on a mystery quest to determine who she is, as she questions every aspect of her life. She is further hampered by a never ending insomnia, resulting in chronic sleeplessness, her mind wanders, her memory is atrocious, her emotions are all over the place and she is suffering from hallucinations. Her escalating paranoia makes Jessie an unreliable narrator as indeed is Eden. Jessie and Eden's stories run separately through the book until they finally connect in the end. There are twists, some exasperating, leaving you feeling up in air, wondering whether it was worth reading this book, but in a tale of family, love, loss and what it is to be a woman experiencing the urgent primeval need for a child, these themes are paramount in making this a thought provoking read. Mary Kubica's writing is beautiful and engaging, sustaining my interest throughout, alleviating my disappointment in other more flawed aspects of the storytelling. Many thanks to Harlequin for an ARC.

Mary Kubica is one of my favourite authors and I was delighted to receive an advanced copy of her latest book When The Lights Go Out. I have read all her previous books and loved them and this book was excellent. I was hooked from the first page to the last. I read this book in one day because I could not put it down. I felt great sympathy for the characters and Eden's story was extremely emotional.
I would never have predicted the ending. I can't wait for her next book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and HQ for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for an advance copy of When The Lights Go Out, a stand alone novel set in Chicago.

Jessie Sloane is trying to get over the death of her mother so she applies to college but the college can't accept her application as her social security number belongs to another Jessica who died, age 3, 17 years ago.

I can't say that I enjoyed this novel as it is not at all what I was expecting from the blurb, a good mystery with a bit of action. Instead it is narrated in the present by the extremely unreliable Jessie whose insomnia is giving her hallucinations and in 1998 by her equally unreliable mother, Eden, who recounts her obsession with getting pregnant. There is the obligatory twist at the end of the novel to put it all in perspective but by that time I didn't care and found it extremely unconvincing, a damp squib at best, a cop out at worst.

When The Lights Go Out is well done but the subject matter is not to my taste.

There were some really good bits to this story... I found myself completely drawn into the story of Eden and Aaron,their home,their love... their desire for a baby.... and how that desire overwhelms one and turns into an obsession for the other.
Those were my favourite bits of the story.
I also wondered who Jessie actually was,who her father was....
The stranger in the landlady's apartment seemed an unnecessary distraction... and I'm afraid I openly scoffed (on a bus) at the whole "it was just a dream thing"
Also at the ending... which didn't feel right.
My first Kubica book... and I'm a little torn as you can tell.