I could not put this down - even when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it, and I tore through the whole thing in about 48 hours. I guessed the ending twist very early on, but the book is just twisty enough that I was second guessing myself for most of the book - by the time the ending came around I'd convinced myself I must be wrong, so it was almost a surprise when my theory from the first few pages turned out to be right after all. I finished the book days ago and have already found myself coming back to it multiple times. Possibly slightly predictable, but pulled off masterfully. It's going to be huge.

Anna O by Matthew Blake is an unputdownable book. I was enthralled by the description and was very excited to read it.

For the last four years, Anna O has been in a coma like condition called resignation syndrome. Ever since the night her two friends and business partners were murdered at a team building camp in Oxfordshire.

The story unfolds from Ben, Anna’s psychologist, perspective in the present day. Without wanting to give away any spoilers, it also unfolds from other people’s perspectives and also Anna’s in the form of her diary leading up to the night of the murders.

This is a must-read for thriller fans. There were so many twists and turns which kept me guessing right up to the very end.

I can’t wait to see what Matthew Black writes next!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Harper Collins, for making this e-ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Well this had me gripped throughout! I could not work out who it was!

I loved how we were in the present time but also visiting the past thanks to Anna’s diary entries which helped to fill in some gaps but also gave us some red herrings.

Brilliantly written and the twists and turns just kept coming. It kept me guessing right until the end! I felt sorry for Ben as I did feel that he was a good guy but those scenes towards the end changed my mind and then I felt sorry for him again! Honestly fabulous!

Four years ago two young people were brutally stabbed to death on a farm with the murderer nearby with the knife still clutched in her hand and a message sent out to family ‘I’m sorry I think I’ve killed them’, what else would class you as guilty like this except the main suspect Anna Ogilvy aka ‘Anna O’ is in a deep sleep also known as Resignation Syndrome, which is a condition that causes long term sleep spanning from months to even years. Anna has been asleep for 4 years and until she wakes up she cannot be put on trial for the murders.. everybody is waiting for her to finally wake up and share her side of the story and what really happened that night.

Anna O is a very interesting book that as soon as you start getting further in you can tell the condition has been very well researched by the author. I enjoyed reading about this condition which I had never heard of before which really intrigued me into the premise and made me want to read further.

Told in multiple POVS as well as some of Anna’s journal entries, you learn about Anna’s past struggles from sleep walking, her home life, the struggles she is facing with her best friends and a situation between themselves and who is PatientX.. I admit I first thought I knew who they were but after getting it wrong first time I was adamant on my second pick and was glad I was finally right.

Very well written that has the aspects of a slow burn thriller that will keep you reading and wanting to know the truth of what really happened on the farm. I was very interested throughout the reading process of Anna O and really enjoyed it and would recommend to other readers.

The publication date is to be released in February 2024, a book that will keep readers intrigued.

Thank you to NetGalley to HarperCollins UK for the copy of this arc in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! The publication date is the 1st February 2024. This is the first book I’ve read from this author and it won’t be the last! This book is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year!

The book starts with a bang and an intriguing premise and I was hooked from the first page. This isn’t an ordinary psychological thriller, there is a lot of detail in relation to the psychology of sleep disorders. I was extremely intrigued by the plot and what the inspiration for this book was that made the author write it. I couldn't put this down, I raced through the pages wanting to know more for example who is behind the Suspect 8 blog? Also, what caused Anna to be asleep for so many years and how was Patient X related it all so many questions!!

Overall, a fantastic read and if you read this book you definitely won’t be disappointed! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read!

Sadly I could not get into this book. I must say I don’t believe it was the story itself at fault, more than my mood wasn’t right for this book. I did also struggle with the format of the kindle version. I honestly didn’t make it that far into the story so I don’t want to rate it low for what I believe was my own reading mood which didn’t suit the book the times I did attempt to read it.

A gripping, slow burn thriller perfect for fans of Alex Michaelides and AJ Finn about the complexities of the unconscious and what we will do for revenge. A bestseller in the making.

'Anna O' was well-written, though not to my tastes. The foreshadowing was very well done -- just enough for the reader to work out what was going on, but not making it too obvious. I find it difficult to review this book because, while I did not enjoy it, there is nothing wrong with it. It's original and the pacing is great.

I'd read about this book on social media and was delighted to receive an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

Anna O is a patient who has been asleep for three years. She was found asleep beside her dead friends, knife in hand. The government wants her to wake up so she can stand trial. Ben Prince., a forensic psychologist specialising in sleep disorders has been given the task of waking her.

Told mainly from the POV of Anna (through her diaries) and Ben as well others this is a meaty book. There is a lot of psychology in it with references to Freud throughout as well as detailed explanations of resignation syndrome, a psychological (or more likely social) phenomenon where people who have lost hope withdraw from the world. It's not new. It's been written about at least from the time of WW2 where it was used to describe certain prisoners in concentration camps by Bruno Bettelheim amongst others. Bettelheim used it to explain autism in children leading to the now discredited "refrigerator mother' theory. I am a psychologist by profession so found this interesting. However overall I didn't gel with the book. The characters didn't resonate with me and I found I couldn't connect with them. There were parts that interested me but at times there seemed to be a lot of information dumping especially towards the end.

I suspect this will be a marmite book. I didn't hate it but it dragged in places for me and I didn't love it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is not a genre i would normally read, but i was intrigued by the blurb.

This is s story about Anna, a young woman who commits murder whilst she was sleepwalking. She has been asleep since.

Psychiatrist Ben believes he can wake Anna up to face trial and aeranges with the home office to have her transferred to his place of work, a clinic in London.

However Annas case not only challenges Bens perception of Psychiatry, but of himself.

A very twisty ending i did not see coming.

Thank you for letting me read this advanced copy, I was intrigued by the front cover as soon as I saw it. The book started off great and I thought it was going to hook me and be a real page turner, however, after a quarter of the way in I found it hard to keep reading. I was again intrigued by the outcome but it just seemed to be going a long way around to get there. It did have lots of twists and turns and kept you thinking but maybe too many for my liking.

This starts with a bang and an intriguing premise - it appears Anna O has killed two people before succumbing to resignation syndrome, falling asleep for four years. Dr Ben Prince, a sleep psychologist with a complicated personal history of his own, has been put in charge of trying to wake her. So far, so good. But after that, I'm not sure this book knows what it wants to be or where it wants to go. There are multiple points of view, none of them delving deep enough for any satisfactory character development and most of the narrative consists of inner thoughts, which tell us what characters are feeling but rarely show us their behaviour through dialogue and action. This book definitely has potential but feels like it's not quite there yet.

Four years ago two young people were stabbed to death at a rural hospitality farm, their presumed killer, found holding the bloody knife fell into a fugue state and has not woken up since. After being kept at Broadmoor she is transferred to a Harley street clinic where a young psychologist thinks he can wake her up. As his methods get closer to success, one of his senior colleagues is murdered, and as he is the one who found her, he is in the frame. As events become more and mor threatening to him the mystery of who did the original murders and why and who is now pulling the strings becomes more obscure. Some old case files from Broadmoor of the murdered senior might help him to work it out. Its a fascinating plot, utterly gripping and you won't guess whodunit.

I was very intrigued by the premise of Anna O and the positive reaction from the ARC on Bookstagram.
This is a very well paced and researched novel based around automatism or the sleepwalking defence for criminal acts.
I definitely agree with other reviewers I'm that the last third of the book could be fleshed out and I found some of Ben's chapters a bit of drag while the breadcrumb offerings of Anna's POV definitely kept my interest.From my own point of view it was very obvious who PatientX was and I was interested how Matthew Blake would pull it together.
Overall would not be for me but I think those will be a huge hit when it is released

I'm genuinely not sure about this book, i've been generous and given a 3 star rating - i like the premise, i think it's well written but it didn't quite have enough oomph for me. Having said that i can see other readers loving it for the style and story line but personally i would have liked a bit more suspense and action. the last content of the last 20% should have taken up more of the book and the first 80% could have been faster paced.

I would recommend this book but to a very particular audience, readers of a more high brow persuasion to my usual bookers.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

This started off well with lots of interesting information about psychological theories but I failed to connect with any of the characters. Ben was incredibly annoying so I didn't get a lot when it was his PoV but Anna was much more interesting as her story gradually unfolded through her diary entries. It's a hard book to review because it was very gripping and I raced towards the ending but despite this I didn't really enjoy it although I'm fairly certain it's going to be a huge hit and I'm the odd one out.

Thank you HarperCollins and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before publishing.

I am torn with this book, parts of it I loved and parts of it I am just not sure about.

The first two-thirds of the book were great, and then for me it just went downhill. I'm not sure what happened but it just didn't fit right with the rest of the story.

Although set around a really interesting subject, of which I had no previous knowledge, it was too drawn out, too slow and I just couldn't wait to finish it.

I did guess who PatientX was and am glad I was right - to be it was obvious but to others it may not be.

Due to it being too drawn out and too long I would give 3.5 stars but can't that is why it gets 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Anna O is a victim of Resignation Syndrome, a condition that causes long term sleep for months, sometimes years. Before she can be put on trial for the murder of her two friends, she must wake and give her version of events.

The concept of this is interesting and the information given about the medical conditions in this book seemed to have been well researched in my opinion which makes Matthew Blake a great author. There are many authors who drop the ball when it comes to research but I believe that Blake did everything he needed to make the fiction somewhat believable.

Although I believe that Blake is probably a great author, I'm not sure if the book itself qualifies as great. It's a good read and if you're a fan of The Silent Patient, there's every chance you'll love this book. As someone who did not enjoy The Silent Patient, I found some similarities but thankfully I didn't end up hating this book the way I did that one.

With the heaviness of the book, I found I couldn't read large amounts of it at any one time and needed to split this up into smaller chunks than I would ordinarily read. As a quick reader and someone who can read for a sustained period of time, it put me off that I found it too heavy to do those things.

Overall, I think this was a good read and would maybe recommend this to a certain few who I know would enjoy it.

I enjoyed the first two thirds of this book the most - the pace was great and it pulled my curiosity along with it. I felt the novel lost its tautness a little towards the end and I found myself skim reading a lot of it. Still, I didn’t guess the ending! Lots of twists to keep the reader entertained.

Two bodies were found murdered at The Farm four years ago and the main suspect Anna Ogilvy has been unable to help police as she hasn't opened her eyes since that fateful night.

Dr Benedict 'Ben' Prince is a specialist in sleep related crimes, can he help Anna to open hers eyes and give her side of the story?

The book is told from different points of view including entries from Anna's journal, where she gives account of her history of sleepwalking and her interest in sleep disorders.

This is no ordinary psychological thriller, at times there is a lot of detail relating to the psychology of sleep related disorders but I couldn't put this down, I kept wanting to know more. Who is behind the Suspect8 blog? What caused Anna to be asleep for so many years and how was Patient X related it all.