Anna O pays lip service to the original Anna O - Freud's most famous patient. Calling this Anna O therefore is a little akin to that film London, which despite having Jason Statham in it, is not set in or about the city of London, but rather a character called London. Nevertheless, if its psychology you want, then this book will attempt to give you some in the form of lurid mixture of sleepwalking crime and extreme resignation syndrome. There are at least two relatively high bars for your suspension of disbelief to surmount before you get into the meat and potatoes of the plot which ends up pivoting on whether or not 60% of the book is from an unreliable narrator or not. It is breathless, it is ridiculous and yet I worked out the mystery about half way through and discounted it for all of those reasons.

Anna O is the daughter of a shadow cabinet minister, Emerald Fennel-esque writer who has a secret issue with sleepwalking and doing complex violence in her trances. She is also the most notorious prisoner in the UK, having seemingly murdered her two friends in her sleep, confessed to it (in her sleep), and then fallen asleep for four years. Since the murder took place in 2019, she hasn't missed much (not that the book ever mentions COVID), and because she hasn't woken up, she cannot be tried for the murder. So the Home Secretary tasks Ben, a sleep expert, to wake her up. Ben has already written about the case, and his wife was the first police officer to the crime scene. Can he wake her, did she do it, was she alone, is there some grand conspiracy going back twenty years featuring the most tenuous kind of revenge which - by the end of the book - clearly hasn't worked by a fiendish criminal mastermind? Oh yes.

Anna O is punchy beach reading but you have to run through it very quickly to not start getting annoyed by its own plot holes. Anna, after all, is not in a coma, she is asleep and therefore you would have thought that every possible reason why that might be the case would be investigated. The book's big twist relies on the gender neutrality of a a previous character who situationally and verbally always read to me as a specific gender. And the book runs out of significant suspects about halfway through, leaving one which makes the book complicit in lying to you, or the other one who is far-fetched but fits. In the end it was just too silly for me to take seriously.

Anna O
by Matthew Blake

I have learned not to get too excited anymore when I see new titles being compared to the likes of Gone Girl, but this premise was too good to ignore, so I took my chances, and WOW, did it pay off.

This is a stunning debut which deserves ALL the comps it has been getting. It is taut and clever, layered and compelling. The characters are insanely well drawn and the psychology is interesting and feels right.

Short chapters, mini cliffhangers, frequent reveals all combine to create a propulsive and tension packed plot with an explosive ending that I had considered, but then NO! I didn't see it coming.

Bravo Mr Blake, you got me.

Publication date: 1st February 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUK for the eGalley

Amazing opening, fascinating premise... and then unfortunately Anna O just didn't deliver. After the first couple of phenomenal chapters, the pace slowed significantly and it felt like it never really got going. The titular Anna O wasn't creepy enough, or present enough. Then when all the motivations were being revealed at the end, nothing quite added up right. I understand why the book is getting a lot of attention because the idea is great, but I'm disappointed it didn't live up to its potential.

This book has already received a lot of positive hype and that and the interesting premise made it an anticipated read for me.

Sadly though I just didn't really connect with this one. I found it difficult to engage with and found Ben in particular to be something of a flimsy character. Combined with the fact that I had guessed where this was going at quite an early stage, I struggled to maintain an interest.

I did like the way the story moved through different viewpoints but I felt it was quite slow especially in the middle and I felt there was quite a lot of unnecessary repetition.

I'm sure this layered, slow burn psychological thriller will hit the spot for many but it just didn't for me.

Thanks to Harper Collins & Netgalley for the chance to read an early copy

I like that the book is well researched and the subject matter of if someone is guilty while asleep is very interesting. I also liked the way the media were shown as influencing public opinion and the polarising opinions on social media. However, the book was overlong and rambling in places as well as stretching fiction too far over into the unbelievable. In my opinion, this book would be improved by cutting out the repetitive parts and making the book about 60% of its current size. This would greatly improve the flow and tension. This is a great book, hiding within too many words.

I had seen so much about this book, that I really wanted to read it.
It's told from multiple points of view and also has multi media aspects to it with diary entries.
I thought the plot was good and I enjoyed the psychology aspects of it. But I found that it fell a bit flat and was veryy slow paced for me.

Perfect daughter, Perfect role model and a successful star up business owner, 25 year old Anna O is found deep asleep after stabbing both her best friends

4 years later, not a blink
but now the case needs to end, she needs to wake up and there's only one person who can Dr. Benedict Prince, who's a forensic psychologist who specializes in sleep.
Will he be able to?

what i loved:
1. The plot itself, mysterious and full of twists, a new subject to me so i was very intrigue.. Al though i guessed some of the mysteries at around 30%, i was still left shell shocked at the end
2. Multiple characters and timeline which kept us deeper in the story and i would say caused even more mystery

what i didn't like:
1. There were some scenes that were too dragging, scenes that could have easily been skipped example we didn't need a whole journal entry on an old article on sleepwalking when it could have been explained in a paragraph
2. I hated how Dr. Prince's character was portrayed
in the beginning we are made to assume he's a successful psychologist with thousands of research and author of books, he's to be confident in his work but throughout the book, he's a weakling, confused, distracted, slow to react, too many theories in the mind and mostly played victim and never the psychologist

I rate this one 3.5 stars and I'd like to thank Net galley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange of my honest review
I'd recommend this to anyone who loves mystery and psychology genres.

Automatically i knew i would enjoy this book as i love multi POV books. This is a slow paced book but it works with the thriller aspect.

Can you be guilty of a crime committed in your sleep? And how could you prove it? A convenient excuse or a serious medical condition? That and many other questions are asked and sometimes answered in this book. It's a good read, and there's no doubt it will be appearing on Netflix soon (other subscription services are available). But it suffers from a very laggy mid section, which unfortunately stops it from being great. Nonetheless, it is still an enjoyable but occasionally slow read

This book grips you in a kind of dreamlike state, where you’re not quite sure what’s real. There is a real buzz about this book and you can see why. It has a hugely intriguing premise – can you be guilty for crimes you committed while you were sleeping – which resolves in a plot that is jam packed with twists.

3.5 I want to start by saying that this one feels like a sure-fire bestseller. The premise is intriguing, it’s got fantastic set ups, a handsome Prince, a questionable Princess and you can already imagine it on Netflix. Definitely coming to a sunbed near you this summer.

Okay, so that’s all the good stuff.

For me there are some issues. The ending is frustratingly schlepped (dragged) out. I know that the author is trying to ratchet up tension but when we’re told the same thing over and over, it tends to behave like a soufflé that’s been out of the oven for too long.

There are some strange references that pop up for no real reason - such as Harry Potter mentions - that jar.

Sleep is such a fascinating subject and I was really interested in reading about it because I don’t know all that much about the science behind it. Unfortunately, I never really believed that Ben Prince did either.

Biggest issue of all was that I guessed a lot - though not all - of the ending. I certainly got the salient answer fairly quickly so then picked up all the clues as I read through the book.

With thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Anna O should have been my perfect read. Not only am I a thriller addict but I work in sleep too. I felt like the book started well and I was really engaged in the plot. However, around half way through, the book really started to drag and I felt the pace really dropped. The change in narrator was jarring - I found I would get interested again only for the narrative to change and I would once again disengage with the plot. I found all the characters quite unlikeable and I was irritated by the frequent quotes from other literature. Yes, it does have a clever twist at the end of the book but it felt like such a slog to get to the end, that the twist didn’t have the impact it should have. For these reasons, I am sorry, I don’t think I can recommend this book.

Thank you to the author, published and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wild read!

After a super strong beginning, a bevy of characters were introduced and the pace dropped off a cliff. I’ll admit I had to wade through a decent chunk of this book from around the 20% mark but the examination of sleep kept me interested although I’d have question marks of some of the information presented within.

The pace improved in the second half of the book, some decent twists and turns but I didn’t love the conclusion. I think this one will split opinions , get people talking and will be a bestseller!

A little too convoluted and unevenly paced but an original read!

3 star

'Anna O' was an interesting and well written thriller. It's told from multiple points of view, with various sub plots and twists. At times I found it quite repetitive and maybe a tad over long but I'm glad I stuck with it. Thank you to the author, the publisher and netgalley.

Brilliant! I love reading a thriller that’s different to anything else I’ve read and this very much ticked that box for me.

Are you guilty of a crime if you committed it in your sleep? If you’re still asleep four years after the event, how can you stand trial?

Told across multiple timelines, using case files and a diary, Anna O’s case is very high profile and the Ministry of Justice needs Anna to wake up and face the music. Sleep Psychologist, Dr Benedict Prince is the man tasked with bringing Anna out of her sleep state in a top secret facility, a treatment that will either make or break his career.

It’s difficult not to get personally involved with a case like this though, and that puts Ben, his team and his family in grave danger.

The writing flowed well, the pace was slow but impactful and the research that has gone into this book is clearly very thorough, which I really appreciated. Some mind blowing twists were the icing on the cake 👏🏻

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Matthew Blake and Harper Collins, for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I found the subject around whether you can be guilty of a crime if sleepwalking fascinating and really enjoyed the book. The story unfolded and you became aware there was things you couldn’t see/work out but unsure what they would be,

The twist at the end was expected but it wasn’t the one I had thought would happen so was kept guessing.

If you are looking for a twisty addictive thriller to kick off 2024 then look no further than Anna O from Matthew Blake. This is a book everyone will be talking about.

I didn’t know much about the world of sleep disorders, so this in itself was fascinating, however add to this an astonishing multi layered thriller and you have a recipe for success.

In short with NO SPOILERS the eponymous Anna A is accused of a terrible murder, however at the crime scene she is found in an unwakeable sleep. Dr Ben Prince, a sleep expert is then charged with waking her. What follows is a story told from multiple POV that slowly unravels the story. However, just when you think you know where this story is going it hits you with twist after twist after twist which will keep you on the edge of your seat as the book speeds towards its startling conclusion.

An absolutely stunning psychological thriller that you won’t be able to put down. A definite ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five.

I was looking forward to reading this after being intrigued by the synopsis and the marketing campaign.

This is a story focusing on the case of Anna O, the suspect of a double murder who has remained been asleep since the event despite all attempts over the 4 years since. As another attempt is started with sleep specialist Ben Prince, will his different techniques be successful in bringing Anna out of her deep sleep and able to be tried for her crimes?

This was a very slow-burning read which, while interesting, the technical explanations seems to pull me out of the story and made it feel more like a manual than a story!

A interesting and thought provoking book about the study of sleep. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A brilliant read.
I was hooked from the very start and the story had me gripped and wanting to find out what had happened. Was Anna O asleep or awake, was she innocent or guilty of the crimes.
The story is told through flashbacks of Anna’s diary and multiple POV’s. I enjoyed the short chapters, these kept me reading and I loved the twist at the end, so unexpected. Just brilliant.
Overall, a brilliantly written twisty debut, well worth the read.
Definitely recommend if you enjoy crime, psychological books.
With thanks to #NetGallery and @harperfiction for an eARC of #AnnaO in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book publishes 01 February 2024.

I really enjoyed this book, I liked the references to other fiction works and quotes by famous psychologists, it’s well written and interesting