I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Media-sensation Anna O has been in a deep sleep for 4 years, ever since she murdered her two best friends. The time has come to find out for sure, is Anna a victim of chronic sleep-walking or vindictive killer?

I loved the premise of this book, I was so excited to receive the ARC. Exploring sleep psychology, wrapped up in a murder mystery? It sounded right up my street.

I think huge parts of this play out really well. Unfortunately, there are a few too many false-finishes. In my opinion, two of the “big reveals” were predictable from pretty early on.

I didn’t find any of the characters particularly compelling, although there were brief flashes where I was nearly invested in them as people.

Overall, a good crime read, but didn’t quite reach the dizzying heights it could’ve.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my unbiased review.

Anna O is a twisty, complex novel following the story of Anna, the well educated daughter of a minister who has been in a state of sleep for 4 years after she was found in a cabin having apparently murdering two of her friends.

Dr Benedict Prince is an expert in sleep psychology and is tasked with waking Anna in a last attempt to charge her with the murders or have to let her go.

What follows is told in multiple POV (Ben and Anna’s own amongst them) as Anna’s life and the murder are linked to another case of sleepwalking murder committed exactly 20 years before the cabin deaths.

Anna O is a gripping novel and just when I thought I had figured it out, a new clue unravelled. I needed the final chapter to tie all the loose ends and residual questions answered.

Some parts were packed full of psychological science and I will admit to scanning over these slightly but this was only because I was fully invested in the plot and needed the reveal!

I page turner with revelations right to the end.

I found myself thinking about this book long after I’d finished reading it. It had me gripped right from the start, I just had to know what was going to happen and OMG ! what a twist !

Absolutely fantastic gripping read, and I really did not see the end coming (and that's coming from someone who usually always sees the twist)

Sleepwalking Murderess?

The premise was making me look forward to a gripping read but I was sorely disappointed and found it very hard going. In my humble opinion, if after 400 pages of plot, the author feels the need to fill another 20 pages explaining what happend, something went wrong. Not for me, sorry

This book wants to be The Silent Patient, which I enjoyed, but it was such a stretch. I wasn't a fan of this one, but the writing was good, so wouldn't be put of picking up another book by this author.

✨My Thoughts✨

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The mystery and the intrigue from the opening pages had me so excited to read further and find out about Anna O.

Ben Prince has been tasked with waking up the infamous Anna Olgilvy ( Anna O) , he’s woke up one night asking to go into work ( The Abbey Sleep Clinic) immediately then he gets the news that Anna is to be moved to his place of work and he’s got to wake her up so the government get prosecute her before she’s released on humanitarian grounds.

The only problem is she’s been asleep for four years and apparently murdered two people but they think Ben and his theories could work and they want him to wake her up before it’s too late.

I can’t really describe how good this story is.

I was utterly transfixed from the first page right until the very last and even then I didn’t want it to end, it has so many branches to the main story that have you thinking how and why is this connected but I knew it was all connected somehow.

The huge twists just kept on coming, I honestly thought I had it all figured out in my head but I was oh so very wrong.

I’m going to have the biggest book hangover ever after reading Anna O

It’s only February but this will be on my list for my favourite books of the year that’s for sure and I’m sure it will be on many others too.

The premise of this book really intrigued me, and this book has been super hyped up!
So was really excited when I got the opportunity to read an early copy!

Matthew Blake writing makes this novel feel like a non-fiction, true crime book. It felt so real! His writing is also so visual, and the entire time I was picturing it as a Netflix/tv series. (I think it would make an excellent tv show!!) I loved all the twists and turns, and feel so bloody stupid that I didn't 'get' the big twist at the end.

I'm a big thriller reader, and I'm so sick and tired of the same sort of scenarios - but this book was so original and unlike anything I have read before! Hallelujah! If you're an avid thriller/crime novel reader, and feeling in a funk... this one is for you!!

A very enjoyable book filled with twists and a mass of interesting information and facts into sleeping disorders.

I enjoyed seeing each new chapter being told from the different characters' perspectives - it certainly leads you to second guess yourself while trying to figure out who the unreliable narrator is!

There has been a lot of online hype about this book, and I certainly think it has been well-deserved.

Anna O by Matthew Blake

I originally chose this book because it seemed like it would be similar to The Silent Patient, and it definitely was. I enjoyed the psychological and scientific aspects to the novel, which always adds another level to thriller books like this. I liked that our main perspective was that of the doctor/psychologist treating Anna O, but also enjoyed that there were also a mix of POVs. This meant we got a wide range of insight into both the backstory leading up to the first murders and the current events surrounding Anna O. I especially enjoyed reading Anna's perspective and the way the author portrayed her rapid mental decline through the use of her diary entries.

The characters were all very well crafted, each hiding secrets from the reader and each other. The readers are left feeling suspicious of everyone, which leads to a lot of suspense that will keep you hooked. However, I did find the ending to be a bit underwhelming and certain scenes were repetitive or overly long. There were also some further explanations that seemed to be missing throughout. One example would be when Dr Prince suddenly begins to feel really connected to Anna, and believes her to not be a killer, even after only spending a few days next to her sleeping self.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and would recommend it if you're looking for a good, fast-paced psychological thriller. I rated this 3 our of 5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Matthew Blake for this ARC.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Very cleverly done. Really enjoyed this and I didn’t see the ending coming!

I'm not a crime/thriller book reader so admittedly, I'm easier to please or displease than those who are. Personally, I had a whole lot of fun with this book. I saw many people saying it dragged, I read it all in one go over a gray Saturday, cosied up on the couch with a blanket and warm tea. The multiple POV, including Anna's diary was great, some of the twists were easy to see coming (likely most for those who read a lot of the genre) but it was an entertaining story with a well flowing writing style.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’

Can you kill someone without knowing it? Whilst you’re sleep walking say? Is it possible? Did Anna kill her friends whilst she was asleep? That’s what Benedict Prince (Ben to his friends) needs to help find out … by waking the Sleeping Beauty, a feat no one in four years had managed…

Blake delivers me a story from different narrators. I start with my MC in Ben. He’s a man with history but he is the sleep whisperer. He is Anna’s last hope of being awoken…or maybe she doesn’t want to be awoken as then she’ll have to face trial for the murder of her best friends.

Interwoven with Ben’s narrative are others with a vested interest in Anna, including Anna herself. These additional voices give a different dimension to the narrative. The intrigued intensives particularly one voice which I’m very suspicious of!

Anna O is one addictive read. I was desperate to know whether Anna was guilty or she’d been set up. Blake sent me down so many different thought avenues only for me to retreat and try another. But my mind never considered where he finished my journey. So so many questions I was left with but in the main I was stunned… blooming brilliant!

I'm torn with my review of this book. It started so well and it was engaging. I found that the different POV and timelines worked well to provide detail and the whole storyline was intriguing.
However as the book progressed I found myself becoming a little jaded with the amount of psychological information I was reading that sometimes made it feel more like a non fiction book. I understand that to deal with the subject matter there needed to be context and background but it did slow the pace down somewhat.
Despite that it was an original and twisty mystery that did not give up its answers easily.

An unusual storyline. Anna O has murdered her two best friends but whilst she was sleep walking (or was she?)
A sleep doctor is employed to attempt to wake her from a four year long sleep in order that she can be tried for the crime. I found the characters really interesting although some quite complex and the ending was something completely different from what I was expecting.
A compulsive read.

There’s a well-known expression, when you’re explaining, you’re losing, and when a writer spends the last twenty pages explaining what has happened over the previous 400, well, I’m afraid they’ve lost me.

Anna O is billed as *the* thriller of 2024 - the author himself describes it as a “major publishing event” in the acknowledgments. I’m delighted for him but I don’t share his excitement on this occasion. I was thinking of Gone Girl, or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in other words, an unputdownable pageturner, but this missed the mark.

In brief, Anna O is a young woman who allegedly committed a double murder before falling into a deep sleep, Sleeping Beauty-style, for four years. She has come under the care of Dr Benedict Prince, who specialises in sleepwalking and sleep disorders, and he believes he can bring Anna around and solve the mystery of what really happened on that fateful night.

There is a level of complexity to the story that many readers will lap up, and others will decide they just can’t be bothered with. I had no investment in any of the characters so fell firmly into the latter category.

Lots of readers will love Anna O but it lacked finesse, brevity and cleverness for picky old me. A tedious read overall. Many thanks to @harpercollinsire for the arc. As always this is an honest review. I’m interested to see how well this one is received by readers. 2/5 ⭐️

I was intrigued by the cover and concept of this story - the psychology behind a person’s actions and how the mind can tell another story.
What could have been a fascinating insight, for me, ended up being quite tedious and technical. I was interested enough to get to the end just to know the outcome, but sadly, I did feel it was quite the struggle to finish.
Good twists and developments but could have been condensed in places.
3.5*

‘Believers in her innocence call her Anna O. Believers in her guilt call her Sleeping Beauty.’

My thanks to HarperCollins U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Anna O’ by Matthew Blake.

In August 2019 Anna Ogilvy was found asleep in her cabin at a farmhouse retreat, wearing bloodstained clothing. A large kitchen knife was close by. In a nearby cabin the bodies of her two best friends, Indira and Douglas, were found. Forensics identified the blood on Anna’s clothing as theirs and her fingerprints on the knife. Yet Anna hasn’t opened her eyes since.

Given Anna’s privileged background and the nature of the crime, it became a media sensation. Four years later and the CPS want the case to go to trial but Anna has to be awake and competent to do so. As a result, she is being transferred to the Abbey Sleep Clinic, under the direction of Professor Virginia Bloom.

Prof. Bloom calls in Dr Benedict Prince, a sleep doctor who studies people who commit crimes when they sleep. Ben hopes to use his innovative techniques to wake Anna. No further details to avoid spoilers.

This work of psychological suspense is Blake’s debut. I found it a fascinating, twisty thriller that kept me guessing. Blake refers to a number of Hitchcock films along the way as Ben often watches them and compares himself to various of Hitchcock’s male characters.

Blake also examines the rise in popularity of True Crime, including some of its darker elements. Anna herself was researching an investigative piece for the magazine she cofounded on the case of Sally Turner, who in 1999 was accused of murdering her two stepchildren in Stockwell with a kitchen knife. At her trial Sally had claimed that she was sleepwalking. Clearly there are echoes of Anna’s case twenty years later.

There is a lot of information about the psychology of sleep and sleep related disorders within the narrative. While I have been interested in dreaming, much of this was new information.

Overall, I found ‘Anna O’, a slow burn novel that delivered on the suspense with the kind of twists that impressed for how neatly they changed my perception of what was going on.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, the cover alone grabbed me which is a rare thing. A very different premise told from the point of view of a sleep doctor, Benedict Prince, & the sleeping patient, Anna Ogilvy.

Anna ‘admits’ to killing two people while sleepwalking but did she? She promptly falls into a deep sleep for four years & it is up to the doctor to wake her & reveal the truth. Apparently, she is suffering from resignation syndrome & may never wake to stand trial. Public opinion is split - did she kill in her sleep or was she fully aware of her actions? Of course, there is another option, was it her at all?

A very slow burn which never seemed to get to top speed. Obviously well researched, in fact a bit too techy in places which I felt was detrimental to the flow of the plot. A solid debut & an enjoyable read but I’m not sure that it lived up to the hype. Of course, all reviews are subjective & I love fast paced crime & thrillers, if slower is more your thing then I’m sure this book will be up your street.

This is an incredible book written by an amazingly skilled author!
The saying about assuming things is very true with this story, I believed I had everything figured out and the way it was written allowed that and kept me believing totally that my initial guess about X was right and then came those twists.
Such a masterful wordsmith as this has written a book where the story is engaging, the characters become almost real people and ones you believe you have figured out. Then the author explains the truth of what you have been reading and even though nothing is how you thought it was, it makes sense and everything is understandable.
This was a fascinating look into sleep disorders and the legal system, I'm so glad neither I nor my husband sleep walk! IYKYK