Mary's two young children won't let her sleep; Tim, a journalist, just can't, following recent trauma. When these two sleepless people witness something concerning in the dead of night, perhaps linked to a recent crime, the unlikely pair - both experiencing their own form of desperation - come together to investigate.

I do like Claire McGowan's books, but this took a while to grab hold of me. It settles down into what feels like quite an old-fashioned adventure whereby Mary and Tim, finding the police less than helpful, set about their own amateur investigation into the disappearance of a nineteen-year-old girl, Samantha. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way and ultimately it's all a bit far-fetched, but enjoyable enough.

The insomnia stuff is done well, with Tim struggling to differentiate what's real at times. The mother reluctantly awake with her baby in the depths of the night gave me vibes of Celia Fremlin's classic The Hours Before Dawn (and if you're a fan of domestic psychological thrillers and haven't read Fremlin, you really should).

As someone who has spent a lot of my professional life in care homes, my jaw did drop in response to what was going on in one home in the middle of the night. I can't quite imagine anyone getting away with it, but you never know.

A good read overall but not McGowan's best.

Very gripping book.lots of suspects.changing twists. keeps you wondering who did it. I had every one suspected except the one who was guilty.. ha im not joining the police anytime soon.

A wuick and easy read that was gripping, twisty and unpredictable and kept me guessing all the way through. It started off a bit slow but pacing incresaed as tension did - which didn't take long at all.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Mary Collins is wide awake at 4 am thanks to her two small children. Tim is also awake, because he doesn’t sleep. They see a woman being attacked in a vacant house across the park from their homes. Mary, a lawyer on maternity leave, and Tim, a disgraced reporter, decide to find out what they can. Neither one of them is completely sure of what they saw but when a local girl, Samantha, turns up missing, they dig deeper. There have also been a series of disappearances over the years in the neighborhood. This could have been another line of mystery, but the author didn’t run with it. Both Tim and Mary are at loose ends in their lives and this is a great outlet for them. One thing that drove me absolutely CRAZY, editor please fix, is the use of the word alright. GRRR. It is one of my pet peeves, and it’s in the book quite a lot. Otherwise, it’s a pretty easy read, you won’t get lost if you put it down for a few days, and you probably won’t stay up late reading it.

Thank you Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.

Writing: 2/5 | Plot: nah/5 | Ending: thank god/5

THE PLOT

Mary is a mom-of-two who is TIRED AF. Tim is a former war journalist with crippling PTSD. Together they team up to solve "who the fuck is that lady in the dilapidated house across the street".

THIS BOOK IS LIKE...

...taking a bite of the juiciest, cheesiest, creamiest mac n cheese but the aftertaste is kraft dinner dry ass powder.

MY OPINION

AFOJFOJFOJ WHYYY!! ??? I absolutely loved Claire McGowan's writing in I Know You and What You Did, so naturally I was pumped af to grab her latest off NetGalley. The start was promising with Mary's raw af account of being a mom of two young kids with a bum ass husband. Her daughter, Audrey, was the uncontested star of this book—which is why I gave this two stars instead of one.

Ok so this could've been a guilty pleasure read but McGowan punched above the belt by making Mary a lawyer who didn't know the law from her left foot. If she had just been a SAHM or like a cupcake baker on maternity leave, that would've been fine. ANYTHING but a lawyer.

How can you make the MC a lawyer who asks questions like: "Wasn't it a crime to hide evidence too? But how did they even know that's what it was?" GURL??? ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS. THE BAG BELONGS TO A MISSING GIRL. OFC IT'S EVIDENCE. AND YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT'S A CRIME. HAVE YOU NEVER WATCHED CRIMINAL MINDS?? EVEN A LIL NCIS??? CMON!!!

Then you have Timmy boy who tells Mary he'll let the police know about the evidence they're obstructing "when they call him back." Pardon? Is he expecting someone to ring him like "hey is this Tim? Yeah this is 911. Did you happen to find a missing girl's duffle? Yes. Parfait. Could you bring it round let's say 7? Thanks so much."

This was very formulaic like many thrillers from well-known authors this year, which was disappointing. Thankfully Audrey made the first part of the book slightly enjoyable.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: Audrey

Cons: Mary is the worst lawyer on the planet, didn't really care for the other characters, another dud ass husband, very formulaic, writing wasn't up to par with her other books

Mary has two young children and is awake through the night, not remembering the last time she fully slept. Tim is a journalist suffering from guilt and horrific memories of an accident - leaving him unable to sleep, suffering from insomnia. One night, both Mary and Tim look out to a house across from them, and witness violence through the window. A house that already has a past history of a brutal murder. Working together to try and find out what they saw, they'll head further and further into danger. A danger that might not allow them both out alive.

Another fantastic book by Claire! I haven't read a book that I've been disappointed with yet by Claire, she's just that good!

A chilling story of two sleep deprived strangers coming together to find a missing person, not knowing whether they can trust their minds. It's brilliant and tense, the tension building right up to the spectacular ending.

Mary and Tim are both sleepless for different reasons and witness a murder. The premise was exciting and I wanted this to be great but it didn’t land. The twists felt predictable and then a little silly.. Nothing really landed right.

I have read Claire McGowan before and enjoyed it, but not this book. Sorry

This was a very intriguing mystery story. Tim is a man suffering PTSD and unable to sleep normally at night. Mary is a mother of two young children that sleep in the same room together waking each other up all night so she gets very little sleep too. The two meet one day when they think they see a young woman in a house across the park doing erotic things in the upstairs bedroom. They both feel it might be a young lady who was said to be missing from her home. The two get together to try to find out what’s going on in the house. The police come in to the picture and tell Mary and Tim to mind there business as they investigate and find nothing in the house. Tim and Mary don’t give up and continue investigating finding different people that maybe in involved. I enjoyed this book very fast paced and the characters were very believable to end up solving the case before the police.

Anyone who has suffered sleepless nights for any reason will immediately identify with both Mary and Tim. That awful watching of the clock and counting down how many hours you have left to sleep only to finally drift off half an hour before you have to get up is soul destroying. It is obvious immediately that Mary is only awake because of her children but the author kind of drip feeds the reader with the reason for Tim's insomnia a little bit at a time. The disappearance of Samantha seems clear enough at first but halfway through the story there is a massive plot twist that had me reeling. The plot gets a little convoluted from there but this only makes it more exciting. Claire McGowan has really cornered the market with her one off crime thrillers and this is another one well worthy of 5 stars.

What a great read this is ,two people who have trouble sleeping see something untoward in the dead of night and in doing so a series of events follow which will change their lives .keeps the reader involved until the very end .

I really enjoyed this book and was frustrated that I couldn’t read it in bigger chunks! I particularly liked the relationship between Tim and Mary and the fact that they never gave up! A lot of twists to this story and an ending which surprised me

I really enjoyed the set up of this book— introducing us to Mary, insomniac courtesy of two young children sharing a room and waking each other up all night long and a husband who is no help at night; and Tim, an insomniac investigative reporter dealing with PTSD after an overseas attack. Both of them see something suspicious in a neighbor’s house and think it might be linked to the disappearance of a local teenaged girl, but they can’t be sure. The police don’t seem to be making any headway, so they start to search out leads. It did get a bit convoluted by the end, but was nevertheless still a very good domestic thriller!
*Thanks to the author, Thomas and Mercer, and NetGalley for the advance reader’s copy for review.

Two people who couldn't sleep are bound by a common sight they see across the street, in a house that is under renovation.

17 year old Samantha is missing and Tim, a journalist fighting his demons, and Mary, sleep deprived mother of 2, both think they have seen her across the street. They forge an unlikely friendship.

They join forces to track Samantha down after their calls to the cops don't yield immediate results. But they get caught up in so many other happenings that are more life threatening for them and Samantha as well.

Fast and pacy thriller. Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing UK fir the ARC

Really enjoyed this book. Alot of twists and turns that kept me guessing. Highly recommend this one.

I had mixed feelings about this one. The premise was interesting albeit a little far fetched. Two unconnected insomniacs think they see a missing girl trapped in an empty house. The rest of the book is these characters trying to get the police to take them seriously whilst making various unsavoury discoveries along the way.

I liked the portrayal of Mary as a struggling mum, worried about her stagnating career and drifting apart from her husband due to the competitive tiredness and general strain of having very small children. Tim was also a complex character; initially we feel a strong empathy for him, but this becomes more reluctant as his infertility and reckless selfishness is revealed later in the book.

However the likelihood of two randomers uncovering the truth before the police did require a significant suspension of disbelief - and Tim’s discovery of the final location in the few seconds he had to look at a (conveniently unlocked) computer screen was a little too convenient. Some artistic licence is mandatory but there were a few too many cliches, convenient coincidences and glossing over of logistics for it to be a very convincing read.

That said, it was an interesting idea and it did keep me reading as I wanted to know what had happened - though the finale was a little flat; I was expecting a big twist but there were no real surprises at the end.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the eARC.
Two strangers meet in the middle of the night in a park in London: Mary, who has a baby and a toddler who keep her awake most nights and Tim, who hasn't slept since a nightmarish experience has left him traumatized. They both think they've seen a girl in an abandoned building; could it possibly be the girl the police is looking for?
The two form a strange alliance, they decide to investigate. Hopefully that will keep their sleep deprived brains busy; something to focus on.
What starts out as an exciting idea though, soon turns into a fight for their freedom and their lives.
I really enjoyed this, even though it's a bit of an unrealistic story (but hey, it's fiction!), it clips along at an exciting pace and was hard to.put down. Definitely recommended!

Mary is a family lawyer on maternity leave and Tim is an investigative journalist on sick leave. They both struggle with getting any sleep so when they both see something strange in the middle of the night they come together to solve the mystery.
Great read for me I enjoyed the little twists throughout and loved the unlikely paring of Tim and Mary. I would of liked a little more explanation at the end but apart from that thought it was fab. Thanks to #netgalley for this ARC.

An enjoyable read, great style of writing switching between the characters. Plenty of twists throughout and kept me guessing to an extent.

Okay, so this one wasn’t for me.

It’s like, I started thinking that the title, ‘Are you awake?’, was actually just a question being asked to the reader because…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I probably stepped away from this book a dozen times because nothing was happening.

The thing is that I actually liked the characters. The mom, Mary is just so freaking exhausted and I just felt her. Tim seemed like a really good guy and I was so sorry for all he went through. The husband, whose name I can’t recall, was kind of oblivious, but in general an okay guy. But my character like was not enough to sustain me.

The reason behind everything isn’t even all that interesting.

This one is a skip from me.

*ARC via Net Galley

I’ve been waiting for a fantastic summer read and this one checked all the boxes! I’ve been a fan of Claire McGowan for some time and this book reinforced the fact, she can write a great thriller with well developed characters. While my mind immediately figured out who the likely culprit was, there were some twists and turns throughout the story, Besides the actual mystery, was the storyline of Tim and Mary which was rich and well developed, I found myself looking forward to finishing my work day just so I could finish this book. Great story overall and I highly recommend!