The premise for this book was such an interesting one and for a buddy read we were excited to see where this would go. The MC Alex life is a thrill-seeking one of a rock climber, daring to scale the sides of cliffs with a group of friends. However, something went wrong and he wakes up in the hospital….the problem is, well he is in a coma! He is unable to communicate with anyone, all he can do is lie and listen to his visitors and try to remember what had happened on the day he fell.

For a change, the clues and the misfit jigsaw puzzle is herded to us by the visitors at Alex’s bedside. He does not remember what happened, his memory being jogged by what he hears around him. You feel for him, the struggle and frustration of not being able to communicate with anyone are hard to read and experience with him. Even more so, as a reader you are like Alex, unable to do anything to influence the outcome of the story.

It is really such an interesting concept, to tell the story from this point of view. You are there with Alex every step of the way, working the clues, listening to hushed conversations, trying to figure out what is going on. This I liked, this was good! Yet, something just did not work for me, I felt some of it was drawn out too much and when the big reveal happened I found, for me, I did not care and the book slightly dipped in form. On one hand, I found the ending refreshing and satisfying and thought ‘yes this is perfect’, on the other hand, I was deflated and thought ‘well what was the point of that’.

This is a debut for Ms Koch and I thought that it was good! She draws you into Alex’s life, his lies, the secrets of his friends and family. There was such rawness with his family and the decisions that they had to make for Alex, all the while he is lying there screaming in his head that he is alive and ok! I was screaming at his Dad, the doctors, everyone to watch him and to not give up. There were some lovely touches with the mention of the kind nurse who looks after him and the janitor who sits by his bed watching the sports with him made me smile.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me turning the pages from start to finish. Alex being in a coma but still aware and conscious was frightening and incomprehensible. There were times during the book where I was holding my breath and willing everyone to realise he was still with them. I would definitely recommend this book.

Paralysed young man Alex wakes up from a coma after two years., a prisoner in his own body. He can hear ever word his doctors and family say, even about pulling his plugging. He soon realises that he was not in an accident but someone tried to kill him and intends to kill again. A far-fetched plot with too slow a pace.

If i die before I wake is not your usual thriller, It is written as a narrative by Alex a 27 year old climber and journalist, that is, Alex was a climber until the accident 2 years ago that left him in a coma. All Alex's doctors, carers and family believe that Alex is in a comatose state and has no idea of what is going on around him. Contrary to this belief Alex is aware of everything going on around him and he soon makes the realisation that what was thought of as a terrible accident could actually be murder. Alex needs to solve the mystery of his attempted murder before it is too late.
A gripping read an it certainly makes you think about just what those in comas are able to hear, see and experience.

If I Die Before I Wake sounded like a book with a really unusual and unique angle. Alex Jackson is our narrator and he's telling the story of a climbing accident that he had, what led up to it and what's happened since. So far so normal, right? Except Alex is in a coma and has been since the day of the accident. He's locked in, able to hear everything and see some things, he can feel pain, he can cry, yet he can't let anybody know all these things and even tests don't show that he's not in a vegetative state.

So there's the unique slant on the story and it could have gone either way. It could have been amazing but I'm sorry to say that I found this book to be quite a disappointment. There were times when I got excited thinking something was going to happen only to be brought crashing back down to earth very quickly.

Alex is aware that for the first time in two years (that's how long he's been in a coma!) things are happening in his extended world. His girlfriend, Bea, is possibly moving on, discussions are being made about ending his life and something's just not right. This did cause a bit of tension and, like I say, a little excitement, but somehow the tension wasn't followed through and each high was met with a low. I had high hopes for the ending too but again, I felt it was lacking.

I think Emily Koch is a good writer, and perhaps for me the story needed another angle, perhaps one seen from one of the other characters, or maybe a genuine wow moment would have made it better for me. Either way, whilst this book didn't work for me I would still consider reading another of Koch's books in the future as I think there is potential there.

My review is written with thanks to the publisher for my copy of If I Die Before I Wake through Netgalley.
The premise of If I Die Before I Wake is fascinating and this novel has the potential to be brilliant. However,whilst the author hints at what might have happened to Alex, I felt the tension was shortlived and comes only in short bursts between mundane personal care tasks.
It's a huge risk having a narrator who is unconscious and in this instance I don't feel it paid off as I found it difficult to warm to Alex and his visitors.
I found the twists and reveals in the novel underwhelming.

Told entirely from the point of view of Alex, in a coma with everyone believing he is to all intents and purposes gone, he is still in there and can hear what’s going on around him and feel what is happening to him. He has had an accident – or was it? A nail biting page turner.

It's so hard to imagine a life when you're aware of the world around you, butyou're also unable to have an effect on it. You are alive, but not living your life as you should. Is this really a life worth living?! It's always a hard question, and from my current stand I would definitely say yes, but what when you're really in that situation? Would I change my mind?

It's very interesting to read a book from a stand point of a man in a coma. It's an unusual idea and I found it well thought out. I think there are certain omissions in the implementation of that idea, but anyway, thumbs up for the idea.

Reading this book I felt powerless, same as the main character, but the ending was still somewhat unsettling to reconcile with.

This story is told by Alex who is in a coma. The first thing that struck me was how awful it must be to be sentient but no one knows that you are. I struggled with this to begin with as the writing was so good it felt so real and painful to read.

What is clever about this book is that the whole thing is set in the hospital room that Alex is in - we never get to see any other scenes, we only learn about them from his visitors. Luckily the visitors talk to him, relaying snippets that help us and Alex form a view of what is going on in the world around him.

For the first third of the book I began to wonder if I could stick with this. It got a little monotonous, all the visitors once you knew who they were then revisited and not much more was forthcoming about what could happen to Alex. It was literally groundhog day - which of course for Alex it was over and over again in his comatose state.

Then things moved on and a whodunnit element began to weave into the book, getting me to suspect anyone and everyone. I then was on a mission to finish the book as soon as I could, I was really gripped by it to the very end.

Fantastic writing, realistic portrayal of hospital life for a patient and such an original concept. I'm giving it five out of five stars

So happy to be given a whole budget to replenish our senior shelves in the school library. The books in there are far from appealing at the moment and I have been delighted to find books here that will intrigue, captivate and engross my senior students.

This is a fantastic read with characters they will be able to connect with, a pacy narrative and an ending that will provide plenty to talk about. Emily Koch has created an engrossing read that draws the reader in and really keeps them guessing...

It's great to read a book that does not feel formulaic and gives some credit to their reader's intelligence too. Young people are very fussy about the books they choose to read and in this time-precious day and age it really has to be something above and beyond the ordinary to get them to put down their devices and get their noses stuck in a book.

I think this is one book that will capture their imagination and keep them turning the pages until the end. This is definitely going onto my 'must-buy' list and I really look forward to seeing what the young people themselves think of this unusual and engaging novel.

An interesting concept that was well written. I enjoyed this book - would read more by this author in the future.

I sometimes think that you have to read a book before you realise just how powerful the title is. Alex wasn't asleep but his family and the doctors all thought that he was in a coma. The truth was Alex was very aware of his surroundings but unable to move or communicate with anyone. He could only see shapes as white, grey and black but he could hear alright and felt every touch.
Alex, an accomplished climber, had fallen down a rock face at a time that he wasn't wearing a helmet, or at least that is what everyone thought but as time went on Alex was discovering new memories and reasons for someone to want him dead. But who? and why? and how could he let anyone know?
When I started this book I thought how can a whole book revolve round a hospital room with someone who can't move or communicate, ok there were some flashbacks but so much of it took place in this little room but it is so tense, so very emotional and heart breaking for him and the people who love him. I really did get to know what a day in the life of Alex was like, the good nurses, to the ones where it was just a job and the ones that were on the brink of sadistic.
Alex's accident wasn't the first tragedy that the family had to deal with, each of them having very strong opinions about quality of life and treatments and when to actually let go of a loved one. I felt bonded to each of them in different ways as the story felt very personal and intimate. The highs and lows were so intense for me and I do have to admit to becoming overwhelmed by my emotions at parts of this story.
This is a highly recommended debut of this author's book. Outstanding!
I wish to thank NetGalley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

A really interesting take on the generic thrillers I am used to. I enjoyed that it was written from the perspective of Alex, from his coma. It was emotionally charged and interesting but I think it needed a few more twists to really elevate it to the next level.

A really intriguing read with similar ideas to other recent YA novels. Especially enjoyable for fans of young adult mysteries.

This book is such a slow burn. It took a long time to build up but I find it still very interesting. Trying to solve the mystery of your own accident and the need to just let go and rest, it is very unique. May not be a satisfying ending but a great read overall.

This book delves in some detail into the moral and emotional dilemma of treating a patient, Alex, who is in a coma. If your relative were in a persistent vegetative state how would you cope? How could anyone understand what the patient is going through? Can he hear? Can he feel anything? Does he know anything about what is going on around him? These are challenging questions for medical staff and relatives alike. This story is told from the perspective of the patient struggling to understand what has happened to him. Only the reader knows what is in Alex's thoughts. A very thought-provoking and moving story with a plot line about his accident that keeps the reader engaged to the end.

Unique and touching. What a great concept and what a nightmare if it was you. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like when medical experts don’t think you’ll wake up from a coma, yet you can hear, see and even smell! A keen climber, Alex Jackson has a fall which leaves him in his current state but he can’t recall much about it. Little by little he tries to piece together what happened by listening to the people who frequent his bedside. His girlfriend, his parents, hospital staff and even the police. You’ll be willing the doctors to find something, anything that will let them know he’s there and aware. Will we find out what really happened that day but most importantly, will Alex? Alex pulls us into his ‘locked in’ world and there we stay with him up until the [bitter] sad and touching end. An absorbing read.

The title of Emily Koch’s debut novel, If I Die Before I Wake, snagged my interest and its tagline ‘How do you solve your own murder?’, only intrigued me further, so I read the blurb. Not only did I want to hear Alex’s story but I also needed to see how Emily Koch was going to make the telling of it work.

If you’re willing to suspend disbelief as to how many of the conversations Alex needs to eavesdrop on in order to solve this case are conveniently carried out in his hospital room, I think you’ll enjoy reading this as much as I did. Given how incapacitated Alex is, this suspension of disbelief came surprisingly easily. Despite strenuous effort on his part, he fails to manage to communicate with either medical staff or his friends and family resulting in them being more frank in his presence than might otherwise have been the case or their talking over him as if he’s no longer there, and already as good as dead.

What carries this through for me is how much Emily Koch is able to put you in Alex’s bed, so to speak. I don’t think it would work nearly as well, if she didn’t spend as much time and description on Alex and the frustrating limitations he is up against. She not only puts you in his head but gives you an Alex-eye view of what it’s like to lie in that hospital bed, incapacitated, unable to communicate on the most basic of levels and frustrated by his inability to do so yet still mentally agile and with a mystery to solve.

I enjoyed this because it was sufficiently different thanks to Alex’s condition, the fact that he’s the one trying to solve the mystery, and the obstacles this places in his way of working out how he ended up in a hospital bed, and why. If I Die Before I Wake is a refreshingly different thriller and a surprisingly tense adrenalin ride of a novel considering it all takes place in a hospital room.

I am amazed that this is a debut novel, it seems far too sophisticated for that, but the author is a journalist and has therefore been using words every day to communicate long before she started writing fiction.  Alex is most definitely a well rounded character, the other characters are also, depending on how often they visit. His girlfriend Bea and Alex’s family are very well developed but his friend Tom less so but they are all credible characters.  This book does portray the feeling of terror and helplessness that comes with the locked in syndrome that Alex is experiencing, he describes it as a prison of his own mind which is quite fitting.  It is amazing that a book where the main characters doesn't move a muscle can be so engaging, I found this book quite difficult to put down. 

The only flaws I can find are things that most readers wouldn’t notice but as I am a nurse I did. Things like feeling hot when he had a fever rather than cold. Rolling an inert patient with only one nurse/carer and lack of mouth-care. This is fairly picky of me and in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the book. 

There is no sex (well a bit of mild fantasy) and the violence is more threatened that actual but very young readers may find it a big scary at times. All but the youngest teenagers would be fine with this. This is an easy read, and I found it difficult to put down, this makes this the perfect thing to put into your beach bag.

Original and fresh.
I do love it when authors make a point of trying something new and the premise for this novel is an excellent one.
How do you solve a 'whodunnit' when you are unable to communicate?
The writing style is excellent and very thought provoking too.