What a gruesome mindfuck of a debut novel by author Liz Lawler.
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this, but certainly not a psychological thriller as gripping and torturous as this turned out to be.

It was so painful to witness the protagonist, a strong, ambitious doctor's seemingly perfect life spin out of control so easily in the span of a few days after being abducted by an unknown perpetrator. Frustrating to witness her lose her fight and question her own sanity when no one supports and believes her, dismissing the following threats and terrorisations as delusions or bad jokes.
I felt incredibly bad for Alex, even more so when I started doubting her myself.

The mystery was brilliantly woven, making me suspicious of basically everyone, even the lead character herself. I was captivated from start to finish and love-hated each and every second of this little masterpiece.
Kudos to Ms. Lawler. I haven't been this much into a crime thriller for a long, long while.

Don't Wake Up by Liz Lawler.
Alex Taylor wakes up tied to an operating table.The man who stands over her isn't a doctor.The offer he makes her is utterly unspeakable.But when Alex re-awakens, she's unharmed - and no one believes her horrifying story.Ostracised by her colleagues, her family and her partner, Alex begins to wonder if she really is losing her mind. And then she meets the next victim.
OMG absolutely fantastic read with brilliant characters. Very cleverly written. Had no idea who it was until liz wanted you to know. I thought Alex was mad. This is a must read and I would highly recommend this book. Definitely worth more than 5*. Netgalley and bonnie zaffre.

Very good debut novel. Well thought out, well researched and very well put together. The suspense builds throughout the novel as to whether Alex is telling the truth or is a very clever perpetrator. The reader is left trying to work it out to the very end of the book. This is a gripping thriller which I would definitely recommend.

5 stars for the first about 80% of the book, then the 'reveal' was just a little too already been done for my liking. But for most of the book I just couldn't stop reading, Needing to know what was really happening and why! Very well written and the pacing was spot on! I still enjoyed the book as a whole, I just thought the end could have been a bit more intriguing.

What if you wake up to a nightmare scenario in which someone threatens your life and minutes later your going unconscious trying to explain what you think happened. Only it seems your version is impossible. And then slowly everything you have worked for begins to unravel and you don't know why.
The only person who accepts and defends you doesn't seem sure you are not hallucinating but she seems on your side. She wants you to confront your nightmares but will you live through it? Are the nightmares real or just in your mind.
A very scary book but one that makes you think about how small things can really effect your life in ways you might never have realized. You will find this book a page turner.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read Don't Wake Up. Unfotunately, I didn't connect with this book at all. The characters, the plot, etc. I did not find this original at all. Not for me.

Amazing !!! I couldn't put this book down and read it within two day... It would of been sooner if I didn't have to work haha! This thriller literally kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish! It really is a page turner and not in the typical 'who done it' sense but all the stories of the sub characters within the story also! I hated the police woman Best.. and really loved all the other characters! You won't see it coming in this book... it really makes you doubt your ideas also... I was adamant I knew who 'it' was and then once it was revealed I was like .. oh my god!!!! Cannot recommend this book enough !!!!

The feeling of being aware of what's happening to you but not being able to do anything about it is simultaneously frightening and frustrating. For one doctor in Liz Lawler's Don't Wake Up making her colleagues and the police believe her story seems to be a tall order.

Dr. Alex Turner is quite accomplished for one so young. Waking up on an operating table to blinding lights that leave details about her abductor obscured, Alex is frightened about what they might do to her. After waking up again in the hospital surrounded by her colleagues, she relates to them her abduction. Having had some traumatic experiences recently at work, her colleagues are reluctant to believe her story and instead pin it on post-traumatic stress. As more and more deadly occurrences take place in suspicious proximity to Alex's life, she's concerned that she's being targeted while the police seem convinced she's the culprit behind it all. Determined to prove herself, Alex faces down her haunting past and reveals the truth in the process.

Well-written and quickly paced, this psychologically compelling narrative is filled with plenty of plausible doubts raised periodically to keep the suspense up and reader interest piqued. I found some of the actions of the police a bit hard to believe, particularly some of their rather lax behavior toward gathering evidence and conducting interviews, but it could be part of playing into the image of a less sophisticated police force in a quieter area. As the reliability and sanity of Alex's character is constantly in question, the facts of the case become extremely important; the details presented throughout the story help to build a potential case against multiple characters as the true culprit deflects attention from themselves, depicting an impressive and psychologically unstable orchestrator.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for a review. This book actually had all of the elements that I like: an interesting synopsis to make me want to read it, a situation where any character could have been guilty and you don't know who is until nearly the end and a mostly plausible ending (although one point just didn't work for me), but somehow I came away thinking it was just ok. I felt like after the initial scenes in the operating room it was too much of no one believing the story and at that point I lost interest to some degree. This was definitely not a bad book and I can see from other reviews that people have really enjoyed it. I would likely consider reading this author's next book because this is a first book and it was a promising start.

A well-crafted thriller!
Dr. Alex Taylor awakens to find herself alone in an operating room. Strapped down to the operating table with only a sheet covering her otherwise naked body, she has no idea how she got here. Why is she here? Suddenly she sees someone in the room with her. When she calls out, the person behind the mask just stares at her. Why won’t anyone help her? All she has to do is answer one simple question.
"What does NO mean?"
When she finally comes-to in the ER, everyone around her oddly treats her as though nothing happened. Was it all a dream? Why won't anyone believe she was attacked, maybe tortured....maybe raped?
Soon there are other victims. Yet everyone still refuses to believe her story, or the probability that these other victims are related to her attack. Not her boyfriend, colleagues nor the police.
The author does a great job of keeping the tension ratcheted up. I felt a buzz as I was reading and was constantly kept on my toes trying to figure out who was behind these attacks...what motive could they have? And just when I thought I had it – nope! A little drawn out at times, but over all a very good read. A true thriller!
Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Zaffre and Liz Lawler for an ARC to review in exchange for an honest review.


To be posted on Goodreads under Kaceey 4/14/17

Alex Taylor has accomplished a lot in her 28 years, she is in a happy relationship, a well respected Doctor and a qualified helicopter pilot to boot. Life is great until one night Alex is knocked unconscious in the hospital car park, she awakens to the horror that she has been abducted, on awakening the second time in her very own A & E department her friends are dubious about what has happened as is everybody in her life...
This is an outstanding debut novel by Liz Lawler, it was easy to follow and flowed along nicely and I read it in the space of a couple of days. I was totally gripped by the who did it storyline and all the twists and turns along the way. Unlike many others of this genre Don't Wake Up genuinely kept me guessing right up to the big reveal. A 5* book thats is highly recommended.

Loved this book! Literally flew through it and read it in two nights. Loved the opening which gripped me right away and kept me on the rollercoaster that was this book.

What an absolutely brilliant book! I believe that this is Liz Lawler's debut book and, if her future releases are anything like as good, she has a fantastic career ahead of her.

The story was fresh and the "whodunit" element well written and paced. It was only at the very last minute that I was able to guess the "who" of it and I had several other characters in line before arriving at the ultimate culprit.

Lawler brought her experience of life as a doctor into the story and the authenticity and professional terminology added to the impact of the book.

A really intelligent and well thought out plot delivered in a style that not only demanded that the book not be put down, but that the reader went into the silly hours of the night to finish it, yet made us feel sad to have finished it.

Totally recommended.

OMG, this book was bloody fantastic, one of my favourite reads this year, can't believe this was a debut author it was that good and believe me I read a lot of fiction.
Don't wake up by Liz Lawler was one of those stories that are impossible to put down. I was awake half the night reading, as this was such a compulsive story and I just had to know what was going to happen next.
To summarise we have Dr Alex Taylor, A doctor working A&E. One night upon leaving work she is attacked, upon rousing, she discovers herself naked on an operating table, with a masked stranger.
waking from this traumatic ordeal and believing she could have been raped the police are called. The problem is Alex when found unconscious in the hospital grounds by a security guard and her boyfriend Patrick The vet, is fully clothed with not a mark on her and nobody really believes her thinking she has suffered a head trauma and imagined her horrific experience.
Alex then spirals into a downward plunge of alcohol, anxiety and diazepam.
No one will listen to her, and events are escalating. I won't go into any more detail as I really don't want to spoil this excellent read for others, let's just say we have murder, intrigue a bit of romance and a story of phycological warfare that keeps you guessing until the end.
In conclusion, this is one book that you don't want to miss this year, the writing is excellent and in a sea of fiction, Don't wake up really stands out as a brilliant dark psychological thriller if I could give it more than five stars I would it was that good.
A job well done, Liz Lawler
I received a free E-Copy of Don't Wake Up from NetGalley and this is my own honest opinion.

I enjoyed this book. There was a good story line and it kept me guessing to the end. Good characters and would like to read further books featuring the senior police officer (even Laura Best too!)

How would you feel, if this was happening to YOU?

Dr. Alex Taylor KNOWS something sinister has happened to her. She KNOWS she was abducted and held captive in an empty operating theatre (room). She KNOWS the evil person responsible isn't finished with her, and others might be in danger, as well. The problem is, there is no evidence, and no one believes her. Friends, co-workers, the police, her therapist and even her arrogant, narcissistic boyfriend all think she is losing her mind! They all try so hard to convince her that she is suffering from a past, unresolved issue that has altered her perception of reality that, at some point, Alex even begins to doubt her own sanity. If only she could find ONE person to truly believe her and help her find out what is happening to her.

This was a deliciously-terrifying and chilling tale of psychopathic revenge that keeps you guessing at the killer's identity until almost the very end. I have a naturally suspicious mind, and so I was constantly changing my mind on who I thought the sicko really was. Something would make me think it could be one person, then 5 pages later, I was rethinking that assumption and considering someone else. I LOVE when a thriller gets the best of me! And, for most of the book, this one did a REALLY good job of making ME wonder at who was psycho and who was sane!

This plot line was so well thought out and intricately woven, that I was immediately caught up its silken web of intrigue and suspense. The characters were complex and had an amazing amount of vivacity and depth to them. There were some moments that were truly cringe-worthy, and the final bloodbath was written so realistically, that I could almost smell the coppery, metallic tang in the air and see the sticky, red puddles oozing over the floor.

Liz Lawler has a new fan in me!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from NetGalley & Bonnier Zaffre in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

Thanks Netgalley. This was a really fast paced book and absolutely thought it was amazing

Alex Taylor has her life pretty much in order-- a good job as a doctor (that she loves), a solid group of friends and an attractive boyfriend who seems to be head over heels for her. She worked very hard to achieve this life. While walking towards the parking lot where she would meet her boyfriend to go to the dinner at which she believed that she would receive a marriage proposal she blacks out. When she awakens she finds herself strapped to a surgical table-- finding herself alone she begins to call out, trying to discern what happened.

Instead of the voices of one of her colleagues she is meet with the garbled, mechanical voice of a stranger. A stranger that has plans for her.

When she wakes up a second time she is under the care of her colleagues--all of whom begin to question her story. No evidence being found for her abduction or rape her credibility is called into question. As everyone beings to question her Alex feels more and more isolated.

What happened? Was she hallucinating? She tries to blend back into her normal life until a woman is brought into the emergency room whispering something similar to what she experienced.

This book keeps you in suspense the entire time, questioning Alex and everyone close to her. I wondered for a long time if the book would end like Fight Club... I'm not going to tell you, but does it? It was a great suspense-- Lawler did an excellent job.

This book caught my attention from the description, waking up tied to a operating table, hearing a unrecongizable voice-- and then your waking up in the hospital! Super creepy- but i found that throughout the book while i was enjoying it, i felt the action lacked- and i was actually disappointed to finally find out who was her kidnapper, i was hoping for someone else- to explain then why that person acted the way they did throughout the book. Overall good book- was sometimes hard to understand and follow since it is based in UK, i am a USA reader so at some points i became lost.

This is one of those novels that will scare any female reader to their very core, I would not recommend reading this before needing surgery any time soon as I just could not imagine having this in my head as I’m lying on an operating table…..

Liz Lawler wrote a book that is the very definition of the phrase “compelling thriller” as this psychologically tormented story line is woven with some complex and intriguing characters. The idea that you could be assaulted in one of the most horrifying ways possible only to have no one believe you essentially just continues the initial abuse on a psychological level. Lawler wrote her characters, settings and situations in such a realistic manner you can truly imagine the horror of being in Alex’s shoes.

As good as the plot is, somehow the ending is even better. It’s impossible to not question your sanity at least a few times throughout this book because just as you start to think you have a handle on where the author is taking you something comes out of left field shoving your understanding back to square one. It’s a very fast paced novel so you can easily blow through this in a few years uninterrupted particularly as the unpredictability of it will drive you to want answers.

Even though there are themes here any fan of mystery/suspense genres will find are similar to pretty much everything else in this genre you shouldn’t give it a pass because Lawler still has a way of gripping your attention with her chilling writing. Put yourself in Alex’s shoes, pretend that you woke up on the operating table and just immerse yourself in this story. I still feel my skin crawling from the creepiness of it.