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The Sleepover

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Member Reviews

The Sleepover by Samantha King is a standalone thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The story follows Claire, a mother of two, who wakes up one morning to find her husband and children missing. She soon receives a phone call from a mysterious woman who claims to have kidnapped them and demands that Claire do everything she says. As Claire follows the woman's instructions, she uncovers dark secrets about her husband's past and realizes that nothing is as it seems.

The Sleepover is a fast-paced and gripping novel that explores the themes of family, trust, and betrayal. It will make you question how well you know the people you love and what you would do to save them.

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I struggled to get into this one and found the characters difficult to connect with. It's also a little far fetched in places while being totally believable at other times. It's a fast paced read once it picks up but the slow start is quite off-putting.

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Looking at other reviews, mine seems to be a unpopular opinion. I liked the book but I didn´t love it...

The storyline is incredibly complex and since almost everyone is lying, it´s not easy to figure out what is going on and who is responsible, not only for Roxy´s death but also for those that occur later. It is only towards the end that it all comes together, which is great.

However, when the case is solved, it doesn´t seem realistic or authentic to me. What has happened seems very unlikely, maybe the first crime, yes, but not the others. They are too calculated and cleverly planned for it being a spur of the moment/out of desperation kind of thing.

I also don´t love the writing as much as I hoped. I enjoy books where things are described and I can imagine myself being present, but there is barely any descriptive language in this story. I have absolutely no idea what the surroundings or team look like (they may have been described in previous books however). Most sentences are short and simple and the writing therefore doesn´t flow as well. I also didn´t enjoy the "going back in time thing" to show the reader what happened exactly. I think it´s a shortcut. A storyline should unfold and what happened should established without the author relying on a change of perspective where the reader is transported back in time to a situation that then explains reasoning and motive.

I think I will give this author another try however, because I loved the complexity of the story and the different characters in it and the last couple of pages make me want to find out more about Nat and her family (which was probably the point...).

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Now as a mother my worst fear is a child going missing, but what if it happens at a sleepover?
How do you ever forgive yourself as a parent for the guilt you will carrying because of it?
This story had me gripped from the get-go, certainly fast paced and had me second guessing most of the way through, I wonder if you will suspect the one? I certainly didn't!
Absolutely loved this book! Would highly recommend!!

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This is a well written thriller which is the story of every parents worst nightmare. It has a tightly woven plot packed with twists and turns and an unexpected ending.

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Izzy is thrilled when her shy, 12-year-old son is invited for his first ever sleepover.Unfortunately Nick has spent years being isolated and picked on by horrible bullies and she thinks he deserves a night of fun and friendship.

But Izzy is also nervous as it’s a year to the day since bullies put Nick in hospital. She cautiously drops him off at his new best friend’s house with very mixed feelings. When it’s time to collect him the next morning ,her worst fears have come true . . .Nick isn’t there.and she desperately needs to know who has taken her son and more importantly will she ever see him again?

It’s a very intense psychological thriller that I’m sure many readers will enjoy.

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I wasn’t a huge fan of Samantha King’s first book but wow has she pulled off a brilliant second one! The story of a seemingly overprotective mother worrying about her previously bullied only son but still allowing him to go to his first sleepover spirals into a mystery with the reader trying to guess who is the good guy and who isn’t what they seem. Very well plotted and cleverly crafted. The characters evolve and become well defined and the denouement is cleverly constructed. Can’t wait for book No 3

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Fantastic read. True to life. Plot any mother can relate to. It was very well written. Hard to put down once you start it.

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I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

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Izzy’s 12 year old son wants to go to a sleepover at his friend’s house. Izzy doesn’t want him to but finally relents. When she goes to collect him she discovers he is missing.

There is quite a bit of tension to the story but it became way too far fetched for me. I enjoyed reading it and would suggest you may like it too if you can suspend your belief. I can’t say much more without spoilers.

I didn’t particularly like the character of Izzy. She felt quite wet and disoriented. At the end she was strong but throughout she wasn’t.

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What a great book
Characters were fantastic and a brilliant storyline
Would definitely recommend to others
I was totally engrossed from start to finish
Definitely deserves a 5 star

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The Sleepover

This book has a very familiar premise and it's a genre that has been done many times over...the missing child storyline has been done often.

It's very brave for an author to tackle this one and the storyline was definitely an intriguing one, told well and although the topic matter felt familiar it did have an originality about it which was great.

I know these type of books are showing someone at the worst time in their lives but I really struggled with the characters in this one.

Isobel was just...awful and bland. I hated her "my son" thing and that she resisted other people caring about him. That was really odd and although I very much understand helicopter mums (I imagine I would be one myself!)...hers felt wrong...not that she loved Nick so much she was protecting him out of love but she loved him so much she was protecting him for herself...which just came across as weird and strange.
That one scene where she was trying to send Craig home just confirmed to me she was an awful person and as I was struggling with her anyway and all I knew about her personality was she was obsessed with her son...it did make the second half of the book a bit of a slog.

I think telling us the exact events that happened a year ago, rather than just snippets would have really helped. I think we needed to understand Isobel more and if we saw the full event of what happened on that fateful day, a year ago, we may have had a better grasp on why she was the way she was. I understand that dropping snippets of information is a common storyline feature but I think it was harmful to the flow of the story here because that was information we required rather than just being interested in.

I also think the story would have been helped by more fleshed out characters....I didn't really understand Katie's betrayal or why she stopped caring about Isobel and what happened with Craig fully. I think fleshing out those storylines would have been better early on...for us to give us something about the characters to work with. I felt by the halfway point that I didn't really know much about anyone.

I think the whole premise would have worked better with 15 or 16 year olds rather than 12 year olds. It just didn't sit right with me at all.

I did not enjoy the conclusion at all. I thought it was far fetched even for these kind of thriller books and again had we known the characters more earlier in the book then any surprises at the end would have had more meaning.
I also thought the vagueness in the ending...taking forever to find out who survived etc made the story stutter. The conclusion would have worked better being more simplistic and straight forward.

Overall the book was interesting and I am glad I read it but I wish I could have connected with the characters.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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This was a fun read. Well written. Held my interest. Just an enjoyable read overall.

I would recommend this book to my friends and family for sure!

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A gripping page turner that you will eat eat up in a few days! A really good storyline and an easy read!

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A good read. There is a lot to the plot which is fast paced. It is not totally believable in places. It is very convincing and scary in others. There is some very clever writing and some great characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

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When Izzy lets her 12-year-old son Nick go to his very first sleepover she never expected for him to disappear. After suffering from an awful assault at the hands of bullies a year ago, her mind jumps to many conclusions but nothing could prepare her for the truth. 

I felt for Izzy. She wanted to let her son have more freedom, and for him to have friends but she was terrified for another repeat of the year before.

A lot of the characters seemed creepy and like they were hiding something so it was hard to know who we could trust. I couldn’t figure out what has happened to Nick and who might be involved. 

At first I found the book relatively slow paced. Although we got into the main plot quickly, I found it hard to get into to. However, it picked up, and we found out information to keep the story chugging along at a nice pace. 

The Sleepover had such shocking plot twists I had to read the sentences twice to make sure I was reading it right. Towards the end I guessed who was responsible - but I loved putting together the clues, and it really made me think and wonder about certain things and the reasons behind them. 

The way the book all came together was rather complex, and I found it difficult to get my head around. However, it was also brilliant because I did not see it coming at all!

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Izzy is thrilled when her shy, 12-year-old son is invited for his first sleepover. Nick has spent years being isolated and picked on; he deserves a night of fun and friendship. But Izzy is also nervous: it's a year to the day since bullies put Nick in hospital. She drops him off at his new best friend's house with mixed feelings. Arriving to collect him the following morning, her worst fears come true.

This book really details every parent's worst nightmare. Your child goes for their first sleepover and when you arrive to pick them up, they are gone. I would love to say that from here King details a twisting, gripping, shocking investigation into the truth but I found it somewhat lacking. I was gripped to a certain extent but I also thought it was lacking energy and excitement. I do not think the culprit started off being obvious but the more I read, the more I saw it becoming obvious and it meant the ending was spoilt a bit. I cannot really detail why I was so disappointed, it just felt like a let down and the built up energy did not really go anywhere.

Where this read excels is with the atmosphere. King has done a fantastic job with creating a really chilling, unnerving atmosphere that did hook me in and have me on edge for the rest of the read. As the book progresses, King builds a sense of impending doom, we see Izzy become increasingly vulnerable and isolated until the big event towards the end of the read, which is actually not that big. I adored the atmosphere created but it felt like a waste as King really builds it up and then it did not go anywhere.

The characters in this are okay, although I do not think there is enough character development for them to be likeable. I did not even warm to Izzy that much and we follow her for the entire read. There are some interesting characters and dynamics in this but King does not develop them enough to really get the benefit. Again, this felt like a wasted opportunity.

What is clear throughout this is not only do the adults have secrets but the children do as well, and maybe what the children are hiding is much worse. I did enjoy discovering the many secrets in this read and King does throw in a couple of good red herrings to throw the reader off the scent a bit but I wanted something else.

'The Sleepover' is a chilling, unnerving read about a nightmarish situation. Sadly, the built up energy went nowhere and I was left disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Piatkus for an advance copy.

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When Izzy's 12-year-old son Nick is invited for a sleepover, Izzy hesitates. He has been bullied and badly injured in an attack before, and Izzy doesn't like to let him out of her sight.
In the end, though, she lets him go.
The next day, however, she learns that she's made the worst mistake of her life. Nick is missing...

This is the second book by Samantha King that I've read, and again, it was one I enjoyed.
The story follows Izzy as she learns more and more details about the fateful sleepover.
It was a good and gripping read, that had me steadily hooked.
The new evidence was brought to light steadily, making for an engaging read. The twist at the end was definitely not what I expected, but I found some aspects of the ending a bit far-fetched.
Overall, however, I found the whole story lacked the wow factor, but it was definitely an entertaining story that is bound to keep you turning the pages.

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I absolutely loved this book!
A really gripping and tense thriller that I could not put down! Great storyline and ending. Highly recommend reading it. #reviewer #netgalley

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I liked the premise of this book. Izzy faces a mother's worst nightmare, when her son Nick disappears after going to his first sleepover. The backstory involves Nick being bullied for being different. He is a quiet boy who enjoys dance classes.. His biological father is dead, so Craig (his stepdad) has been the only father he's ever known. However, he left when the couple disagreed on how best to parent Nick. After the sleepover, we are introduced to a wide variety of characters who could be involved in his disappearance.

I wasn't convinced about the pacing of the novel. There were lots of abrupt cuts between past and present. I felt more time was needed on key events. For example, when Nick was found and we are taken straight to the hospital. I think there was much more potential for detail here, after the reader had invested themselves in his disappearance.

There were many twists in the tale which did keep me guessing. However, I was disappointed to find that the perpetrator was someone entirely unrelated to everything..

That said, I did enjoy the read and many thanks to net galley for allowing me to read and review.

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