I seriously struggled to grasp this book.

The blurb, the cover, the fact it covered DID (dissociative identity disorder) had me seriously wanting to read it BUT it just didnt grab me by both hands and keep me in its claws..

Unfortunately I just couldn't keep going with it and gave up at 40%.

Sadly some books just dont hold your attention and this one wasn't for me.

I know I'll be in the minority for my rating but honesty is promised!

As soon as I saw the blurb for Lock Me In, I knew I needed to read it!

Ellie Power is a normal girl, with a normal life and boyfriend. Except each night her mother locks her in her bedroom, to keep everyone safe from Ellie's Disassociate Identity Disorder. Put simply, at night she becomes a completely different person, and Siggy, her 'alter' is angry.....

One morning, Ellie awakes and finds the lock on her bedroom door broken. She's covered in cuts and bruises, and her boyfriend Matt is missing. What happened that night? Can Ellie ever lead a normal life?

A solid 4* rating for this book. I loved the pacing of the book, swapping chapters between Ellie and the Detective investigating Matt's disappearance kept me hooked and the reveals when they came all made me gasp out loud! Its safe to say this book didn't end up where I expected it to!

Lock Me In is a classic mystery/thriller that kept me glued to the book. Beginning to end, the twists and turns were epic. Ellie has a sleeping disorder - in fact, she becomes a totally different person when she is asleep. For her safety, and her mother's, her mother locks her in her room every night. From the outside. But sometimes Ellie gets out and when she does bad things seem to happen.

Ellie's boyfriend is missing and it seems so much like the time years ago when her best friend went missing. Her mother tries to protect her from the police and what she may have done but Ellie is ready to face her disorder. She wants to find her boyfriend and have a normal life. But how can she when she hurts the people she loves in her sleep and has no memory? Did she hurt her friend years ago and did her boyfriend suffer the same fate?

Lots of questions to be answered in this tale. Such a good book! You won't want to put it down.

lock me in is a psychological suspense filled novel, with a surprising twist! A young lady locked away in her room every night by her mother to keep her safe, but safe from what...all is not as it seems. Thrilling read!

Gosh, but, this is an excellent debut novel that gripped me throughout. It's one of those that had me thinking "do I stay up to finish it"? Or, "shall I limit myself as I really don't want it to end"? .... The first option won!

It's really well written. I loved the writing style and the storyline was excellent. I don't want to say too much about the story, other than it's about a mother and daughter who live together and due to the daughter suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, the mother needs to lock her in her room. Then the daughter's boyfriend disappears and she wakes up covered in bruises. What follows is a missing persons case and so, so much more.

I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between the two main police officers investigating the case and the storyline weaves humour to this dark tale.

I've become so tired of police procedurals and this is so much more than that and of significantly greater quality than I've read in a long time.

It's just sooooo good and absolutely delivers from beginning to end.

A solid 5 * from me and many congratulations to the author on this amazing debut novel.

Also, many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to preview.

Ellie suffers from disassociate identity disorder and while she is asleep a person called Siggy takes over her body. Siggy can be violent and unpredictable so Ellie's mum locks her in her room at night.
One morning when Ellie wakes up her body is covered in bruises, her hand is cut and her clothes are caked in mud, she has no memory of what happened during the night.
Later that day Ellie finds that her boyfriend is missing.
This is a pyschological thriller with a difference.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

With Lock me In, Kate Simants gave us a very good debut novel. From the beginning it is clear that there is more behind this story and the author gives us little clues to keep the reader interested. It is a well-written story too, although I have one comment - something I see more often with authors who want to put some Dutch words or sentences in their book. 'Twe Gebroders' is spelled all wrong. It should read 'Twee gebroeders' and the meaning is 'two brothers'. How difficult can it be to try and find the correct spelling?
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and I would love to read more books with Mae and Kit in a leading role because they make for an interesting couple.

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital review copy.

Lock Me In is an interesting debut thriller from Kate Simants that focuses on DID, the relationship between a mother and daughter, and of course murder and mystery.

The first half of the book did not draw me in- I struggled with the story (and especially the focus on DC Mae's personal life, though after finishing the book, I feel like a series might be in the works!), and the repetitiveness of Ellie's story.

I'm glad I continued with the book, because the second half really picked up for me and added in some twists I was not expecting. I particularly liked the development of the story of Dr. Cox and Ellie's growth and agency.

A solid debut and I look forward to reading more from Kate Simants.

Thank you to #netgalley and Harper Collins/One More Chapter for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ellie Power suffers from DID - dissociative identity disorder. She has one alter, Siggy, who only comes out at night and has a history of violence. Every night, Ellie’s mother must lock her in her bedroom in case Siggy makes an appearance.

Attempting some semblance of a normal life, Ellie starts dating a kind, shy man named Matt. When Ellie wakes up one morning covered in mud, fairly severe injuries, and no memory of the night before, all signs point to Siggy. But when Matt has also seemingly inexplicably disappeared, Ellie fears that Siggy has murdered .... again.

What unfolds is a frightening dive into the mind of someone with dissociative identity disorder, a missing persons investigation, a potentially corrupt therapist, and so much more.

Lock Me In was an absolute page turner. Though I had suspicions right off the bat, the twist was ultimately unexpected and well played. The premise of this novel is very unique and for anyone interested in personality disorders and thrillers/mysteries, this is a must read!!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A truly great read! I had recently read a story that was about DID and was hesitant to read another. I forced myself to read this book and was I in for a surprise!

Ellie and her mother, Christine, live together. Ellie is 19 years old and has a boyfriend that she really cares about, Matthew. However, Ellie needs to be locked in her bedroom every night for the safety of both her mum and herself. This is when Ellie's alter, Siggy, appears. Siggy does physical damage to her mum, herself and property. Perhaps she has even committed murder.

Since they need to move every year because no one can find out about Siggy, Ellie is home-shooled, as well. Matthew tries to broaden Ellie's horizons, yet Christine is skeptical that he is trying to control Ellie.

DS Mae had been on a case that involved Ellie and Christine 5 years ago. Now with his new partner, Mae is again involved with Ellie and Christine.

A very intriguing story with a lot of twisty turns. I really liked the character portrayals; I could feel for most of them. I was hooked in and stayed up much too late reading this debut thriller by Kate Simants. I sincerely hope that she will be turning out a new book very soon!!!

Highly Recommend !

Many Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an interesting and suspenseful read!

I'm sorry to say this but I struggled with this book from the very first page. I just can't continue.

You would never know that Ellie Power leads two lives. During the day, she a perfectly normal young woman. At night however, she becomes someone else, often so violent and uncontrollable that her mother has to lock her in her bedroom. She manages to walk the line until the day she wakes to discover the lock on her door has been broken and that her boyfriend has disappeared. Simants captures the terrible dread from not knowing what happened, and only being able to suspect the worst. This one left me with a knot in my stomach

An intriguing and dramatic storyline. Involving the love between a mother and daughter. As the story unfolds it makes many tragic twists and turns encompassing the lives of others leading to a rather fascinating end to the story. Dramatic! Great read.

Without giving any of the plot away, i will say some parts of the plot I felt were predictable, while others were a big shock. I have only read a couple books on this disorder and have really enjoyed them. That being said, the end was not what I expected. It was a little long for me though.

I LOVED this book! It's got such an interesting plot, and seems to be exactly what a psychological thriller should be. I truly didn't see that ending coming. It's disturbing - but a book you can't put down. Beautifully written, and you really feel you understand the main characters. Very, very enjoyable, and a quick read. | Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review copy. My opinions are my own.

Great idea for a story, I was hooked from the beginning. There were so many twists and turns I had no idea how it was going to end. I really felt for Ellie and it was good to see her character develop as the story progressed. I would absolutely read Kate Simants next book.

Lock Me In
By Kate Simants

I thoroughly enjoyed this solid thriller from debut author Kate Simants. In the story, we follow the life of Ellie Powers, a 19 year old with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Her case is unique and she has baffled the specialists, as she only shifts while she is sleeping and no one has been able to identify the source of trauma that caused this.

Ellie’s alternate personality, Siggy, is angry and violent. So much so that Ellie’s mother must bolt her bedroom door at night so Siggy can’t get out.

One morning Ellie wakes to find a number of wounds on her body. As she ponders what Siggy might have done during the night, she approaches her bedroom door and realizes that the bolt has been destroyed. Siggy got out! To make matters worse, Ellie soon learns that her boyfriend is missing and she fearfully considers the possibility that Siggy has done something awful to him.

I felt the story was pretty compelling. While it wasn’t utterly impossible to put down for me, it did still beg to be picked up whenever possible. It caused another exciting thriller to sit on the back burner.

I am not a huge fan of thrillers that follow the lives of the investigators as closely as the mystery at hand, although there are some exceptions. This, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them. Mae’s side story was my least favorite part of the book but I see a series in the making with this and for those who enjoy an intriguing detective series, this would make an excellent addition to your TBR list.

There were many aspects of the story that I felt were easy to figure out early on but I still enjoyed the path traveled to get to the bigger revelations later on. I appreciated when Mae’s story was less personal and more focused on Ellie’s missing boyfriend, which eventually became more prominent within the book. I also am not inclined to say that this book is predictable, despite all that I figured out early one. I think each reader brings different experiences into the story and what may be evident to one will not be evident to others.

I think Lock Me In is a promising start for a talented writer as well as a fun and intriguing thrill ride. The expected publication date is early October so keep a lookout for it!

Thank you Killer Reads for this review copy provided through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Lock Me In was a fantastic thriller! As soon as I finish this review, I am going to text my best friend to tell her to read it.

Ellie has had DID (what used to be known as split personality disorder) nearly all of her life. She will awake from fugues with mysterious injuries, even though she is locked in her room at night. And then people close to her go missing...

Thrillers are my favorite, and this was an excellent one! It’s told from multiple POVs. I think that part of the mystery is easy to figure out but there are enough other pieces to the mystery, that armchair sleuths like me will still be eagerly reading to see what else will be explained.

This is definitely one to watch, as I have a feeling that it could get pretty big!
I loved this and it could've been a five-star read, but I found the beginning a little slow. The writing was fantastic though, and I can't quite believe it's a debut! Normally with these sort of books I'm able to predict what's going to happen, but the twists in this took me by complete surprise; a massive thumbs up from me!
If you're looking for a thriller then I highly recommend this, and I think I'll be purchasing a copy upon release in October.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

So it takes a lot for me to read a book and say wow...but truly WOW. I am so glad that I got to read this amazing novel. I have to say that this book truly kept me engaged and was so well written. Ellie was such an amazing and interesting character and you really believe everything that you read. Please do yourself a favor and read this amazing book. I couldn’t put it down and I don’t say that often. Props to the author. I am a fan Kate Simants.