Words fail me when I try to describe how fantastic this story was. The story is basically told by Alex who is in coma having fallen when rock climbing. The twists and turns keep the reader guessing all the way through as it turns out that it was not an accident but murder. Although I guessed who the murderer probably was very early on, I still was looking for accomplices or someone else to be guilty. A compulsive beautifully told story with a very unexpected ending. Highly recommend this book.

The whole story is told by Alex. After a climbing accident Alex is left in a vegetative state and everyone thinks that he is not going to wake up. But although the tests show there is no brain activity, he can hear and smell and feel pain. But, he cannot move. He can hear all that’s going on around him. But he cannot do anything about it, even when her hears that his family is thinking of ending his life and his girlfriend is being stalked. He cannot protect her.
While he lies there, he finds out that his case has been re-opened and his ‘accident’ maybe not one at all but, someone attempted to murder him. Who would want to murder him? He always tried to help people. While he lays there and try’s and figures it out the killer and also whether she should live or end his life.
Wow if this is Emily’s debut novel I can’t wait for what else she has instore. I loved the idea of it written in Alex perspective. It is so different to others that I have read. This is also such emotional read and I really was hoping that Alex was going to wake up. I didn’t want to put the book down. I wanted to read it in one sitting just to see what happened at the end. It gripped me through out.
Thank you Net galley and Random House UK Vintage Publishing for a chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book. The story is narrated in the first person by Alex Jackson, who is in a coma after a climbing accident. The doctors don't believe he will ever come round, and that he is unlikely to be able to hear or feel anything. He is actually 'locked in' - he can hear and think and feel. Through his visitors talking to him and each other, and his memories of his life before the fall, the story unfolds. When it appears that the police are looking at attempted murder rather than an accident, Alex has to try his utmost to communicate. This is very cleverly written. It's always good to read something as refreshingly original. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.

Before starting this book, I thought it was a great concept for a thriller however, I was sorely disappointed and found it slow and quite boring rather than the gripping thriller that was promised. I couldn't empathise with any of the characters and often struggled to remember who was who and what role they played in the victim's life.. Unfortunately, I gave up about a third of the way through.

A great read, keeping you on tenterhooks all the way through and very empathetically written.

Absorbing, intimate, painful and persuasive. This novel is told from the view point of someone who is suffering locked in syndrome and who appears to others as if he is in a coma. The reader is taken along his thought process as he muddles through what he knows of the accident that caused him to be in this apparent coma and the information he learns as the novel progresses. The pace is slow but absorbing, and the plot twists are executed well. The reader is led to believe there are a few possible endings right up until the last few pages. I can't say I am happy with the one the author chose, but it was certainly a plausible one.

I think I might be the minority here, but I certainly did not find this book 'gripping' or an 'edge of your seat thriller'. I can't comment as to the writing because I was so bored with the story but 'If I die before I wake' had all the makings of a great book, but greatly fell short for me.

After a climbing accident Alex wakes up from a coma in hospital. The trouble is, he's the only one who knows he's awake. All the tests show he's brain dead, yet he can hear, smell and feel things. He starts trying to remember the events taken from snippets of conversations from those that visited him, trying to work out if it was an accident or did someone try to kill him?
Not only is this a really good story but it makes you wonder if this has ever actually happened to anyone, something we will never know.
A brilliant read from start to finish and one I highly recommend. The only gripe I have with it was all through the book they used a lower case i instead of a capital I
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review

This is a very different book told from Alex's viewpoint.Alex is in a coma after a climbing accident but he can still hear and think and feel ,he is trapped in his own body ,I was trying to imagine how frustrating and scary that would be and found it unbearably sad .Slowly Alex pieces together why he had his accident which the Police now call attempted murder .This is a psychological thriller but so much more as well .I found this a very thought provoking book and one I will remember .

Firstly thanks to the publishers Random House and netgalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The book sounded intriguing and an interesting twist on the genre; a man in a coma has to solve the mystery of his "murder" before it's too late. This suggested a fast paced book filed with intrigue and tension, but I found it to be a very different read.
It took quite a while before the book really got going, before Alex even realises he has been the victim of a crime. Honestly, by the time he realised someone had tried to kill him I had lost a lot of interest.
The descriptions of Alex's condition and the frustrations and pain that he feels are very well written, but this felt at the expense of the pace of the story. The narrative felt almost dreamlike at a lot of points and there was very little tension. The characters are all seen from Alex's viewpoint and only in snippets either as they visit him or from his sketchy memories. It would have been interesting to perhaps see things from his girlfriends point of view to add extra tension and speed up the pace.

Just couldn't get into this at all – I didn't enjoy the style, didn't find the story compelling, and found the characters basic and dull. The idea of a murder being solved by someone in a coma sounds intriguing at first, but of course it makes for an extremely passive protagonist. Soon the problems of him not being able to go anywhere or do anything become clear – there's a reason that characters in novels usually, you know, do stuff.

If I Die Before I Wake is ex-journalist Emily Koch's first published book. It's a crime thriller with the premise that the author has to solve their own murder before they die. The protagonist is male and he is locked-in to his body and unable to communicate with anyone.

The book has had some good reviews on Goodreads already as many advance copies were made available.

It is set in Bristol.

Published in 2018 by Harvill Secker, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

This is a novel idea for a story and really works well. The characters mostly work although a few are a little lacking in depth, but on the whole the story moves well, and from a totally different angle. The ending is unexpected and not what I would have wished! Would highly recommend - a crime novel on a different level, you can identify with the author. I'm not going to divulge any of the story as that would spoil it for new readers!

This novel is about a journalist who had a climbing accident. Alex had been in a coma for nearly two years. His family and friends visit and talk about their lives and Alex’s accident. Gradually through fragmented conversations we find out about Alex and what caused his accident.

Sorry I couldn’t get into this book at at. I found the pace too slow and it was drawn out too much. I had to give up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Emily Koch for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

This is unlike any thriller I’ve read before. Told entirely from the viewpoint of Alex who is in a coma. Alex has had an accident whilst rock climbing and has been in a coma for 18months. We learn about the build up to the fall and meet his family and friends. Was it an accident? Was it attempted murder? This writing was descriptive and vivid. A very interesting and thought provoking read. Highly recommended.

Girl In Snow

The cover of this book intrigued me and the blurb drew me in. Girl In Snow is a compelling murder mystery that also touches on being a psychological study of the characters as well. It is beautifully written debut novel that is worth a read! 3.5 stars from purplebookstand.

I was lucky to be provided with an advanced copy of this book and voluntarily reviewed it.

I thought this was a really fascinating perspective to write a novel from, and one that I’ve never read from before: the perspective of a person who is ‘locked-in’. Since finishing this book, I have read into this syndrome a little more, but before reading this I’d never even heard about it. I found it difficult, initially, to find this kind of coma believable. Surely the doctors would be able to figure out if someone was conscious? But once I managed to suspend my disbelief I found that I really enjoyed reading from this perspective. It allowed for an experience of reading that I’d never had before – the ability to listen in to other people’s conversations without them realising that you can hear them, but only when they are in the same room as Alex.

I really liked Alex, as a protagonist. I thought he was a very likeable character and also a very realistic one – he admitted to his faults, which made me as the reader like him more. The plot itself is a little slow, which is unavoidable really because the main character is confined to his bed and can’t so much as open his eyes – but there was a lot of attention to detail in what Alex could smell and hear and feel that made it very atmospheric. The way he was dealing with life – and sometimes not really dealing with life – was realistic and honest.

I thought the ending was satisfying. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone thinking of reading it – you should, it’s a great read! – but I’ll just say that if anything else had happened I would have been almost disappointed. I sped through this book in about two days and found it very difficult to put down.

A good read. 3/5

A unique concept but sadly didn't live up to expectations, too slow for me

Tense and compelling reading. Make sure when you pick this book up you have very little else to do. This book is told from the point of view of Alex, he is in a coma and everyone believes he is no longer alive, when in fact he can hear everything.

It is questionable why Alex is in a coma, we learn he has had an accident, but this is in itself questionable. Alex starts to recall different things, and we gain information from his visitors. What exactly has happened, there are twists and turns that will keep your mind rolling and we learn he isn't out of danger. Alex isn't sure whether he wants to survive or die, and wonders what has happened to him, you can't help but feel frustrated for him.

This book is different, and keeps you guessing.