Thank you to NetGalley, Carolyn Woods and the Publisher for an audio ARC for an honest review.

I actually heard Carolyn tell her story live a few years ago with Jon Ronson. I found listening the audiobook horrific and terrifying. I found it incredibly frustrating with the way the police handled the case and heart-breaking to hear the affect it had on Carolyn and her family. It is a well written book and I thoroughly recommend. This could be made into a film.

This is a true story and whilst I have heard several such tales in the media, I am not a big watcher of TV chat shows/daytime TV etc so I was not specifically familiar with Carolyn’s story.
This is a straightforward recollection of the events as they happen, and it was interesting to see how it all happened, but the writing is quite repetitive & full of clichés – more suited to a Daily Mail serialisation than a book!
A recent divorcee with grown up children, Carolyn is working in a small boutique in Tetbury, having recently relocated to the Cotswolds. She is living in a rented cottage whilst looking for a property to purchase, so has quite a lot of money in the bank and with her children now grown up, Carolyn is looking forward to being independent and living “her own life” when she meets a man who will turn her life upside down.

I listened to parts of this book on the audiobook version (which is narrated by Carolyn herself) and read parts. As a book, I would give it 2 stars, but as an audiobook it moves to 3.5 stars.
The audiobook made it more “real” and less dry. This wouldn’t have been the case if it had been told by somebody else – somehow it felt very personal to have Carolyn telling her story.

Carolyn is obviously trying to balance her vulnerability in telling her story, with her insight as a victim but overall I found it hard to warm to her. She comes across as quite superficial (vain, appearance focussed and quite snobby) yet obviously quite intelligent too and yet she still fell for a conman.
She repeatedly states that she valued her privacy and independence but within days of meeting Mark Conway/Acklom, she has not only given him her phone number but had him to her house and within a month has given him £26,000! Mark Conway/Acklom had spent many years perfecting the deceptions, so whilst I can see how easily Carolyn could have initially got drawn in, I also got frustrated by the way she constantly chose to ignore the warnings of friends and family in favour of a man she’d known for just weeks.
Towards the end, she is obviously frustrated by the way the police handle the investigation but takes little responsibility for her own actions, her greed/desire for the lifestyle that had been promised and her willingness to just hand over every aspect of her life without ever questioning it.

Disclosure: I received an advance reader copy of this book free via NetGalley. Whilst thanks go to the publisher for the opportunity to read it, all opinions are my own.
#SleepingwithaPsychopath #NetGalley

Sleeping with a Psychopath happened to pop up on my audiobook feed and so I thought, why not! It is set largely in the West Country (Tetbury and Bath) but it's not a book you would really choose for location. This is the story and settling of scores for one vulnerable yet determined woman who came under the spell of a serial swindler and arch manipulator called Mark Acklom. He spun a convincing story of wealth and glamour for the author of this book and here she records her version of events. This is her story.

Now I know that there will be many people out there who will simply ponder the question "Why didn't she leave; why did she let things go on for 18 months?". When anyone who is in a relationship where the balance of power is out of kilter, then coercive control can set in from day 1, and as time passes the tactics, subtle at first, will corral the less powerful person - well honed tactics of undermining confidence through criticism; alienating the less powerful person from their friends and family, so they become more malleable. Make no mistake, this can happen to virtually anyone given the right circumstances.

I often wonder if anyone working for MI6 - which Acklom purported to be doing - would ever actually reveal that they are an operative for the organisation; I am guessing not, but he built and confabulated his stories around his supposed undercover work. It seemed to be a drama, a game for him. He clearly entertained himself, royally conjuring up scenarios to give credence to his storyline. Before long the author is paying for wildly costly items, and any quavering request for repayment is countered by remarks that kept her firmly in her place. Suggestions she should have botox and facial surgery, his lateness (serial lateness is a form of control), and his hot/cold engagement all served to exert a push/pull on her psyche.

There were indeed several points at which I could feel my eyes widening and the first was when, within 48 hours or so, he had suddenly stripped naked in her sitting room, anticipating a quick visit to her bed. He also intimated that he needed libidinous activity several times a day and that had me thinking, ah, sexual addiction. He then dropped in on a gathering of her friends and family, where he behaved and showed off appallingly. It was at that point that I really struggled to understand how she reconciled his abysmal behaviour. By now he had her incarcerated in a rental flat in the centre of Bath, a gilded cage, for which in fact she was paying and where she began to feel distressed and unhappy.

And so it continued until she has a damascene moment, decided to confront him and then never heard from him again, having fleeced her of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The second half of the book is her mission to see him brought to justice.

This book is like watching a slow motion car crash, there are plenty of tells along the way that are indicative of what he is up to but she simply is in too deep and cannot see it.

I think she is very brave to have written this all down - the second half is perhaps a little less riveting than the first, and her tone has become weary - not surprisingly. But she shows grit and determination to see his sentencing through to the end. She must know he will see her version of events written down in the book but she has gone past the point of humiliation. Hopefully - ultimately - she will make enough money from the sales of the book to start out on life again.

A salutary story for most of us, and particularly those who feel it would never happen to them. It just could!

This is a true story and I listened to the audio version, which seemed to capture the essence of the tale perfectly. Middle aged woman throws caution and reason to the wind and falls under the spell of a con man who relieves her of some £850k. I’m slightly ambivalent about the book. On the one hand, it’s a very sad tale about a lady who was at best, very stupid. She chose to to ignore the warnings of friends and family about her new relationship and was sucked in on a him. I formed a mental picture of her as a type, which is rather unfair because I don’t know her, but she came across as rather supercilious and felt she deserved a better life that her new man seemed to offer. When it all came unstuck, her attitude towards the police investigation was rather arrogant.

The writing is straightforward but a little repetitive and filled with clichés. It’s linear and reflects events as they happened, but I didn’t gain any real insight into the how and why it happened. It seems to be an honest account and I felt sorry for her at times. Equally, I thought she can’t really believe this is true…wake up woman. I don’t think I’d have persevered with a written version; the narration was easy listening whilst I was doing other things. So a generous 3 stars and my thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

I'm slightly struggling with this review - for me this was a book of two halves. The first half we find out about what happened to Carolyn and how Mark presented himself and managed to con her out of her savings and cause devastation to her life. Whilst I appreciate many people feel that she should have seen through him, I could see how easy it would be to believe him despite how outlandish his claims seem when viewed with the benefit of hindsight. I felt very sorry for her and although thought perhaps she was foolish at certain points later in their relationship, I think she was just highly unlucky to have been targeted by him and most people would have similarly fallen victim and lost everything too. However the second half of the book she really gets on her high horse and becomes so unlikable I felt that I lost all sympathy and respect for her. I have no doubt that her case could have been handled better and am sorry that things didn't go as she would have wished, however, had she applied even a single percentage of the forensic suspicion toward the police as she did before handing over £850,000. She comes across as expecting the police to have dropped absolutely every other case, murders/rapes/child abuse and everything else to allow her case, and hers alone, to be followed up. By the end she acknowledges the underfunding and the strain the police force is under, but by then it was too little too late. I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend this book because I couldn't bare the smugness of the author. I obviously wish her no ill will and am sorry that she had to endure the events she did, but I don't think she does herself any favours with this book.

This is not my usual type of book- true crime normally freaks me out, but I thought I’d give this book a go as the blurb sounded so intriguing.
It was very interesting to read about the twisted male who took advantage of so many people. The pain and heartache of those left in his wake was intense.
I really enjoyed the way the book covers the years, was still quite a pacey plot.
A very good ending too ( I won’t spoil it!).

I started listening to this book and unfortunately I was not enjoying the story or the narrator and to be honest after a couple of chapters I was going to give up on it . To me the whole theory of a woman meeting a handsome ,rich ,successful business man who als0 worked for MI6 was totally unbelievable and Carolyn was totally besotted in days.
Before I gave up totally I checked the reviews on Amazon which were very mixed this is where I discovered it was actually a true story and Carolyn was duped out of £850,000 so I stuck with it
This is a very long winded story of how a gullible woman was completely duped by a vey clever guy who has a very long history of being a successful conman
The book repeats things that happened in several places and although I give credit to Carolyn for her determination and persistence to bring the guy to justice there is still a feeling for me is that despite the fact this is a true story the whole story is still unbelievable as the saying goes "When something seems too good to be true it usually is"
Even after getting to the end of the book I still don't know why Mark Acklom targeted Carolyn in the first place she wasn't exactly living a wealthy life and worked in a clothes shop , She was living in a rented cottage and the cash she had was from a property sale and was only in the bank while she looked for another property to buy.
Unfortunately for me this book did not improve and although I hate the idea of anyone being conned and treated like Carolyn was by Mark Acklom this book to me did not make a good read

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this but this book is not for me.











Received this audio book free via NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sleeping with a Psychopath was such an interesting read, I hadn't heard anything of this story prior to reading this book, and honestly didn't even realise it was a non-fiction book until I started reading and it read a lot like a fiction book. I was absolutely hooked on this story and read the entire book in one sitting it was just too good to put it down. I don't usually pick up books like this but I thought I'd give it a chance and I'm so glad I did. Carolyn Woods is a talented writer and I'm so glad I've had my eyes opened to this story.

This blew me away, and to think it actualy happened.
I didn't realise it was true to begin with, its written so well

Enjoyed this , a few times I was like no way did she believe that. But as Carolyn says you had to be there. It’s a good insight of how anyone can be conned , and on the scale it did! It also tells us of the relationships and how it effects everyone around you. Glad we got to hear what happened in the end with jail sentences, and how she’s managing to rebuild her life.

Started reading this book without any knowledge of the case, only about half way did I think ‘you couldn’t make this up’. Googled and found it was a real life story and the author had written her account of the events. Quite astonishing she fell for this guy, I know it happens. So many warning bells, but still she carried on. Easy to read with only two main characters and a unbelievable at times plot, narrator was excellent. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

This was utterly fascinating!
A gripping and mind blowing audiobook that I'm still thinking about days after finishing.
"my life is like a film" was a perfect line to sum up this book. I've always wondered how people get conned out of thousands, and this was an excellent book to show me how they get sucked in and believe the lies. I wanted to shout at the author to stop her from continuing her relationship with Mark, but that just shows how good the book was.
The narrator was superb, I genuinely felt like she was the author telling her story!
Absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend!

Just. Unbelievable. So you meet an attractive man and believe that he's a) a multimillionaire and b) a James Bond-alike superspy. You have one casual conversation, and he's texting within minutes that you're the woman he wants. You hand over to him about £700,000; you ignore all your friends and family who are suspicious; and once you find out you've been the victim of a professional conman what do you do? Throw yourself into a relationship with his ex-friend...

The writing is pedestrian and packed full of cliches ('cold hands, warm heart'). The author comes over as snobby, unlikable and ready to blame everyone from the police who investigated her case to the workers trying to help her get benefits. The narrator expresses the arrogance and vanity in the writing which is appropriate but I found it grating and the author's attitudes unbearable. Sorry.

I received the Audiobook in exchange for an honest review via HarperCollins UK Audio.

I love true crime stories and the more bizarre the better, although this book entertained me, it also educated me.

I knew nothing of this true story via news or press prior to reading this book so found it a fascinating read/listen. It is ultimately about how Carolyn was duped out of £850,000 by a psychopathic conman Mark Acklom, whilst also breaking down to the reader how psychopaths work.

I'm glad this book has been published as it raises important awareness to how conmen work and at the end of each chapter all the techniques are broken down and explained in more detail, such as the tactics used and what to watch out for. I did feel at times though, the author was trying to come to terms at how led astray she was and how she could have possibly fell for it in the first place. However this happens, psychopaths like this exist and I'm sure Carolyn is not the only woman this has ever happened too.

I felt frustrated at how long the police took to investigate this crime and actually applaud Carolyn at how well she kept on top of collating evidence, another important aspect I took from this book is how important keeping evidence is. Although I was shocked at how Carolyn could fall for the deceit of Mark Acklom, I was impressed at how she never gave up on getting him arrested and charged.

I finished this pleased to see how everything worked out in the end on the romance front for Carolyn. Even though both were led to each other in the most extraordinary and unbelievable circumstances.

The audio narration by Jan Cramer also kept me engaged with this story throughout.

I will tell you why this deserves 5*

A lot of people will gasp and say “unbelievable, this woman is stupid”.

I would have said the same around two years ago before my middle aged daughter was scammed, scammed online out of a lot of money, through her trust, her big heart and the cleverness of that other terrible person. Romance scam.

So when I read this, I did believe that a grown woman with her own home, money in the bank, independent and strong willed woman could be wooed by this psychopath.
Yes indeed!
Everyone has a chink in their armour, be it greed, be it love, be it loneliness for example.
And that “baddie” will find it and worm its way in.

It was interesting how the author told the story.

I listened to this on audio, the narrator was very good I thought.

As this woman is being reeled in ....time goes by and then you get a slant at her looking back on just what she ‘should” have seen. Signs she should have picked up.

I enjoyed (if that’s the right context) seeing the workings of this played out.

I would have said....that’s so far fetched! But not any more.

A very well written thriller with a very clever manipulative psychopath.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my early access to this audiobook!

The book was well structured - it was interesting to see the future perspective on the past actions and situations, rather than the events being written in a linear fashion.

The whole story does seem fantastical, almost made up, but unfortunately that is how con artists tend to work!

As someone who did not read tabloid magazines or anything similar when this happened, I found this an interesting story to hear!

An interesting listen, I enjoyed hearing about how a successful strong woman could be taken advantage of by a master manipulator and psychopath. I found Carolyn hard to relate to and she came of quite unlikeable, I found her to be snobby. However, I thought this interesting enough to continue. I think in audio format is preferable for this read.

They say truth is often stranger than fiction and reading this book it may feel that way.

This is the true story of a woman targeted by a man who proceeds to defraud her of hundreds of thousands of pounds by having her believe he worked for MI6, was a successful businessman and had celebrity friends. As the reader on the outside, looking in, it is easy to hear the alarm bells ringing from the very start but as that person on the outside, we are missing the sense of charisma that Mark must have had to draw Carolyn in. Sadly, Mark on paper does not have that feeling of charisma, charm, that je ne sais quoi that he must have had to so easily breach Carolyn's defences. Did this detract from the book? Not for me. I enjoyed the book and raced through the audio in the space of just three days.

I was hooked, wanting to try to understand how a woman such as Carolyn could be drawn in and I wanted to know what Mark's next steps would be. As a lawyer, when we reached the point of the criminal investigation and subsequent court proceedings, I was embarrassed for my profession that she was so badly let down by both the police and the justice system.

In a way, I wanted a happy ending for this fantastical but true story but in fact the ending was a more realistic ending.

Have you ever fallen for someone that you really didn’t know? They said all the right things. Made you feel so special. Really special. Have you met any conmen? It’s one of the most shocking, and completely terrible life altering things that can happen to someone. And most of the time a person is to embarrassed to tell anyone. I know because it happened to me. I wasn’t free from them until they went to prison. I was one of the lucky ones.
I knew very little about this Mark Richard George Acklom. I am obsessed with true crime and I started listening to this right away. The narrator Jan Cramer was great and I thought the author did a good job taking me through this heinous crime. At times its laughable how crazy it got and he always knew what to say. But I feel like we can learn from this. And I don’t think we should be so critical of her decisions. And I commend her for going after him! Shame on you Mark, it’s awful what you’ve done. I really enjoyed this and recommend it.
Thanks HarperCollins via Netgalley.

I admit it… I am obsessed by psychopaths. I love reading books with narcissistic, psychopathic characters and the more ruthless the better, however this is in the fictional books I read. Reading about psychopaths in a true crime, non-fiction account is absolutely TERRIFYING.

Sleeping with a Psychopath by Carolyn Woods is the true story of her life when she met the charismatic, wealthy and handsome Mark Conway and within a matter of weeks Carolyn, a divorcee living in a quiet village, happy with her single life and her friends, finds herself falling head over heels with a stranger and slowly being alienated from everyone and becoming completely dependant both emotionally and financially on Mark.

Now I think I am a reasonably intelligent person, a good judge of character and a shrewd person when it comes to business and from listening to Carolyn’s book, so did she. So how did this loving, outgoing, independent women get hoodwinked into giving him her life savings and becoming a shadow of her former self?

It’s so easy to say “I wouldn’t do that” or “couldn’t she see what was happening” but I was able to understand why Carolyn did allow herself to be dragged down this murky path. Simply put, she fell head over heels in love with a professional conman. A man who had spent most of his life honing his craft, learning how to read people and press the right buttons to get exactly what he wanted and to make his victims fall for his lies.

I listened to this sad and scary tale over the space of a couple of days and my heart goes out to Carolyn and all of the other victims of Mark Acklom and hope that they find the love and happiness they truly deserve.