Curiosity drew me to this book, not usually a fan of thrillers I was intrigued by the premise and the blurb enough to give Sleeping Beauty meets Lizzie Borden a try. In hindsight I should have waited for the paperback or atleast a few more reader reviews.

Now Anna O isn't a bad book, but it is filled with a complex story made more complex, and clunky, by the sleep tech medical jargon that fills the pages. In truth the tech language really put me off and made it a heavy read that dragged.
And the characters didn't improve that slog. I found them mediocre and flat in their personalities and actions.
What kept me reading? A who done it murder mystery wrapped up in a backstory story with a twist at the end that does make the book worth reading. It really is a conclusion that deserves to be read and is incredibly well thought out and well written.
The ending is worth it.

Grab this book for your work day commute, i'm sure you won't be the only person reading it on that journey.

Anna Oglivy has been asleep for 4 years. She was found with a knife in her hand and her 2 best friends dead beside her. Dr Benedict Prince has been assigned the task of trying to wake her up so she can finally stand trial for murder.
What follows is a long drawn out story of him trying to prove his research right and wake Anna, however it appears there is someone who doesn’t want Anna awake and knows more about what happened at the farm that night. Ben soon finds himself and his family maybe in danger.

I really liked the premise of this story and was keen to read, unfortunately however this dragged quite a bit in the middle and at times I felt myself drifting off and losing the plot. It picked up again towards the end and I did enjoy it, however I can’t give it more that 3 *

Anna O is suspected of committing the murders of her two friends when she was experiencing a sleep disorder four years ago. She has been asleep ever since and forensic psychologist Dr Benedict Prince is employed to assist her awakening so she can be tried for the murders.
The concept of Anna O is original and intriguing with great cinematic potential. It’s told from various points of view over several time lines with some twists.I felt that the pace was fairly uneven, there were parts where I was gripped and then it became convoluted and I lost interest. I felt that it was written with a sense of detachment and so it was easy to suspect all of the characters but challenging to feel anything for them.
An interesting and promising novel that’s worth reading but may have been better with some further editing.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
3.5 stars

A truely interesting read. A thrilling storyline one that keeps you guessing until the very end. It’s literally not until the last few pages that the storyline comes together. In parts it possibly goes into too much detail but on the whole it’s excellently written.

Wow, I loved this book. It hade hooked from the first page and with so many twists and turns it kept me gripped to the very end.

I went into this book blind having no clue what it was about. The premise of the story was promising, an interesting concept and one I have not come across before. I was hooked and really wanted to see how the story was going to unfold. It was told through different POV and different timelines which I always enjoy in a book. The story centres on Anna O, a woman responsible for a double murder while sleep walking and then falls in a 4 year sleep and Dr Benedict Prince, the sleep specialist who tries to waken her. The narrative has led me to having some interesting conversations with other people about the responsibility of one’s actions while sleep walking.
However, there were some things about the book that did annoy me. At one point I saw issue with a timeline, sometimes it got a little too technical, and I just wanted to read a thriller, and the diary entries did not read like one.
Overall, it is a solid read, a decent thriller with a good twist at the end (though I did predict it early on) and I would recommend it to others.

The most interesting and complex question to arise when reading this psychological book is, are you culpable if you murder while sleepwalking? Makes you think!
Book is written from a number of narratives including our sleeping Anna via her diary.
I worked out early what happened. Good start, mediocre middle and a long drawn out finish with no suprises. I felt a bit said to be honest.

This book was very nearly brilliant. It was a great concept and on the whole well written. I think the author got a bit tangled up with all the different aspects and the ending became a little bit convoluted. The characters were a bit passionless bearing in mind the intensity and violence of some of the actions. I didn’t really care enough about what happened to them. Great & unexpected twist at the end.

A real page-turner! For the full review go to https://www.tumblr.com/joebloggshere/741226082246819840/anna-o-by-matthew-blake-a-really-enjoyable-read-a?source=share

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book with no obligation to review..

I enjoyed this book but it is just a bit too much - when I finished it my lazy mind was reeling from the sheer number of twists, red herrings, unreliable narrators and all the stories twisting and entwining. It must have taken an enormous amount of work by the author to write it. I feel I really should read it again just to get it all absolutely clear in my mind and to pick up missed clues and red herrings but I don't think I will as I did find it a bit of an effort to read. I think there is to be a film so I will just watch that and then complain about how much of the book has been changed or left out lol.

Early on i did have an inkling of the truth but as the book went on (and on a bit, it seems a long read) I thought I was wrong.

The whole story is very clever and the motives are all revealed but I do wonder how plausible it all is. Who would have the energy to go to all that bother?

It seems that the Stockwell Monster is fiction but appallingly the glass cage where a criminal with psychiatric issues has been kept for more than 40 years IN BRITAIN is not. His crimes were dreadful but surely this cage and 24 hours scrutiny amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and is no way for a civilised society to punish anyone?

I think the book could be shorter and it would benefit hugely from a rewrite at the start to remove all the fattist and fat shaming remarks. Ben seems almost unable to refer to his boss other than in terms of her weight, using value loaded words like "corpulent". I think that is unnecessary and I didnt see it as having any bearing on the story.

What can I say about this book......I was hooked from page one right up until the last page! There are lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing on whodunit!

What if you commit a murder whilst unconscious and sleepwalking? Are you culpable? What would your punishment be, prison or a medical facility? These are the questions that had me really thinking and debating and I've still not reached a conclusion..

But those questions don't matter if after the murder you never wake up and the truth remains locked inside you.

This was an entertaining complex thriller that reads like peeling an onion, revealing layer after layer you didn't think was there.

I did find it a bit long and dragging in places but overall it was gripping, informative and well written, full of shady characters and unexpected twists!! And it was a subject I never thought of before and never encountered.
So I highly recommend it if you want to read something different.

Thanks to the author, Harper Collins and Netgalley for the opportunity to read it and this is my honest opinion.

An interesting book that has you hooked till the end. Did the sleeping beauty murder ? Or was it one of the many other characters in the book ? I had the murders pinned on almost everyone during the course of the book and not many of them come out so well. A very twisty turning story.

A phenomenal book worth reading if you like psychological thrillers. It was a great pace, with intrigue all the way through. The characters were well presented throughout. When they were interlinked into the story you questioned if they might be involved but never left with any certainty. Each time I thought I had worked out what had happened another twist was added to the plot.
A really sinister story written about a sleep disorder, sleep resignation, and the patient Anna O who was accused of killing her best friends while asleep. Always the question in my mind was Anna O guilty or innocent.
Really excellent to read. I was kept questioning the characters involvement until the very end.

A thriller with many twists and turns. A back story of a double murder and a suspect who has experienced a sleep disorder as a result and has been hospitalised ever since the incident and unable to stand trial.
Many interlinked threads of the person's involved and you never quite know where the story is going to go and who actually carried out the murders.

Once you get reading it's one of those thrillers which is difficult to put down. Very well worth a read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

Anna O follows the formulaic yet successful recipe of the modern thriller. But despite that, it truly is a thrilling read.

So if you are familiar with that, you will have no surprise when it comes to plot tools like switching between various characters, each leave a trail of breadcrumbs to keep you guessing who is guilty and who is a red herring!

Despite the intricate web of characters and their relationships, I have manage to guess the culprit. But that came quite late in the novel(about 80%) and Blake did a good job of trying to throw me off the scent while keeping me engaged until the end. That is one of the reasons I've decided to give this 4* instead of 3*. Other reasons being the discussion around victim/murderer and the fact that not even the main character emerges unscathed(I obviously cannot say much without spoilers!). All in all Anna O is an entertaining and engaging read.

Anna O is an usual, twisty page-turner unlike anything you’ve read before, think The Silent Patient meets Sleeping Beauty. It follows the story of Anna O who stabbed her two friends, fell immediately into a deep sleep and hasn’t opened her eyes since. Is she guilty, was she sleepwalking, just what exactly is possible when you are sleeping?

The story is told through a mix of POVs and timelines which include snippets from Anna’s diary which build up a tense and sinister story that reveals itself layer by layer to a whiplash inducing conclusion.

The concept of this one had me absolutely hooked and certain experiments and thoughts within the book really got me thinking. I honestly would have loved a little bit more of those science bits rather than the friendship back story, which felt a bit drawn out and almost filler like, but maybe that’s just the psych nurse in me!

The book is being billed as an upcoming global phenomenon and I can see why, while it may not be the most spectacular literary thriller it is a fun read which people will not be able to put down and will want to discuss immediately once finished.

A must read for anyone looking for a gripping, mind-bending psychological suspense with a touch of whodunnit, this one is definitely for you.

Thanks to @harpercollinsire and @harpercollinsuk for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you enjoyed this review come follow me on instagram @TravelsEatsReads for more.

Anna O has resignation syndrome, but did she manage to kill 2 people while asleep.

There was much to love about this book but for me there were lots of repetitions and strangely a lot of Harry Potter?!

The premise is extraordinary, but the very slow pace doesn't hold it.

I like thrillers and this was a good read. Liked the characters and the way they are portrayed. Loved the fact it’s full of twists and turns too.

Wake up to 2024’s gripping literary thriller…

ANNA O has firmly been on my radar since 2022 and it’s fair to say that the hype around it has just continued to mount. I was incredibly excited to get the opportunity to read an early copy as part of the @tandemcollectiveuk readalong. I always enjoy a psychological thriller and this book probably delves the most deeply into the subject out of all the books I’ve read in the genre. Blake explores Anna’s sleep disorder - the medical condition of sleep resignation - in conjunction with the psychological elements that influence it, blending the fictional plot with swathes of factual research and theory. It’s arguably a work of faction, with a really analytical aspect to the story, which adds a whole additional layer of intrigue to the narrative. I didn’t go into this novel expecting to be fascinated by the psychology and medical aspects as much as I was. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was the exploration of these components that kept me turning the pages and I was arguably more invested in them than the characters themselves at points.

This novel had a much more measured pace than I was expecting and is very much a slow burn thriller. It’s one to commit to, as the pay off in the final conclusion is worth it! Blake delivers a satisfying twist, which was surprising, but delicately layered within the plot so as not to seem outlandish. The chapters are short, which helps to prevent the narrative from feeling weighed down by the factual elements, and I enjoyed how the story unfolded via different viewpoints. Blake weaves a gripping, thought-provoking and beautifully detailed story through these pages. I really enjoyed how none of the characters felt particularly trustworthy and I was hooked on trying to work out many different elements of the plot, including Anna’s innocence or guilt and just what Dr. Prince’s angle was. It’s a novel of characters that it’s fun to not really like! Despite this, I was still very much engrossed in their world and their stories. My favourite aspect of the book are the sections from Anna’s diary. These are interspersed between the present day events, allowing the mystery around Anna’s murder charges and sleep resignation syndrome to unfold from her perspective. They arguably construct the most traditional crime/thriller components of the story (a notorious historical sleepwalking murder case that Anna is researching, which bears a resemblance to her own case and may be key to uncovering the truth of Anna’s actions), but Blake uses them to great affect with the wider psychological exploration at the heart of the novel. As the plot progressed, I found myself rushing through the chapters from Prince’s perspective to get back to Anna’s first-hand accounts. Blake has constructed this book in a very clever way, letting the reader start to draw their own conclusions, only to discover that we have only begun to scratch the surface…