ANNA O
MATTHEW BLAKE
***
Anna Ogilvy hasn’t opened her eyes for four years
Not since that night at The Farm when she was found asleep with a kitchen knife in her hand, her clothes bloodstained, the bodies of her two best friends lying close.
She’d committed the crime of the century – but nothing and no-one could wake her from the nightmare.
Believers in her innocence call her Anna O. Believers in her guilt call her Sleeping Beauty.
But no-one can take their eyes off the story . . .
MY REVIEW
***
I’ve always been blessed by the ability to sleep well, no matter what is happening in my life, I can close my eyes and be fast asleep in an instant – that being said, I hope I don’t get nightmares from this book! After Anna messages her parents to say she has killed her two best friends, she falls into a sleep that has lasted 4 years. She has now transferred to a specialist sleep clinic under the watchful eye of Benedict Prince - he must try to get her to wake up so she can be put under trial, but was she sleepwalking when she killed her friends? Or is there more to this case than meets the eye?
I did find Anna O to be an easy and twisty read. I really enjoyed the first half and was drawn into the mystery, however I found the ending to be quite far-fetched and the twists seemed to be being revealed for shock factor alone rather than being realistic to the story. The story itself is told from two points of view – Ben Prince, the sleep specialist and diary entries from Anna’s life before she fell asleep. I never felt really very empathetic towards Ben, who makes some odd decisions at times, but I did really empathise with Anna.
I felt that although the pace is good at the beginning - the ‘main event’ we were building up to happens before the first 50% and the last half really dragged. The scenes in a different country (trying to remain spoiler free!) later on felt extremely repetitive and I was getting annoyed by it and wanting it to finish. If you aren’t a Harry Potter fan, this one might not be for you either as there is a lot of references, some of which are squeezed into places that seem utterly bizarre for them to be in.
Overall, Anna O had a lot of potential but I found the plot to be quite far-fetched and it was disappointing, as I had thought it would be one of my top reads for 2024.
Thank you to NetGalley & Harper Collins UK – Harper Fiction for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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