Firstly let me thank NetGalley and the author for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Whilst it is a definite page turner it's utterly ludicrous and kind of badly written however the first few chapters of this book are genuinely creepy - Protagonist Lily gets a push notification from her home security app while she's at work – and sees a man standing in her garden... a man who is wearing a mask of her 5 year old daughter's face and the paranoia and dread builds chapter by chapter.

I hated the end, which really wasn't an end and i didn't get the he motivation behind the abductions so all in all i just felt really let down and its a disappointing 2 stars from me. It would no doubt make a good mini series though.

While You Slept grabbed me from the minute I read the blurb. Then I started reading and it looked like it was going to be a sit up and take notice kind of thriller. Then... it lost me. The beginning was everything I expected, including some truly creepy moments, but all that fizzled and the story was just kind of choppy. That wasn't helped at all by a noticeable lack of character development. Enough so that it became increasingly hard to connect with anyone. And after all that, the ending, or lack of, was thoroughly unsatisfying. Now, I don't know if the author plans on giving us some actual character and story development in the next book or not, but this ended up being disappointing.

*Thanks to NetGalley for a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Actual Rating: 2.75

The blurb for this sounded intriguing right off the bat. You wake up one day in your own bed. It feels like nothing's different, and yet as time passes you realize: you're not home at all. You're in a replica of it, and there's no way out. This is exactly what happened to Lily and her five-year-old daughter Maisie, one day after she sees someone standing in her garden, wearing a mask of Maisie's face.

Not only is the premise of the story just really original, but this story and the writing was undoubtedly the best part. From the very first page, I was hooked and it was the type of book where I couldn't put it down because I spent every page trying to figure out the mystery for myself. The whodunnit build-up was done really well, and it's satisfying to read an antagonist that acts smart.

As the mystery is actually revealed in the last 10%, however, a lot of the good things about the book — like the tension of secrets — just fall apart. It isn't just that the reveal and reasoning are unsatisfying; it's that it came completely out of nowhere. All that time I had spent trying to figure out the mystery from the hints that were dropped about other characters... but in the end, it felt like there actually hadn't been any clues at all, no build-up or logic whatsoever.

Another issue that I had was with the characters; Lily is alright, and under the circumstances, I think the way she acted was pretty smart at times and relatable. Maisie, however, really seems out of character. She was suspiciously coherent and logical for a five-year-old and honestly just sounded and acted like a child who was at least ten. It was really hard to square the dialogue that she had with her explicit characterization, which is something that probably just needs to be reworked a little.

Ultimately, I still enjoyed most of this reading experience, since I liked the feeling of tension and mystery that clouded everything that was going on. The basics of the characters and the plot definitely need some more fleshing out, but there's a LOT of potential here.

Imagine waking up at home but it wasn't your home at all but the replica and you are held captive with your daughter. This is what happens to Lily and her daughter Maisie in this story.

I am a massive fan of the author who is known for his fast paced thrillers and although this story kept my gripped from start to finish.

This book is totally different from all of his other books like always. I will be totally honest but Maisie really got on my nerves. This is one of those books that I was disappointed with purely because I was expecting more. So I do have mixed feelings about it. I couldn't help but wonder what happened to the dark and gory side of the story.One of the many things that I love about Richard’s stories.

Saying that I read it in two sittings. The more I read the more I wanted to know how they were going to escape. It is full of twists and turns and a good pace. Everything is all wrapped up and makes sense at the end….until that very last sentence! OMG I wasn't expecting that.

I read this in one sitting. I just could not put the book down because I needed to know what happened next! I loved the author’s writing style and I am excited to read more books by them!

Thank you to NetGalley, R.J. Parker and One More Chapter for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Ever since I read Parker's first novel, I have been a big fan. Parker writes the most amazing, quick paced and thrilling novels. The novels are so unique and I am never sure where we are being led to next. This novel was definitely a rollercoaster ride and I'm totally here for it. I would definitely recommend for those looking for a fast paced, thrilling novel that will keep you up at night!

This was quite creepy in its premise. I enjoyed parts of it and the rest felt to be slightly fantastical.

I loved when two girls found themselves in the captive's house which was a replica of theirs. A house which was supposed to be secure now there was only fear surrounding the girls in the rooms.

They must fight to survive. The subplots kept adding the suspense. I was keen to know what motivated the captive.

Some parts let me down and with unlikable characters, I found myself standing in the edge. Overall an interesting read in its premise.

Wow! This was a startling and clever premise. I was immediately gripped by it at the beginning. We’re straight into the action as single mum Lily gets an alert on her phone at work. She has an app which links her to her home security system and alerts her when someone is approaching. She sees an intruder in the garden, but very creepily he’s wearing a mask of her daughter Maisie. The police attend to make sure there is no one in the property before Lily and Maisie settle down for the night. The only possible suspect seems to be her ex, Maisie’s father but there is no credible reason he would do that and Lily is very emphatic it’s nothing to do with him. They spend the evening with Lily’s sister then make their way to bed. The next morning the pair wake after a good night’s sleep, However, they have woken up in a house that looks and feels exactly like theirs, but is a replica down to the last detail. Who would do this? How have they been kidnapped? Who would know this much about them? I must admit that I started to wonder at the point if perhaps Lily wasn’t everything she seemed. That maybe what seems like a high concept thriller is actually a narrator who has lost their grasp of reality.

I was expecting from here to get interspersed chapters between Lily and Maisie’s captivity, and their background. We learn a little about her ex and his alcoholism, as well as the accident that stopped him seeing his daughter, but that was it. I didn’t get anything about Lily’s past life at all so there were no clues to find to really help the reader get stuck into the mystery. It’s the hunt for these clues that keeps us reading and invests us in the narrative and I didn’t feel I was. The reveal when it came seemed rushed and unexpected. I looked back to see the clues I’d missed but I honestly couldn’t join them up. I think an opportunity was missed here to completely surprise the reader by suggesting a psychological reason for Lily’s belief they’re kidnapped. What if they’re not kidnapped at all but she is imagining they are? Maybe I overthought it, but in the end I felt a bit confused.

While You Slept is a quick-paced, twisty novel by R.J. Parker. Recently divorced Lily is seemingly on edge from her fractious marriage and is disturbed when she sees a man looking in the window; wearing a mask of her 5 year old daughter's face. This is definitely creepy and that vibe follows through the rest of the book. Soon after this disturbance Lily and Maisie wake up in their flat, only to realize they are in a life-size recreation of their home, without any way out. Who kidnapped them and why? Will Lily be able to outsmart their captors? That question is what kept me reading pretty quickly. The premise is strong and will definitely grab the reader's attention. I felt the ending was a bit rushed and didn't tie up some loose ends and actually created more. The book starts out strong with a 4-5 star potential but there were too many questions and implausibilities that are left behind-overall a solid 3.5 stars as I did enjoy the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Wicked creepy read. It actually sent chills up my spine reading it. Just the thought of being in this position. It was a fantastic book to read. Well written. Spooky

I really wanted to be amazed by this book but unfortunately I was let down. This book started off with a great premise, a woman and her daughter go to sleep and wake up to find that they have been moved to an exact copy of their house and are being held prisoner.
I felt that the main character made some odd decisions in her attempts to escape. I also wanted to be transported to the prison and feel the stress and anxiety that the characters should be feeling but that didn't happen. The story just fell flat and I really couldn't connect with the characters.
The ending was where I really lost interest in this book though. I felt that the ending totally came out of left field and just didn't fit with the story at all. I think that this story would have really benefited from some flashback scenes to help build the ending but was instead told entirely in the present.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This psychological thriller was a really good read all the way through. I couldn’t put it down at times. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, with plenty of twists and turns throughout. In my opinion the plot was excellent, the characters were interesting and the style of the writing was perfect that made it an easy read. But the downside for me was towards the ending, I felt like it dragged a little and I was a little confused by the outcome. The first book I have read by this author but I will eye my eye out for more in the future.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

I am a fan of this authors writing but this book while promising just didn't seem to live up to my expectations. I think had I read this at a different time it would have been phenomenal just after reading so many amazing books just didn't seem to live up.

I am very pleased to have been selected to read as an arc I was seeing the promise more than the finished product.

While I love the mother-who-will-be-tested stories, gentle loving women who kill 20 kidnappers to save herself and her daughter, regular women who do one-arm car lift cars off their children, this novel didn’t move me as the plot, while intriguing and exciting fell flat at the end despite some good twists and turns during the execution.

While not a unique story premise, RJ Parker takes the nightmare and makes it a torturous reality. A young mother calls the police when a man show up in her backyard wearing a mask made to look like her 5 year old daughter. No trace of the intruder is found. Secure in the knowledge that she and her daughter are safe in their security alarmed home, she puts the incident out of her mind. Until.....

Lily and Maisie are held hostage in a replica of their home. With no idea of how they got there or even where they were, the story takes an eerie, creepy turn into nightmare territory. With no one looking for them, they must rely on Lily's skills and abilities to figure out an escape route before their captor escalates his plan for the two of them.

The story seemed a little confusing at times but always pulled back to the captive's dilemma in time to keep the story interesting. A good read that ends in a manner that leaves this reader to believe another book is coming.

I was given a copy of While you Slept by R.J Parker by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. When Lily and her daughter wake up one morning they think they are in their own house but they soon realise their house may look the same but it isn't the same and they can't get out. Its an unusual story which I enjoyed reading. Parts of the story were a little hard to believe but after all it is fiction.

While You Slept

This was an intriguing page turner.
Absolutely everything about the situation they were in was so intense and vibrant.

The writing was amazing in the sense that you could feel Lily's fear...all parts during their capture was so heart pounding that at times was holding my breath and literally could not put the book down. I was so eager to know what would happen and if they would escape and why they were being held there.

So why the 3 stars? Because the reason they were being held had zero impact...at all. It was so tenuously linked to everything else that I was deflated and disappointed. It was actually ridiculous. Can I believe that a mother and child have been kidnapped and held in a replica of their own home...absolutely. Do I believe this reasoning for it? Not at all.
I really intensely disliked the last few chapters and absolutely hated the end.

Lily went from a normal woman we could relate to, to a weird cyborg superhuman who could carry on through any pain and that was strange and jarring and didn't fit well with the rest of the book.
I think the characters as a whole were very underdeveloped. I think we needed to see a bit more of Lily before this happened to her...to understand how she acted within that situation. Paulette was such a minor addition to the story, her characterisation was a bit odd...she had more backstory than Lily...yet never featured...was very strange.
I only knew Lily had red hair towards the end of the book when it was seemingly randomly mentioned...how Lily looks and her personality neared to come right at the beginning when we are forming a picture of her.

I still don't know whether I liked Lily or not. I had empathy and sympathy for her situation and how she dealt with it but I didn't ever feel like I knew her character.

However having said that...once I started reading it...could not stop. This was absolutely a page turner and a nice twist on this kind of theme. I enjoyed it but wish the pay off had been better and that it had an actual ending rather than an uncalled for and jarring cliffhanger that went for shocks rather than a suitable conclusion.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lily and her daughter Maisie wake up one morning in a house that looks like theirs but isn’t. I thought the premise of this book sounded really interesting and different from anything else I’d read. I enjoyed the first half but felt it deteriorated in the second half and I was left feeling disappointed by the ending. It had a lot of potential but for me personally it just didn’t quite live up to it. 4 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the second half.

EXCERPT: An intruder was standing motionless in Lily Russell's back garden, and when she saw him, she stood from her swivel chair and released an incoherent exclamation.

It was a sunny September lunchtime and the man was stock still in the middle of her small lawn as if waiting for him to see her there. He was wearing jeans and a dark coloured sweat top with the hood pulled over his head.

But it wasn't his presence that alarmed her the most. It was his face. It was tilted up so she could get a good look.

He was wearing the smile of her daughter. A cut-out mask of her five-year-old's laughing features with holes cut out of her eyes for his to look through.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: What would you do if you woke up in your home… but it wasn't your home at all?

When a man wearing a picture mask of her daughter Maisie's face stands tauntingly in her garden, Lily Russell does the smart thing and calls the police. When she and Maisie wake up the following morning in an exact replica of their home, held captive by that same man, the police are no longer an option.

Surrounded by the rooms and things that once provided comfort and now only promote fear, Lily and Maisie must fight to survive. Because when no one knows where you are, you are your only hope.

MY THOUGHTS: While You Slept presents a bit of a conundrum for me. I partly enjoyed this read. There are parts that are downright creepy. There are parts that just don't quite ring true. There are parts that are really suspenseful. There are parts that are faintly ridiculous. And I hated the end, which really wasn't an end at all because we're left in no doubt that there will be a follow on. Sometimes this works for me, sometimes it doesn't, and this didn't.

I didn't like the characters other than Maisie, and there's absolutely no character development. Other than the fact that Lily's husband Ewan is an alcoholic, and they're separated, we know nothing about them.

And I am not at all invested in the motivation behind the abductions. I wasn't convinced....not at all. This aspect of the book is poorly developed and lets down what could have been a 4-star read.

This is one of those books that would probably make a better movie than a book, but the ending would need a lot more definition.

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️.1

#WhileYouSlept #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: RJ Parker, P.Mgr., MCrim, is an award winning and bestselling true crime author and co-owner with his daughters of RJ Parker Publishing. Inc. He has written 17 true crime books, available in eBook, paperback and audiobook editions, and have sold in over 100 countries. He holds Certifications in Serial Crime and Criminal Profiling.

ALL Paperbacks under RJ Parker Publishing are in the KINDLE MATCHBOOK program: When you purchase any print book, you get the eBook for FREE

Besides gifting books to his cause, Wounded Warriors, and donating to Victims of Violent Crimes, RJ has daily contests on Facebook where he gifts eBooks and autographed books.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, for providing a digital ARC of While You Slept by R.J. Parker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system, please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

This book kept me gripped and guessing until the end. It’s so tense and a fantastic page turner! So glad I got to review!