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…

The cover fits the book really well, it certainly draws your attention and makes you want to pick up the book to learn more about it. I think the byline of “The World Will Know Her Name” adds to your curiosity about the content of the book and it also fits the content really well.

The main characters of the book are Anno Ogilvy and Dr Benedict Prince. To be honest life isn’t going great for either of them separately and becomes even more complicated after their paths cross.

Dr Benedict Prince is divorced from his wife DI Clara Fennel, he found messages on his wife’s phone that suggested she was cheating on him. They have one daughter Kitty or Kit Kat as Benedict regularly calls her though Clara hates him doing so. Clara of course kept the house so there was less disruption for Kitty and Benedict ended up in a rather drab flat in Pimlico. Benedict if a forensic psychologist and also works at The Abbey. A place where the rich and famous come to have sleep issues dealt with. Its very exclusive and does everything possible to protect the identities of these famous patients, even having a separate VIP floor away from other patients. It’s a fairly normal day for Ben when he is called into the office by head of the clinic Professor Virginia Bloom, to discuss a patient being transferred to the Abbey from Rampton Prison. The Ministry of Justice, the government, all want Ben to wake up this patient so they can stand trial for the double murder they have been holding her for.

That patient is Anna Ogilvy, comes from a relatively “well to do” family. At the time of the crime, her mother was Baroness Emily Ogilvy was a Shadow Home Secretary and her father was a Global Fund Manager, her brother Theo a “want to be” Tv Presenter. Anna herself was a journalist on a magazine she had co-founded with her friends Indira Sharma and Douglas Bute who were also her flatmates.

The crime occurred on the 30th August 2019. Anna O was found by her parents in her cabin at 3.10am at The Farm an exclusive retreat, with a 20cm kitchen knife in her hand and fast asleep. The bodies of Indira and Douglas were found in their cabin, stabbed to death. First at the scene of the crime was DI Clara Fennel and she found only Anna’s prints on the knife and that the blood on her clothing matched that of the victims.

Those that believe in Anna’s innocence refer to her as “Anna O” her Instagram handle and are known as “believers”. Those who think that Anna is guilty refer to her as “sleeping beauty”. There has been lots of coverage about what happened that night, but no one really knows the truth except Anna. One blog in particular seems to know a lot and keep the story alive by @Suspect8. This is where the byline fits really well everyone has heard about Anna and of course everyone has their opinion and thoughts about what happened at The Farm that night in August 2019. Ben’s job is to wake her up so that the justice system can put her on trial and determine whether she killed her friends and decide what to do with her.

The plot is quite intricate, and fairly complex, in that the fact Ben’s now ex-wife was first on the scene does sort of complicate things. The book was quite slow paced for my taste, I felt like I was wanting it to speed up at times and get on with it and reveal what actually happened that night. Then when Professor Bloom is murdered and someone puts Ben in the frame things become even more complicated than before.

I found the plot sections surrounding waking up Anna fascinating, and have read about some of the techniques that Ben used in the book elsewhere too. The sounds, her mums voice, the music she loved and then the smells, her favourite perfume, etc all small things that Ben builds on to coax Anna back to the world of the awake and living. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sally Turner story within the book, the way the reader is kept guessing right up to the end of the identity of Sally Turner’s child that was given a new identity.

There are quite a few “real life” references within the book about other murderers such as Dr Harold Shipman, and then laws that were changed regarding anonymity of minors involved in crimes due to the James Bulger case, all of which made the book feel “real” as if it had actually happened.

The book also covers how the crime at The Farm affected so many people in different ways, from Anna’s parents divorcing, her mother walking away from politics and turning to religion, to DI Clara Fennel and how it changed her career. When Ben is working with Anna at the Abbey, he has to consider his families safety as there are people who do not agree with him waking Anna to put her on the stand.

This book has it all mystery, suspense, twists, turns, betrayal, and revenge. There were a few times I thought I had solved the mystery of Sally Turner’s child and knew their identity. I had several theories as to what had happened at The Farm too, these varied and changed as I read more of the book! Matthew Blake really takes you on a journey leading the reader down one track of presenting the identity of Sally Turners child and exactly what happened on that August night, just when you start to believe that track there’s a twist/turn and you have to start pondering the mystery child’s identity and their involvement in the murders at The Farm.

Summing up this Author really keeps you waiting to the very end to confirm the identity of the child and the relevance of what happened at The Farm. I did enjoy the book though there were times it felt a little drawn out and slower paced than I would have preferred it to be for my personal taste. If you want a book that makes you think, makes you really, really, think then this book is a great fit for you.

Wow! This book has had me absolutely gripped from the very beginning and I really didn’t work out the truth until I was very close to the end. And what a big reveal that was!
An absorbing and chilling read, that really holds the tension throughout. I loved the writing, totally gripping with lots of short, shock inducing sentences. The gradual revelation of the past through Anna’s diary alongside the present day and the quest to wake her all added to the sense of foreboding that the truth would bring. Was Anna guilty or was she innocent? I certainly flitted between the two throughout. This book has already had a huge presence on social media and for once, I’m in agreement with the hype. It would make a brilliant film!
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Harper Collins UK for an arc in exchange for a review.

The idea is original but I never felt it was a thriller or very dramatic even. The diary never sounded like how a real diary is written and there’s a lot of it so that was a huge negative for me. Struggled to be bothered finishing it especially as. It was very long… or it seemed to be.

Forensic psychologist Dr Benedict Prince has one important patient. Anna Ogilvy has been asleep for 4 years, ever since four of her friends were murdered in a cabin deep in the woods. Government agencies including the Police want her to wake up so that they can charge and convict her.
Anna had a history of sleepwalking but since the murders she has neither moved nor woken. Dr Prince believes he can be this Sleeping Beauty’s special Prince, even if it’s not a kiss that wakes her. He believes that Anna has resignation syndrome; where young people are in a coma-like state, lying prone, with their eyes closed, disconnected from the world around them.
Ben Prince’s approach seems sensible and as he talks us through his different techniques we learn of the things that people can do while sleep walking and just how plausible it is that Anna might have been sleepwalking when she committed these murders.
To understand Anna, Ben delves into her past, looking at her upbringing and considering what elements might have contributed to her sleeping state today. The more we see of Anna’s past, the more intriguing this story becomes.
Ben is not the only person we hear from though and as we wait for the results of Ben’s ministering, we get more information that stretches far into the past and makes us think there is a great deal more to this story than we first thought.
This involves a certain amount of flitting back and forwards in time seeing events from different perspectives and at times it felt like doing a jigsaw – finding elusive pieces that might slot together to give you the real picture.
This sometimes made the writing seem disjointed and at other times repetitive and it did slow the action somewhat.
The book revolves around how much of the various narrations we can trust and whether Anna really is guilty. Though Matthew Blake wraps it up well, the answer was a bit too obvious for me.
Verdict: Overall this is an interesting premise for a thriller that spins out the story rather too far and is rather longer than it needs to be. A fun read for the holidays if it were a bit less padded.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

wow where to start... have to say i thought it would hold my attention and it did in the beginning but then i started to get bogged down with to much information when i just wanted the storyline to continue....

can someone commit murder whilst sleep walking and then stay asleep for years after... i have to admit to being intrigued but the amount of information about a real condition took away the enjoyment of the actual storyline

"The dead came back to life. A ghost became flesh again. The stakes feel even higher now. The puzzle harder to solve. The past is now present."

Anna O has been asleep for 4 years, and in that time she has become an infamous celebrity. After she allegedly killed her two friends, Anna fell asleep - and has remained that way since. Now, Dr Benedict Prince of the Abbey Clinic, has been tasked by the Ministry of Justice to wake her up. But Anna's case has connections to another notorious murder, and the further Dr Prince looks into the case, the more it seems that someone is pulling the strings...

Matthew Blake's debut is a wildly compelling read; resignation syndrome! Double murder! Everyone's a suspect! I found myself putting things off so I could read just one more of its short, punchy chapters. The plot - told through multiple points of view - requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, but if the reader can manage to do so, it's twisty and a lot of fun. It doesn't all work - and when this novel flops, it flops badly, with too many coincidences and stretches of credibility. The execution is messy, as well, and the multiple POVs all start to sound the same after a while.

As usual for thrillers; once I switched off the critical thinking part of my brain, I had a great time. I think books like this benefit from being quick reads: closer examination means room for the reader to notice plot holes and general ludicrousness. So for me, Anna O suffered because I had it to review (!) and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I'd picked it up on a Kindle deal or from the library.

Early reviews of this book complained about a *lot* of Harry Potter references, and in my e-ARC these were mercifully toned down; one cringe-worthy Lord of the Rings reference is worse again, though.

A fun read overall, but better in concept than execution.