Cover Image: If I Die Before I Wake

If I Die Before I Wake

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Member Reviews

This is not your usual thriller! Emily Koch set quite the challenge for herself by writing from the perspective of Alex, a man immobilized and apparently in a coma. He's been this way for two years, but he's gradually getting better and so can hear and feel and smell. Koch does an amazing job, building unique characters just by the sound of their shoes or their verbal tics. And she convinces us with the premise of Alex.

As he lies in his hospital bed, he realizes that his mountain climbing fall was not an accident, but attempted murder, and he learns that the murderer may now be after his girlfriend.

Intense, suspenseful, believable, unique. An unforgettable read.

Thank you, Netgalley for the e-review copy of this fab book.

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So pleased to have had the opportunity to read this edge of your seat novel! So refreshing to read a crime thriller that is totally different to any other.

This was a very thought provoking novel. A novel whereby Alex is in hospital after a climbing accident and is in a coma (PVS), on life support. The story is told through the mind of Alex, who can hear and feel others who are around him. A clever story whereby Alex pieces together a puzzle as to what happened whilst out climbing, who he could trust, his past and where did Bea who he loved, fit into this puzzle.

As i got nearer to finishing the book, I did start to wonder how it would all end. All i will say it had a wonderful ending.

It is hard to believe that this was a debut novel and cannot wait to read more. I highly recommend this book to all, especially if you enjoy this genre.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the Publishers for sending me a copy of 'If I Die Before I Wake' and this is my honest review.

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Alex has had a climbing accident. He is in a coma. He can hear everything around him. He has been like that for nearly two years. Despite having tests they show up no brain activity. While his family and girlfriend decide whether to end his life new evidence about his accident comes to light and that's when the book becomes really interesting. He tries to solve his attempted murder through his memories and from the conversations of the people visiting him. You are given lots of clues but I still didn't guess what really happened. It's a book that really makes you think. Don't put things off in life make the most and live life to the full and hopefully unlike Alex you don't have someone wanting to kill you....

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If I die before I wake is one of a number of books that I have read which introduces the reader to a condition referred to as permanent vegetative state: Westlake Soul by Rio Youers and Blood Sisters by Jane Corry are both excellent in their interpretation and use of PVS as the basis for a novel. Emily Koch expertly creates a crime thriller around the tragic accident that happens to Alex Jackson one Saturday morning when he falls 20 metres from a cliff face along the Portway in Bristol. This story is all the more remarkable when you realize this is the first published thriller by Miss Koch and if this is an example of her ability then she most certainly has a bright writing future.

What this book has in common with the two novels previously mentioned is that the story unfolds through the mind of the patient. Alex is aware of his surroundings, he can understand and grasp what is being said about him and he can appreciate the interaction between various friends and relatives on a daily basis; in particular his wife Bea, father Graham and sister Phillipa. What emerges is simply no one is sure whether Alex has been hospitalized due to an accident or something more sinister. It is only you the reader who occupies the mind of the patient and when Alex desperately tries to move and communicate you feel that struggle and will him to be successful. The story of was he pushed or did he fall is revealed in a very slow and clever way, the key to the puzzle hidden in Alex's past.

The central dilemma in If I die before I wake is the moral issue of what is an appropriate time to remove life support from a patient when, after various tests, it becomes clear that recovery is impossible. This leads to the assumption that anyone with PVS has no future, you will need to read the novel to find out if this is true all I will reveal is that the closing paragraphs create a magical and appropriate conclusion. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

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Thank you Netgalley, Publisher and Author. This was an absolutely brilliant brilliant box and I really really enjoyed it. Actually make me sit back and think.

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This was such an interesting and captivating story. The plot is definitely unique, and I think this is why I enjoyed it so much. I also like a novel that is thought provoking, and there were a number of times in this book where I stopped to think about things. Emily Koch has done an amazing job with this wonderful piece of writing, and she has certainly captured my attention. Alex loved his rock climbing more than anything, but after a terrible accident, he ended up in hospital in a coma. However this wasn’t a normal coma, as Alex could hear and feel everything. He just couldn’t talk or move any part of his body. At one point he would have welcomed death, as he found it quite tough living in limbo. Alex had questions that he needed answers to, and it plagued him that he couldn’t remember how his accident happened. He didn’t know how long he had though, as the doctors were discussing with his family the possibility of stopping his treatment. If they decided to disconnect his feeding tube, then there really wasn’t much he could do about it. Hand down, this is a book worth adding to your reading list.

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A different type of physiological thriller told by Alex who is in a vegative state in hospital after having an accident whilst climbing. Or was it?A gripping page turner that kept me up most of the night.

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