This was my first time reading a Stephanie Black book, and it will not be my last. Knowing now that this is the third in a series of books, I will go back to the first two to fill in the back story of the MC. That being said, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel at all.

My first inclination when I was in the first 1/4 of the book was that this was following the trend of a modern take on a classic novel/play; in this case Hamlet. Of course the title had already led me down that path.

I don't like to give away a lot in a review about a suspense/thriller but I will say it is more than just a re-telling, even though the lingering feeling of it being a story I had read before stuck with me, which is what took it down in a rating a bit for me.

I am not generally a reader of Suspense novels, however, upon seeing the cover of Stephanie’s new book To Die To Sleep I knew I had to read it. I can honestly say I was not disappointed by this book. I have read suspense novels in the past which were predictable and quite honest boring in their own way. I like suspense novels to hold my interest and keep me guessing. To Die To Sleep kept me guessing. I had to take a break from reading so that I could brainstorm with my husband over who could be the killer. We went over, in detail, every possible suspect. We discussed it for a good hour and then I still didn’t guess correctly. I had a moment while reading where I thought it could be a certain character but then denied that theory because it was not probable. Every guilty or tense conversation with a different character made me second guess who it could be. I would think I had it all figured out then something else would come up and I would get set back into guessing again. It wasn’t until the killer was revealed that I accepted who it was. There were plenty of clues as to who the killer was, but I ignored them by telling myself it wasn’t possible.
Stephanie kept me guessing all while getting me involved in her character’s lives. I came to know each character and it wasn’t like some books with multiple characters in lead roles where you feel overwhelmed. I felt like the characters and their roles balanced well. I do wish that some of the lesser characters had been more involved, but the book did not hinge on these characters being more prominent. I enjoyed reading this novel and will be reading more of Stephanie’s books in the future.
I will say honestly that this book is by far my favorite suspense novel because it is the first where I wasn’t bored by guessing the plot ahead of time. It held my interest, kept giving me twist when I thought I was on the right track, and kept the characters well balanced and involved in the story line.
I loved that Gideon did come out to ‘rescue’ Natalie knowing that she would refuse to be rescued which placed him into the position of her protector while she figured things out. Gideon was my favorite male character in the novel, and I worried for him when the cards seemed stacked against him. I was ready to jump into the book and smack a character for insinuating that Gideon was a suspect. If there were one thing, I would have hope for it would be for more character development of Gideon, Natalie, Lily, and Soren. I feel like Anthony was a pretty well-developed character and thought he figured more prominently than some of the main characters.
I will recommend this book to anyone who will listen because I so thoroughly enjoyed it myself.
**Note: The views and opinions in this review are my own and not a reflection of the author or the publisher in any way.**

To Die To Sleep was an engaging thriller with a surprisingly realistic mystery, given the nature of the setting and its outlandish characters. Black offers just enough detail and character development to make the reader think that they may be onto the culprit. That is, until the narrative offers yet another twist or turn. I especially appreciated the research that obviously went into constructing the medical elements of the mystery; it made the characters far more complex and believable.

Things started off strongly, but then rushed along at a million miles per hour and felt too claustrophobic for my liking. The characters didn’t have enough space to develop into fully formed people, and we spent the whole time rushing from one room in the Keep to the next, barely pausing for breath. A good idea, but one not realised as effectively as it could have been.

First I would like to thank NetGalley for a copy of this book!

Natalie and Gideon are always finding some type of trouble brewing about.
I was not a fan of this book because I thought it was just so choppy! The author is striving so hard to be Agatha Christie with the eerie settings but they just are not there. There was not enough description of the place besides it being remote with hiking trails up on a mountain. I couldn’t imagine what I was supposed to see. Onto the characters, there were a few times where I would be reading a setting where a character was and then BAM we were somewhere completely different. Maybe it was the author trying to get the readers to think that the protagonist was insane as well as the rest of the characters?
Perhaps other people would love a quick muster mystery read but I could think of others to recommend first.

This book starts out interesting enough to hold a reader's attention, but I soon found I had trouble trying to suspend belief enough to really get into the story and fully appreciate where it was going. The author is good at building suspense and keeping you guessing, but some of the events just seemed so unlikely that it would stop me from reading in order to consider if a character would really behave that way.

Overall, I didn't think this was a terrible book, just one that I struggled to get into and didn't fully immerse myself in. I still think you should read it and decide for yourself. There is some really good dialogue here, and the characters are interesting in their own right. I did feel like the author was connected to their work but perhaps didn't explore all of the opportunities a book like this presents for readers.

If you enjoy mysteries and stories that feature remote locations, this will be one you want to pick up and give a chance.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I picked this up on Netgalley and had no idea it was the 3rd book in a series, but now that I know it makes so much more sense!

It's basically a mystery surrounding a mysterious death in a resort at an isolated castle.

The main character doesn't get much of a backstory, but lots is alluded too...like I said it makes more sense knowing this is the third in a series. The mystery read like an Agatha Christie mixed with Shakespeare and was interesting enough, but I was so caught up wondering who everybody was.

I spent a good portion of my time reading this book wondering exactly how close it was to Hamlet. And while the end result is that it isn't a retelling of that story, there were so many similarities that I got myself a bit distracted. The castle scene, the relationships of the main characters, the death, the ghosts. All things in common with Hamlet. But, it was also very much different and I kept waiting for the one clue that would let me figure out who the villian(s) was. It kept me engaged and reading. The one thing that I felt was missing from the book were the guests at the Keep. It was almost like watching Downton Abbey but only the scenes with the servants. I wasn't able to get a grasp on the size or operations of the Keep or how many people were there. How come none of the guests were suspects? The reader never really reads anything about them. If you are okay with that, then this was a really good read.

To Die To Sleep by Stephanie Black, 272 pages.
Covenant Communications, 2019. $18.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Something is not right at the Keep, a resort in America’s mountains. Before she even checks in with her reservation, Natalie gets hurt -- becoming the first victim the week -- and shortly thereafter meets the delusional owner himself. If Natalie really wanted a relaxing vacation, going to the Keep was the wrong choice.
The intrigue of To Die To Sleep is nearly palpable. Black gives her readers no respite from the suspense, sucking you right into the action from page one. I love that all of the evidence is available to the characters and the reader the whole time, so it’s possible to suspect the correct perpetrator. While I did not know that this book is not the first to detail Natalie’s experience with murder cases, the others are not necessary to read beforehand -- but you can bet that I am now going to read the other two stories because of my wonderful experience reading this one. The violence rating is for persistent murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

trigger warning
<spoiler>mental illness, tampering with medication, inducing of hallucinations </spoiler>

Dr. Natalaie Marsh is invited to Ellersberg Keep, where her estranged cousin works as a nurse in an exclusive mountain resort. After spending their childhood together and then being separated, they want to re-aquaint themselves with each other, and little do they know that someone else has different plans for the next week.

There is this castle in the mountains. It's winter, so of course they end up snowed in, with a murderer on the loose - and slowly they begin to doubt everyone, even their own cousin.

Said castle comes equipped with an infirmary, which is the only place for miles to get wounds fixed or a bug looked after, so there are strangers - but they don't feature much in this novel. It's about Nathalie and Lily, Nathalie's boyfriend and the family who owns the Keep. Their relationships between each other, past grievances, future plans.

Despite having been entangled in a murderous mess once before, as we're told, Nathalie behaves quite confused. She reaches a point at which she doesn't know what to do, whom to trust, and at which she is not in the physical capacity to do much. I think this could get quite repetitive if you take your time with reading this book. Read over three days, it didn't bother me much.

This thriller is not one of my favourites, but it's not badly written or anything I can really put a finger on. It just didn't work very well for me, and that's okay.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I could tell from pretty early on that this one wasn’t for me, which is always unfortunate. I didn’t manage to finish it - I find it hard to finish books I don’t enjoy - so this review will focus just on the part I read.

I don’t think this is an objectively bad book. The writing style certainly has promise. But it suffered from a frankly boring beginning. There was too much exposition and none of it was interesting or exciting. I expect a mystery or thriller to reach out and grab my attention from the get-go, and this one failed to do that.

I also had a hard time connecting to the characters. There was too much dialogue, much of it small talk, and not enough focus on characters’ inner lives. This book shifts perspectives between its various characters, and I didn’t find any of them particularly compelling.

I feel guilty for giving this one a bad review because it seems like other readers really enjoyed it. Maybe it gets better as it goes, but I just couldn’t make it that far. Again, not for me.

As with all of Stephanie Black's books, this one is best read with the lights on and company nearby! A chilling novel that moves fairly quickly, in a haunting setting that is perfect for the events that take place.

Lily and Natalie share history, but haven't seen each other for years. Their guts say they can trust each other, but can they really?

I would have liked to see a few of the characters further developed, but Black left enough question marks to keep you guessing until the end. Just when I thought I had the mystery solved, a new twist was thrown in! A gripping read.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was just okay for me. I had a hard time getting into it and staying engaged. Not sure why, as the premise is interesting, overall. The writing was solid. The plot was a bit odd, and the characters were just sort of thrown at the reader. I felt a bit lost at times. It just wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Murderous doings are afoot in a luxurious, family-owned mountain resort. The book starts out well enough, but there are simply too many twists and turns, and too many characters with too many motives, who repeatedly behave too improbably. (BTW, were we supposed to pick up allusions to Hamlet?) I see I’m in the minority on this one but I can’t recommend it. I probably would have filed it as a DNF had I not felt an obligation in return for receiving an ARC. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Not great, not terrible.

I did like quite a few bits of the book, like story, writing here and there, concept and premise.
What didn't necessarily convince me was the unbalance in focus. At times, it focused a lot on details not really affecting the story while spending too little time on other information which turned out to be key/important/interesting. For example, I understand that the main characters are recurrent in the author's writings yet this book is marketed as a standalone. Well, I could feel this was not a stand alone from the relationship between the characters. Lingering a bit more on the characters, the way some acted... if felt very, very unnatural. This could have been done either by writing a longer book and going deeper in the matters ( which turned out to be quite messed up) or by doing a cleaner work. I, to be honest, did not enjoy the twist at the end. It felt forced and put there only for the sake of "haha gotcha". The previous twists were done nicely, I would have been happy without that last turn of events.
It's not a bad book, but there is a lot to improve. Luckily I see the author is quite active and I am sure she will come with much better written books in the future. Looking forward to it.

"To Die To Sleep" is a suspense novel. Natalie is injured when she stops to help someone on the side of the dangerous, winding road leading up to the resort. Before long, the owner is dead and some people question if the death might've been murder. A winter storm cuts off all outside help, and things grow more dangerous as more people go missing or turn up dead.

Natalie investigated to help clear her cousin's name, and she asked good questions that uncovered a tangled past. There were enough clues that I was able to guess whodunit very early on, but there were soon enough confusing/conflicting clues that I began to question my guess. Natalie and her boyfriend had to survive until they discovered whodunit and whodunit was arrested by the police (when they finally made it through the snow storm). Natalie and her boyfriend were kind, engaging characters, and I cared about what happened to them. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this suspenseful mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

What a twisty, winding road this novel was! When Natalie Marsh goes to Ellsworth Keep to visit her long lost cousin Lily, she is counting on renewing their friendship. She isn't expecting a medical mystery or murder.

While this book is highly illogical for a number of reasons, it's a page turner. The plot is good, and keeps you interested throughout, even when things get nuts.I do feel as though this was a sequel, because there were references to things and people that were never fleshed out. Natalie's relationship with her boyfriend is a little stilted and weird too, probably because of the same reason.

This is the first Stephanie Black book I’ve read and I have to say... it took me completely off guard. It had an extremely bizarre plot with very little set-up and very little introduction to characters. It kind of just started up full-throttle. The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking what a strange plot this novel has. I felt like I was missing something. Now, don’t get me wrong, my attention was held and I finished this book real quick. But I am left stunned by it’s weirdness and I am unsure whether or not I liked it. I don’t think I have ever finished a book I have such mixed feelings on...lol

Natalie Marsh had a difficult year and is looking for some rest. That's what leads her to Ellsberg up in the mountains, Natalie plans to rest there and get to know her cousin who she hasn't seen years. But Natalie doesn't even make it there without running into a problem and afer a day 24 hours the owner of her place is dead.
It was a captivating read that kept me reading. Always when I thought I figured something out, I found out that I didn't. This book is told from different character perspectives. It is the third book from the Natalie Marsh series, but I didn't read the previous and It seems to not be really necessary to understand the story.

There's this trope of a woman on her way to a place when an accident occurs, involving people from the place. Jane Eyre, for example. I LOVE this trope. "To Die To Sleep" starts with Dr. Natalie Marsh driving to Ellsberg Keep. She sees a woman pulled over, and stops to help. Doing this.....leads to another accident, landing her in the infirmary with her cousin Lily.

This book as a whole is WILD. There's mental illness, a murder plot, an entertainment manager who is desperate to keep his job. It's dark, it's funny, it's full of suspense and even now.....I still am not sure who the real bad guy is.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.