Member Reviews
I was intrigued by the premise of this book. I haven’t read that many books that are set in hospitals, so I didn’t have any expectations or that much of a base to run off of with this book. There are a whole bunch of side plots that seamlessly feed into the main plot of the story, and all of which are interesting. They do all make certain things in the main plot happen, but its actually so seamless that I didn’t realise this until after I finished the book and was thinking back to write this review. I thought Emily made a great main character, she’s realistically flawed and her backstory is fascinating, and proves a wonderful motivator for the plot of the book. Her main motivator is finding her sister, which ultimately draws her into the mystery of what happened to the girl opposite her in her hospital room who disappears and who no one claims to have seen. There’s a few twists in this book that I didn’t expect, and it definitely gets darker than I thought it would. Lawler doesn’t signpost whats about to happen and it was a genuine surprise to me. I couldn’t put the book down as I just wanted to know what happened next and what the outcome of the story would be. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this book and it made for a wonderful read, it kept me engrossed throughout! |
Emily's sister went missing a year ago and she still holds out hope that she’ll be found alive but the search has taken a toll on her mental health. She goes in for a minor op in the hospital she works at and wakes up in the night to see Doctors trying to resuscitate the woman in the bed next to her. In the morning she’s told she imagined it and no one was ever there. When she returns to work she is convinced that her colleagues are lying to her. If they are what did they do to that poor woman? But what if she’s wrong and she’s just projecting the loss of her sister? I absolutely adore Liz Lawler and her first book Don’t Wake Up was one of my 2018 favourites. She really knows how to keep you guessing and make you question everything. I read this in a day because I could not put it down. It’s told from several POVs which did nothing to help me work out who was telling the truth and who I could believe. I questioned everything, especially Emily. I guessed some of it but I did not see the ending coming. Such a sinister twist. If you love psychological thrillers then I highly recommend checking out Liz Lawler and I look forward to reading more of her work. |
Julie H, Reviewer
This is an enjoyable quick read. There is plenty of action and twists in the plot. The ending sent shivers down my spine. Thank you to Netgalley for my copy. |
This is a crime thriller with a brilliant twist at the end. Nurse Emily Jacobs is the main character, whose sister went missing a year ago and she has spent that time searching for her, now on the anniversary she is going back to work. Originally an A&E nurse she has a new job at the private hospital her sister Zoe was last seen at, after only a couple of weeks she's on the other side of the treatment as a patient for a minor op but suspects somethings awry. She hears something in the night she recognises as a defibrillator and the patient in the next bed being shocked, but everyone denies there being anyone in her room. Clues start mounting and she is determined to find out the truth, the problem is she keeps seeing other things that aren't there so no one believes her. The main character starts as a strong confident women who is quite likeable but she doesn't help herself when dealing with her problems, she has a therapist and a police officer on her side but her actions with her colleagues alienate them. The other characters are very well written and suitably unlikable. The plot is a little far fetched but very readable, there is a little too much repeating early on but the pace speeds up when you get into it. You can tell the author has a medical background there is a lot of detail in the hospital, I like this being from a similar background. It was a slow burner for me with a solid 3 stars until the end, the last third was read in a couple of hours with the conclusions coming thick and fast, the last twist did give it an extra star. |
Chanel L, Reviewer
I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Emily Jacobs wakes up in the night after a minor operation, woozy with anaesthetic. She sees the doctor frantically trying to resuscitate the woman in the bed next to her. In the morning, she is told that she must have had a nightmare. That the bed has been empty all along..... When Emily returns to work as a nurse, she discovers a bracelet that she believes belonged to the missing woman. She becomes convinced the people at the hospital are hiding a terrible secret. What if she's right? What else could they be capable of? Liz Lawler certainly knows how to give me goosebumps!! This book is just as thrilling as her first book! Like her first book, this one kept my heart pounding from beginning to end, and had me completely hooked from the very first page. With a very disturbing, terrifying plot, brilliantly-written characters that had me constantly on my toes wondering who to trust, and a chilling ending that left me rather unsettled; I definitely can't wait for this author's next! |
Yoo-hoo! *waves* Yes, you - the one reading this review, obvs. If you’re looking for a literary review then this one is not for you *snorts* No, this one is #allaboutthefeels Still there? Yay *mini fist pump*, thank you for sticking with me. So, OMG, this book! This book was an eight letter word that starts with m and ends in k. Come on *wafts hand*, would I lie to you? I was literally rigid with tension whilst reading this story. The littlest thing would have had me jumping out of my skin. Say, for instance, if my cat, Nigel, were to accidentally-on-purpose brush against me. *whistles* Let’s just leave that story there, shall we? *blushes* I was both desperate to turn the page and scared at the same time. It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again, I’m a special kind of twisted *smirks* The prologue was genius in the fact that I was simultaneously hooked and freaked out... Emily Jacobs has been through the mill. Can she ever move forward with her life without closure? Now, she finds herself smack bang in the middle of another mystery, or does she? All is not as it seems - as they say, appearances can be deceiving. Who can she trust when all those around her seem to have lost faith in her? Now, followers of my reviews will know, that I normally pride myself on working out who the ‘baddie’ is when I read crime/thrillers. Well, it’s true - pride does cometh before the fall *smirks* I had zero clue. I was left agog, open-mouthed, dumb-founded. Ack, you catch my drift! But most of all, I was left unsettled. Now, that’s a job well done *big thumbs up* by the author in my book. |
I’ll Find You is another pacy, clever psychological thriller from Liz Lawler, a great follow up to her first book Don’t Wake Up. This is the kind of page turner I thoroughly enjoy, with an unsure main protagonist and plenty of twists and turns. The plot races along to an emotional conclusion, we have some engaging characters and some excellent writing. Very good. Recommended. |
I was very intrigued by the blurb of this novel. It sounds so mysterious, that is why I decided to give it a go. It has its ups and downs, but overall it is a very amusing story. 🙂 The protagonist in this story is Emily, a nurse, who is struggling with the loss of her sister Zoe. Zoe has been missing for over a year, and Emily still keeps looking for her. The rest is covered by the blurb pretty accurately. Emily is a very disturbed character, she has mental health issues and is trying to cling to normality very hard, but life keeps throwing unusual situations at her. I think Emily is a very interesting and unique character, and I did like her baffled but a very strong personality. The narrative of this book is told from multiple perspectives, including the thoughts of a police officer – Geraldine, who shares her opinion about Emily and her situations. I was not a very big fan of Geraldine, she was quite boring and didn’t bring much to this story. The book was a slow burner for me, there is a lot of thinking done in this book, and I liked that sometimes, the author was trying to confuse the reader by suggesting ideas. This novel does carry some interesting twists and turns, and that made the book livelier. Author’s experience is shining through in this novel, she explains all the procedures done to the patients in great detail, and her knowledge about Bath is felt very strongly. The topics discussed in this book would be grief when your family member disappears; difficult child-parent relationships; mental health issues etc. I am not really sure whether I liked the writing style of this book. I think it was quite repetitive, very detailed, and characters kept asking questions in the search for the answers. (I prefer to ask the questions myself) The chapters have a very decent length and do fly by quite quickly. I really liked the culmination in this novel, it was very unexpected and surprising. I really liked the ending of this book as well, I think it rounded up the story very nicely. So, to conclude, this book carries a lot of grief, insecurities and confusion between what is real and what is not. The narrative is layered, unexpected, and I really had the urge to find out where Emily will be taken by all these events in her life. I think this book would be enjoyable for people interested in medicine and the fans of Shari Lapena. (I see some similarities between the writing styles) Do give this book a try, and I hope you will enjoy it! |
Mel M, Reviewer
Emily’s younger sister Zoe vanished from hospital one year ago and poor Emily hasn’t coped very well with it and blames herself for not going sooner to pick Zoe up! After a year of searching for her sister many therapist visits and mental health problems Emily is getting back to work as a nurse at a private hospital rather than the busy A&E dept she’s used to, after a couple of weeks she notices a lump on her breast and has to have a wee routine op so where better than her new place of work😱🙈 Poor Emily is in a 2 bed room with a young woman who doesn’t appear to understand much English...after her op she’s back in her room and wakes up through the night hearing them trying to resuscitate the girl in the bed beside her she pulls the curtain to see what’s going on and someone gives her something to knock her out! She wakes up in the morning in the room herself and when she asks about the young woman she’s told she was and has been the only one in the room and it must be the anaesthetic causing her to hallucinate!!! The book starts off great really gripping and exciting flying through it and then it just seemed to switch and get not so great! I loved don’t wake up but this one just wasn’t as good! I.read it and I enjoyed it but it got a bit too far fetched ( Dalloway and the whole family all working there, what happened to Zoe, Walter, the knife, the necklace, Isobel) had there maybe only been a couple of far fetched bits i might of enjoyed it more😉 |
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book as this is a new author for me, straight away I was drawn in by the story, it was such an un-putdownable read, I enjoyed it very much. |
After reading this I’ll certainly be reading the authors previous book as this was a great read. This book started off real well I was glued. Emily is struggling mentally after her sister disappeared from hospital. In hospital and after having an operation she wakens up to seeing a young girl being worked on by medical staff. The next morning the girls not there. Where is she? Is Emily imagining her? The author writes in a way that you start to doubt Emily. I couldn’t wait to keep reading, I wanted to know what was happening to Emily? I’ll certainly be reading more from this author. |
I had heard mixed reviews about this book, so I was somewhat hesitant to start it. However, I try as much as I can not to let reviews sway me. I went into this book with an open mind. I did find it enjoyable and it didn't take me long to read at all, but I can see why some reviewers have had some trouble with it. The premise of this book is really exciting. Emily's sister, Zoe, went missing from a hospital 12 months ago. Emily has been signed off work as a nurse after suffering with her mental health. Emily is about to return to work after deciding that she needs distraction. However, Emily discovers a lump in her breast and needs to get it removed. After surgery, Emily comes around to a young girl being revived by several members of staff. When someone notices Emily, they inject her, sending her into a deep sleep. In the morning, staff deny any knowledge of anyone ever being in the room with Emily. Emily won't let it lie though and is determined to prove she was telling the truth, no matter what... I was really intrigued by the plot line but I'm sad to say that it became a little unbelievable in places. It didn't seem like real life. I'm not saying that stories should be similar to real life, but in thrillers, I do tend to like some sense of reality within the pages. A good thriller creeps you out because you know it could happen. There are some really interesting characters in this story and there was certainly enough to hold my attention. It was clear that the writer has good medical knowledge, being a nurse herself. I just wish it had been more believable. |
Emily Jacobs is not having her best year, her sister disappeared last year and she is having an operation at the same hospital she disappeared… The operation goes perfectly fine, but while she is sleeping that night, she sees that her room partner is having some healthy problems… The next day, when she wakes up no one remembers her or knows anything about her, making Emily to question if she is having hallucinations. Emily will start asking questions about the mysterious patient, but everything seems that it was a creation of her mind. She is not ready to accept that not only she had failed her sister but also an unknown woman. She is ready to find her or to accept the consequences… ready? I can totally see this book made to a movie; the moments when Emily thinks she can see her sister, the noisy nurse that wants to control everyone at the hospital, the handsome doctor… It will be a dark and intriguing movie, and wait for the final twist, of course! Emily is braver than she thinks; she has always been diminished by her parents (they are really a pearl), her sister is always relying on her, and the only time she confronts her, is when she disappears… so you can imagine the guilt she is living with. She has been for a long term in therapy and now that she thought she is ready to live again, she sees someone disappear again. The problem she will have is that she doesn’t have anyone near to believe her; neither the police, the therapist, the nurses… so she will have to decide to trust her instincts or really believe that she is hallucinating. I liked Emily’s character, even if she doesn’t know it, she is a strong woman, she had a really bad childhood, but is ready to fight for the truth, no matter if she has to risk her life or her freedom. Ready for a compelling read that will leave you with a broken heart? |
Today I have all the book details and of course an extract for you to sink your teeth in. And to be fair it is a book that you actually do bite into it. Chilling much? 👁My Thoughts: Review will be published on paperback release date which is 02/05/2019. I will just say this though… wow! |
Having enjoyed the first book by this author I was looking forward to the second. it is always a risk - will it be as good?! will I feel let down!? Luckily I did enjoy it just as much (phew!) Hooked from the first chapter and enjoyed the twists and turns as I read on. Good solid characters. I would highly recommend this book. |
Rating: 3 stars Spoilers ahead! Emily Jacobs is a nurse who recently started working at a private hospital. On the anniversary of her sister being missing, Emily has a surgery at this hospital. All goes well... except she woke to the doctors trying to resuscitate the women next to her. Though in the morning the bed next to her lay empty, and apparently it had been empty all along. Did her sister's disappearance leave her mind disconnected from reality? Or was there something more to uncover? I don't know where to start with this book. At times I couldn't put it down, and at others I was so frustrated that I wanted to throw it across the room. I think the plot was actually quite good, and well thought out, but at times I do think the writing let it down a little. Emily was a difficult character for me to relate to. There were times throughout where I did feel sorry for her, but her reasoning was sometimes hard to understand. Like when the Dalloway's had basically kidnapped her, she still expressed sympathy for them, and was so passive towards the situation. Another thing I didn't really like was the sheer volume of rhetorical questions present in the book. The use of them was sometimes effective, but other times it just was tooooo much! Like I said before, I think the plot was actually quite good. The writing needed work in several areas. Upon reading this book, and the first couple of chapters, I thought it was going to be about finding Zoe, but then the whole plot turned towards this missing patient, which I did think was interesting. Though I was a little annoyed that in the end it was Dalloway that was involved in Zoe's disappearance again, what a big coincidence! The thing that did save it slightly was that it was Isobel that was responsible. Though this was quite dark, it did add another edge to the story. I did enjoy it, and would recommend! |
Paula S, Reviewer
Emily Jacobs sister, Zoe, went missing from a hospital nearly a year ago. As a result Emily’s mental health has suffered and she is only now feeling ready to return to work. She is starting work as a nurse in a Private hospital but just after starting she has an operation to remove a lump in her breast. After the operation she awakes in the middle of the night to see a girl on her ward being worked on my several members of staff, one of which injects Emily with a substance that makes her instantly sleep. The next morning Emily wakes to find alone on the ward. Where did the girl go ? No-one else saw the girl and the staff Emily talks to deny there ever being anyone else on the ward but Emily is convinced she didn’t imagine her. Everyone she speaks to thinks Emily is suffering with her mental health again but was the girl really there and if so where is she now ? A book full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing. Some great characters, especially Emily and the detective Geraldine, who believes in Emily and doesn’t give up. Thank you to Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book. |
This book had a very shocking first few paragraphs and I always believe this ingredient is key for psychological thrillers to really grip me as a reader and make me invested in finding out what’s happened. I felt so frustrated on behalf of the lead character Emily, it seems that no one believes her and instead go out of their way to make her feel even more crazy and detached from reality. It was a frustrating read, but at the same time intriguing from a readers perspective because you want to know why it is everyone seems to be colluding against her. I was a little disappointed with the ending as I had high expectations that it was going to finish with a bang and that I was going to be really surprised but unfortunately I wasn’t. Having said that, everything is wrapped up nicely and there are no annoying sections which were left unexplained which is sometimes the case in psychological thrillers. I thought the writing came across really solid, the author clearly knows her stuff when it comes to medical procedures that nurses would be expected to perform. Overall this was an enjoyable psychological thriller read and it kept me interested throughout. |
Reviewer 489688
Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. I was looking forward to this, having really enjoyed Liz Lawler's previous book, but I struggled to engage with this one. Although the plot was interesting, I found the story difficult to follow, although the final few chapters, for the most part, were gripping and interesting. That said, the final revelation felt a bit rushed. I liked the characters, and feel that Lawler skillfully wrote her antagonists so that, at least with one of them, I did feel sympathy towards them. |
Lucy F, Educator
Great novel. Kept me hooked from start to finish. Enjoyed seeing the development of the characters and would love to read more of Liz’s books. |




