A slow burning and twisty psychological thriller that reads like a cross between true crime and fiction. My new favorite description "faction".
The focus of the story is a phenomenon known as resignation syndrome. The main character, Anna Ogilvy, purportedly killed two people, wrote a confession, and promptly fell asleep. She's been in that state for years. Now, the powers that be want to wake her and bring Anna to trial. Forensic psychologist, Dr. Benedict Prince, is an expert in sleep disorders and Anna O is transferred to his clinic for a new method of treatment in the hope that he can wake the sleeping beauty. No spoilers.
So many characters and so many different points of view providing lots of detail lull the reader into believing they can figure out the truth of Anna's story. Did not work for me and I was quite surprised at several turns of the page. Just when I thought I had the gist, I found out that I definitely did not. Just don't bother and let the author string you along dropping hints and pieces here and there and let it all unfold in due course. Yes, the pacing was a bit slow and at times things drug a bit, but I feel like it all came together so well. I think an incredible debut and will definitely look for this author's future books. I liked the subject of sleep disorders and the clinical information as it showed a lot of research behind the scenes. More interesting is the question of how culpable someone should be for their actions if in the throes of something that they cannot control, don't choose, can't predict. Psychology, psychiatry, mental health -- perceptions of what goes on in the mind as separate from the brain. Something that happens in the psyche is as real as functional neurological disease. All great topics for discussion.
I enjoyed the book and thank the publisher for the e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend. I read along while listening to the audiobook of this title and appreciated the different narrators as they brought the story to life.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - psychological thriller, drama, reads like true crime,
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