Thanks to Netgalley for for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the premise of this book and it started out strong for me.

Then i just got so bored with how it dragged on and on. Characters weren’t interesting and I stopped caring about the plot.

CHALLENGE EVERYTHING.

I can’t believe this was a debut novel! It was a very well done thriller. So many twists and also surprisingly heart wrenching.

This book follows Ellie, who is suffering from dissociative identity disorder. While she’s asleep, her alter, Ziggy, takes control and wrecks havoc on her life. One morning she awakes to find her boyfriend missing, injuries all over her, and her normally locked bedroom door broken.

I suspected what had happened to Matt, the boyfriend, from the beginning but was not expecting the countless small twists that would come to light during the novel.

The only thing that stopped it from getting 5 stars was that it was pretty slow in the beginning. But once I was probably 60% through the book, whew I was HOOKED.

* I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

I will rate Lock Me In by Kate Simants a solid 2/5 stars. I really wanted to like this book since it discussed a mental health subject that is rarely spoken upon, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), but this book fell flat for me. The book started out being very interesting as I tried to understand Ellie's life living with an alter ego of Siggy who only came out to play at night, thus leaving her Mum to lock her in her room each night. When Ellie's boyfriend Matt is discovered missing one morning after Ellie wakes up bruised, battered and covered in mud, Ellie starts to suspect the worst and believes that Siggy has seriously harmed the love of her life. In reality, the truth couldn't be further from what she believes.

What I enjoyed about this book:
I enjoyed the fact that the author tried to write a book about DID. I will give her kudos for that;. That was really,
quite honestly, the most interesting part of the entire book.

What I didn't enjoy about this book:
The characters were not likeable and quite boring. The detective, Mae, and his issues with his ex-wife and daughter bored me to tears. His entire input/outlook could have been removed from the book and it wouldn't have even effected it in the least bit.
It took far too long for the story to pan out with the conclusion that all wasn't as it appeared and that Ellie's Mum wasn't who she said she was. I figured this out in the early chapters of the book. Probably chapter 3.
The storyline and plot were really unrealistic to me and it dragged on for ages. This was not one of those edge of your seat types of books as I hoped it would be.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Just as well I’ve not decided on my top 3 books to recommend for Emma Weltons R3COMM3ND3D2019 yet because Lock Me In has completely thrown me by being one of the best bloody books that I’ve read this year! And it’s hard to believe that it’s also a DEBUT! Also, that I’ve loved it so much, it’s taken me a week to read it! This is a book to be savoured as slowly as possible to squeeze every single second of perfection from it!

I first heard about Lock Me In when I was at Harrogate this year. A blogging buddy had heard of it and said that it sounded intriguing so immediately I was on Amazon looking it up and was also intrigued enough to preorder it. As I was doing so, I started to read the blurb out to another blogger friend and she also said she just had to find out more and also preordered it! Well ladies, you are not going to be disappointed because Lock Me In is just as gripping as we thought it would be and you are in for a real treat.

Ellie seems to have a great life from an outsiders point of view with an adoring mother, a great boyfriend and a job she thoroughly enjoys. But Ellie has a secret. Every night Ellie has to be locked in her room by her mother due to the violent fugues that she suffers from but never remembers the next morning. But one morning she wakes to see her door smashed in from the inside and her hands covered in bruises. What has she done? Why can’t she remember? But more importantly…where the hell is her boyfriend?! As Ellie attempts to make sense of what happened that night, she has no idea of the journey of discovery that she’s about to set off on.

What grabbed my attention straightaway was the idea that someone was such a danger to themselves and others that they had to be physically restrained in their bedroom overnight. That’s just mad isn’t it?! And there seems to be no outside help for Ellie and her poor set upon mother who is often covered in bruises herself the next morning. So from the start I was desperate to know what was happening during these fugues that Ellie suffered from but also, why? What had caused them to start with as Ellie seems to have had them since she can first remember! There are flashbacks to sessions with a psychotherapist when Ellie was a teenager that shed some light on past traumas but there is also a mystery surrounding why these sessions were halted quite dramatically.

So the uniqueness of plot was the main reason I was drawn to this book but what kept me there was the stunning use of characterisation to keep the storyline flowing to perfection. Ellie herself was slowly revealed to us through her own chapters where she tries to find her boyfriend Matt, the man she hopes to spend the rest of her life with. She is developed slowly through her memories and her personality that comes out far more once she is in the outside world and before she is locked away again each night. Although she’s 19, she seems to act so much younger due to her overprotective mother and so when she’s away from her, the real Ellie starts to come to the fore. Her voluntary work with children at the local hospital is of huge importance to her as she seems to relate to them far more than the adults in her life so to see her mental strength increasing from her own life experiences was a wonderful thing to watch.

But the character I loved the most was Ben Mae and, oh my word, what an amazing creation he was. It was like a game of pass the parcel with Mae, every time the music stopped I peeled off another layer but it was never the payback prize that I was searching for! This man had so many layers to uncover in his own personal life that I’m sure that he needs AT LEAST 4 more books to maybe get an inkling of the true Ben Mae for us readers! I became so attached to him that I wanted to head over to the fictional station he worked from and take him out for a nice pub lunch with a few drinks and try to gently soak away the painted face he thought protected him from those around him. The cultural aspect of his background transformed an intriguing narrative into a deeply personal and compelling storyline where I found myself totally fascinated by all aspects of this characters life and couldn’t tear myself away from either his or Ellie’s narrative. This meant I became so involved in Ellie’s story that I didn’t want it to end but then I’d read Mae’s chapters and didn’t want to leave him either when it went back to Ellie again! And I just love it when that happens!

Kate Simants is a hugely exciting new talent in today’s literary world. She has written a carefully crafted and emotionally absorbing story that fascinates and grips the reader from the very first page. I’m hoping that Ben Mae and his sidekick Kit (who I’ve not even mentioned here but I’m hoping will be a catalyst for change with Mae in the future!! I liked her!!) will return as he is too good an inception to leave here.

Lock Me In is released on October 3rd and is available to preorder at the criminally good price of 99p at time of this review. You’d be mad not to take advantage of that and I guarantee you won’t regret it! This is one of my favourite books of 2019. I’m now off to author stalk Kate Simants and beg her for more Mae! #moremae

Highly recommended by me!

Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for the advance eArc. This is an amazing debut. A true psychological thriller! Could not put this one down. Ellie has DID an identity disorder. And her inner personalities are trying to come through. A thrilling, suspenseful book! This is a definite must read!!

The premise of the book was super intriguing to me but I’m calling it quits at 48%. It was so long and the detective storyline could have been way edited.

While I did enjoy this book, I did struggle with some parts of it. I felt that Ellie would have been better off in a mental hospital where she could be monitored and assisted, instead of being locked into her room by her mother every night.
The story itself was quite interesting, but I was really annoyed with the character of Ellie's mother, I just did not like her.

Utterly spellbinding. There needs to be more hype around this book; it's unlike anything I've ever read! Highly recommended.

A very unique debut book by Kate Simants. Loved the characters and how fast the book moved. It was different but that's what made it good....nothing is as it seems. I will certainly read more by this author. I think our library patrons will love this as well. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Well that was different! What started out as an interesting missing boyfriend case and the did-she or didn’t-she girlfriend developed into an intricately written story displaying many emotional levels. A loving mother, willing to sacrifice everything for her daughter, maybe. A daughter suffering from a mental illness, maybe. Every chapter makes you doubt the truth of the previous one and you get chills and gasp until you get to an explosive ending that exposes all the characters. Shout out to two great detectives I hope to see again!

This book is an exquisite debut novel!! Cheers to the author, she succeeded in keeping me engrossed in Ellie’s story through the twists and turns. I loved the fast pace of this novel, and the characters were excellently written. This book has an ending that I never would’ve predicted but was satisfying nonetheless. I hope to read more from Kate Simants in the future!! I highly recommend this book to fans of mysteries and thriller! Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advanced review copy.

Lock Me In by Kate Simants . The story builds layer by layer, chapter by chapter, you think you know where the story is going then Ms Simants yanks the rug out from under you each time. Everything becomes clear at the end. Actually there are two stories, one about is Ellie and the other about Ben Mae, individually and how they interact together. Really liking the investigative team of Ben Mae and Kit, would be interested in reading more cases with them.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Lock Me In is fantastic! Brilliantly written with a great plot and a great twisty ending. I’m gobsmacked after finishing this!
One of those books you HAVE to read.
5/5

OMG, what a debut book. This read was incredible. I was immediately drawn in and completely devoured the book from start to finish. The characters were immense and the world-building was exquisite. I never knew what was happening from one minute to the next. A fantastic page-turner.

Ellie has DID ( dissociative identity disorder ) at night she has to be locked in her room so her violent alter ego doesn’t take over. Luckily her mother will do anything to protect her from herself....... but things are not always as they seem !
An excellent psychological thriller full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing and reassessing what you think you know. Ellie’ character and issues are sympathetically portrayed and I found myself rooting for her and hoping for a good outcome.
Well worth reading.

UNBELIEVABLE!!! One of the best psychological thriller I have read...

Right off the bathroom you are introduced to the main character Ellie who says she has DID (dissociative identity disorder). My first thought was oh no, this plot has been done in probably 30% of ones I have read and they all ending with me thinking how alike and played out the topic had become BUT this one is VERY VERY DIFFERENT. Ellie knows of the other girl inside of her, Siggy, who she tried to suppress say and night, especially while she sleeps. OK so now I was more than intrigued!

NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS! With everything page I turned I got sucked deeper and deeper in to the twisted web that Katie Simants weaved. This book was chilling, tense and right away left you down the path of the complete unknown, which is what I look for in a good thriller. Simats left me with just enough bread crumbs through the book to not only keep me glued to the pages but kept me guessing until the very last pages. I came up with several theories throughout and most were way off except for when and even then I only figured out about ¼ of it. It felt like it had a twist every time I turned the page which had me reading it in one sitting because I just had to know how it would all play out. I did really enjoy the characters although at times I found Ellie's denial annoying and I thought the writing itself was great. The plot was extremely original and really well done putting it in my tops as far as psychological thrillers go.
READ THIS BOOK!!!

I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A new author to me but I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a well developed story which held my interest throughout with good characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Impulse Killer Reads for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book was fantastic- one of the best I have read in a while. This was a unique plot line, where the main character, Ellie, is suffering from dissociative identity disorder. Her boyfriend goes missing one night and the story goes back and forth between Ellie's perspective and that of the detective on the case, Ben Mae'..

The author is able to give the reader a deep association with all of the primary characters, and I felt for them- while the story moved at a quick pace, there was enough personal story on each character to make you care about them while not getting in the way of the plot. I even could understand the plight of the less likable characters because they were written in a way that helped the reader to be empathetic to their situations. There was a lot going on here but it was all tied cleverly together- there were many times throughout the book where I got a flash of being able to figure out the mystery, but then second-guessed myself when faced with new information.

Would definitely recommend this book!