Lock Me In by Kate Simants is an excellent debut novel which you won’t want to miss.

Ellie suffers from disossiative identity disorder, her alter Siggy is unpredictable and violent. In order to protect themselves from her, Ellie is locked in her bedroom at night.
Ellie wakes one morning with injuries and covered in bruises, and with obvious signs that she broke out of her room. Having no recollection of that night, things just proceed to get worse with the disappearance of her boyfriend Matt.

This story is told through Ellie as well as detective Mae who is assigned to look into Matt’s disappearance. The detective is also acquainted with Ellie and her mom from a different case six years prior.

For me this was definitely a slow burn with many intricate layers which opened to more questions than answers, which I loved. The character development was great and I honestly enjoyed all of their stories and found myself a bit sad having to say good bye.

Over all a very engaging and original story! 4.5 ⭐️

A book that offers great premise and a good cover ( dont usually mention covers but this one did catch my eye!! )

Ellie has Dissociative Identity Disorder which in laymans ( being me ) terms means she feels she has another person living inside her and this person ‘takes over’ at night and does, well, bad things, in Ellie’s case her alter ego is Siggy
The name Siggy got on my nerves every time read it, not sure why but it did however at the end of the book there is an explanation for this name
which made it make ( more ) sense
Ellie isn’t a great communicator in the book, her dialogue often ‘scratchy’ at best but then she does have a lot going on
Ellie has a boyfriend, Matthew, and he goes missing and the story really goes on from there with Detectives Mae and Kit on the case, I liked them both and even though some reviewers found Mae’s personal problems were something not needed in the book I started to look forward to the chapters that involved him and his problems, his character was not the norm for a Police character and I really liked him!
There are were a couple of pages I skimmed as the various stages of the Police marking scale of indecent photos of minors and other things related is discussed, its pertinent to the story and was very procedural but I didn’t lose the thread of the story by not reading the detail and nor is it the main focus of the book
The ending is dramatic and then some and just, just, makes it into believable with a pinch of salt
Kudos to the author for writing about DID, I mean there has to be a million and 1 things easier to base a book around??,the research done is impressive and although not a book ( for me ) I could shout from the rooftops about its a book I wont forget
6/10
3 Stars

I wasn't expecting it to be this good. This book has so many layers it started and ending in a total different direction from what I was expecting. All the characters are very interesting. This is a book that deals with sensitive topics but I am not sure of how much to say just cause I don't want to spoil anything but the writing is great and the story is engaging, it dragged at the end but maybe it was me not a big fan of long thrillers. I really liked it would like to read more about this author.

This is one of the best psychological thrillers I've read in quite awhile! I am not sure I can review it without giving away some of the plot, but I will say it was very well done with a lot of twists that I didn't see coming. I did have suspicions about what was happening, but the reason behind it all was nothing I would have ever realized. I found the story very unique and different from any other book I have read. I am so happy I had the opportunity to read it.

Lock Me In by Kate Simants is a riveting and ambitious debut that is unlike anything that I have encounterrd previously. This one will have you enthralled and keep you guessing in equal measure.

Ellie Power suffers from an identity disorder that brings out her alter ego, Siggy, after dark. As a measure to keep both herself and her daughter safe, Ellie's mother must lock her in her room each night. When Ellie awakens one morning to find that the lock on her door has been smashed from the inside, she is covered in bruises, and her boyfriend, Matt, has gone missing without a trace, she is unable to recall events from the previous night. Ellie begins to question the role of Siggy, and herself, in the shocking turn, and begins to fear that all is not as it appears.

This novel is skillfully woven, and so full of twists that you will not want to blink for fear of missing a crucial detail of the full-on plot. Kate Simants is an exciting new voice, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Impulse and Killer Reads, and One More Chapter for this ARC.

Lock Me In by Kate Simants -- 3 stars
HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780008353292

The description of this book and reviews by readers saying it had a complex fast moving plot made me excited to read it. I was somewhat disappointed. I didn’t hate it but sometimes I struggled to continue reading. While the plot was unique and intriguing, it became so complex that it was cumbersome and this slowed the action unnecessarily.
The personal issues Detective Mae had with his ex-wife and daughter added nothing to the story and was one reason it often dragged.

The conclusion was interesting, but some explanations of occurrences and actions by the characters were unrealistic making it forced. I realize this is fiction but in mystery books I have to believe that things could actually happen. This wasn’t a bad book. It just wasn’t as enjoyable as I’d hoped.

Reviewer: Nancy

Great premise. Well written and fast paced.

I really enjoyed the characters especially how Siggy kept pushing her way through.

Kept a few secrets right until the end.

Thanks to Netgalley for for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the premise of this book and it started out strong for me.

Then i just got so bored with how it dragged on and on. Characters weren’t interesting and I stopped caring about the plot.

CHALLENGE EVERYTHING.

I can’t believe this was a debut novel! It was a very well done thriller. So many twists and also surprisingly heart wrenching.

This book follows Ellie, who is suffering from dissociative identity disorder. While she’s asleep, her alter, Ziggy, takes control and wrecks havoc on her life. One morning she awakes to find her boyfriend missing, injuries all over her, and her normally locked bedroom door broken.

I suspected what had happened to Matt, the boyfriend, from the beginning but was not expecting the countless small twists that would come to light during the novel.

The only thing that stopped it from getting 5 stars was that it was pretty slow in the beginning. But once I was probably 60% through the book, whew I was HOOKED.

* I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

I will rate Lock Me In by Kate Simants a solid 2/5 stars. I really wanted to like this book since it discussed a mental health subject that is rarely spoken upon, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), but this book fell flat for me. The book started out being very interesting as I tried to understand Ellie's life living with an alter ego of Siggy who only came out to play at night, thus leaving her Mum to lock her in her room each night. When Ellie's boyfriend Matt is discovered missing one morning after Ellie wakes up bruised, battered and covered in mud, Ellie starts to suspect the worst and believes that Siggy has seriously harmed the love of her life. In reality, the truth couldn't be further from what she believes.

What I enjoyed about this book:
I enjoyed the fact that the author tried to write a book about DID. I will give her kudos for that;. That was really,
quite honestly, the most interesting part of the entire book.

What I didn't enjoy about this book:
The characters were not likeable and quite boring. The detective, Mae, and his issues with his ex-wife and daughter bored me to tears. His entire input/outlook could have been removed from the book and it wouldn't have even effected it in the least bit.
It took far too long for the story to pan out with the conclusion that all wasn't as it appeared and that Ellie's Mum wasn't who she said she was. I figured this out in the early chapters of the book. Probably chapter 3.
The storyline and plot were really unrealistic to me and it dragged on for ages. This was not one of those edge of your seat types of books as I hoped it would be.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Just as well I’ve not decided on my top 3 books to recommend for Emma Weltons R3COMM3ND3D2019 yet because Lock Me In has completely thrown me by being one of the best bloody books that I’ve read this year! And it’s hard to believe that it’s also a DEBUT! Also, that I’ve loved it so much, it’s taken me a week to read it! This is a book to be savoured as slowly as possible to squeeze every single second of perfection from it!

I first heard about Lock Me In when I was at Harrogate this year. A blogging buddy had heard of it and said that it sounded intriguing so immediately I was on Amazon looking it up and was also intrigued enough to preorder it. As I was doing so, I started to read the blurb out to another blogger friend and she also said she just had to find out more and also preordered it! Well ladies, you are not going to be disappointed because Lock Me In is just as gripping as we thought it would be and you are in for a real treat.

Ellie seems to have a great life from an outsiders point of view with an adoring mother, a great boyfriend and a job she thoroughly enjoys. But Ellie has a secret. Every night Ellie has to be locked in her room by her mother due to the violent fugues that she suffers from but never remembers the next morning. But one morning she wakes to see her door smashed in from the inside and her hands covered in bruises. What has she done? Why can’t she remember? But more importantly…where the hell is her boyfriend?! As Ellie attempts to make sense of what happened that night, she has no idea of the journey of discovery that she’s about to set off on.

What grabbed my attention straightaway was the idea that someone was such a danger to themselves and others that they had to be physically restrained in their bedroom overnight. That’s just mad isn’t it?! And there seems to be no outside help for Ellie and her poor set upon mother who is often covered in bruises herself the next morning. So from the start I was desperate to know what was happening during these fugues that Ellie suffered from but also, why? What had caused them to start with as Ellie seems to have had them since she can first remember! There are flashbacks to sessions with a psychotherapist when Ellie was a teenager that shed some light on past traumas but there is also a mystery surrounding why these sessions were halted quite dramatically.

So the uniqueness of plot was the main reason I was drawn to this book but what kept me there was the stunning use of characterisation to keep the storyline flowing to perfection. Ellie herself was slowly revealed to us through her own chapters where she tries to find her boyfriend Matt, the man she hopes to spend the rest of her life with. She is developed slowly through her memories and her personality that comes out far more once she is in the outside world and before she is locked away again each night. Although she’s 19, she seems to act so much younger due to her overprotective mother and so when she’s away from her, the real Ellie starts to come to the fore. Her voluntary work with children at the local hospital is of huge importance to her as she seems to relate to them far more than the adults in her life so to see her mental strength increasing from her own life experiences was a wonderful thing to watch.

But the character I loved the most was Ben Mae and, oh my word, what an amazing creation he was. It was like a game of pass the parcel with Mae, every time the music stopped I peeled off another layer but it was never the payback prize that I was searching for! This man had so many layers to uncover in his own personal life that I’m sure that he needs AT LEAST 4 more books to maybe get an inkling of the true Ben Mae for us readers! I became so attached to him that I wanted to head over to the fictional station he worked from and take him out for a nice pub lunch with a few drinks and try to gently soak away the painted face he thought protected him from those around him. The cultural aspect of his background transformed an intriguing narrative into a deeply personal and compelling storyline where I found myself totally fascinated by all aspects of this characters life and couldn’t tear myself away from either his or Ellie’s narrative. This meant I became so involved in Ellie’s story that I didn’t want it to end but then I’d read Mae’s chapters and didn’t want to leave him either when it went back to Ellie again! And I just love it when that happens!

Kate Simants is a hugely exciting new talent in today’s literary world. She has written a carefully crafted and emotionally absorbing story that fascinates and grips the reader from the very first page. I’m hoping that Ben Mae and his sidekick Kit (who I’ve not even mentioned here but I’m hoping will be a catalyst for change with Mae in the future!! I liked her!!) will return as he is too good an inception to leave here.

Lock Me In is released on October 3rd and is available to preorder at the criminally good price of 99p at time of this review. You’d be mad not to take advantage of that and I guarantee you won’t regret it! This is one of my favourite books of 2019. I’m now off to author stalk Kate Simants and beg her for more Mae! #moremae

Highly recommended by me!

Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for the advance eArc. This is an amazing debut. A true psychological thriller! Could not put this one down. Ellie has DID an identity disorder. And her inner personalities are trying to come through. A thrilling, suspenseful book! This is a definite must read!!

A haunting exploration into the lengths someone will go for love. A young girl plagued by the violent nightly fugues she has no memory of and the mother who is so devoted she would do anything for her daughter. Anything.

I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this Author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!

The premise of the book was super intriguing to me but I’m calling it quits at 48%. It was so long and the detective storyline could have been way edited.

While I did enjoy this book, I did struggle with some parts of it. I felt that Ellie would have been better off in a mental hospital where she could be monitored and assisted, instead of being locked into her room by her mother every night.
The story itself was quite interesting, but I was really annoyed with the character of Ellie's mother, I just did not like her.

Utterly spellbinding. There needs to be more hype around this book; it's unlike anything I've ever read! Highly recommended.

A very unique debut book by Kate Simants. Loved the characters and how fast the book moved. It was different but that's what made it good....nothing is as it seems. I will certainly read more by this author. I think our library patrons will love this as well. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Well that was different! What started out as an interesting missing boyfriend case and the did-she or didn’t-she girlfriend developed into an intricately written story displaying many emotional levels. A loving mother, willing to sacrifice everything for her daughter, maybe. A daughter suffering from a mental illness, maybe. Every chapter makes you doubt the truth of the previous one and you get chills and gasp until you get to an explosive ending that exposes all the characters. Shout out to two great detectives I hope to see again!

This book is an exquisite debut novel!! Cheers to the author, she succeeded in keeping me engrossed in Ellie’s story through the twists and turns. I loved the fast pace of this novel, and the characters were excellently written. This book has an ending that I never would’ve predicted but was satisfying nonetheless. I hope to read more from Kate Simants in the future!! I highly recommend this book to fans of mysteries and thriller! Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advanced review copy.