It's hard to believe that this is book four in the series. Even harder when I consider that the weekend I spent reading the book was actually exactly a year to the days that I read book one, The Birthday. 13-14th July 2018 and 13-14th July 2019. Four books, twelve months. And these weren't the only books that Ms Wyer released in the year, making this an even more impressive feat. But did such a gruelling writing schedule affect quality? Did it 'eck as like. This series keeps going from strength to strength and even at the end I am left wondering just how it can be topped. Rest assured that the author claims the best is still to come so we are surely in for a mammoth treat.

The Sleepover sees our series hero, DI Natalie Ward, caught up in a very perplexing case involving the death of a young girl, Roxy, in a house fire which was most likely arson. So far, so tragic but not necessarily perplexing. It's a very simple case of accelerant + heat = raging fire. However, house + dead girl who should never have been there in the first place = something very, very wrong and the start of a massive headache for Natalie and her team. With no clear ties between the girl and the home owners, and everybody they turn to for help seemingly reluctant to tell the truth, it will push Natalie to the end of her patience as she tries to get to the truth.

One of the things I love about the series is the characters who form the central team. They are all very believable and likeable characters, even Natalie who, I'll admit, took a little getting used to at first. She's a very tough character with a complicated home life, but ultimately someone who anyone could relate to. Her main priority is in finding justice and in supporting her family, even if her marriage is on very shaky ground. Then you have Lucy, about to become a parent for the first time who suffers all the doubts and fears that any expectant parent would. She's a character I have really grown to like, confident and caring, and a real asset to the team. She makes a vital bond with one of the witnesses in the case, one which could blow the whole thing wide open.  

Surrounding the team on this occasion is a wide cast of characters, none of whom have any obvious relationship with each other. They are all from different backgrounds, different worlds and social classes. Even the divisions within the less privileged areas of town are somehow heightened in this book, adding to the edginess and the sense that pretty well anyone could be responsible for what comes to pass. 

The complexities of this case really kept me gripped to the story. Nothing is quite as it seems and things which I felt was certain, soon became nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Just when you think you have it all worked out, Carol Wyer lobs in yet another curveball, another vital piece of evidence that will derail your thinking and make you question what you have seen so far. It was almost impossible to know who to trust, a feeling that is practically mirrored by Natalie's home life where trust is as big an issue for her as it is with her suspects. 

The Sleepover is another absolutely cracking tale, fuelled by secrets, tragedy and misdirection, and featuring a bloody strong and determined detective team that I love to read about. I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Carol you’ve done it again! The Sleepover is an absorbing, riveting and twisty thriller that had me in it’s grip from the first page, was difficult to predict, and impssible to put down. 

Fourteen-year-old Roxy tells her Mum she’s going to her friend’s house for a sleepover but the next day her body is found in the charred remains of a house fire in an area nowhere near where she was supposed to be and owned by people she didn’t know. Detective Natalie Ward and her team are called to investigate the mystery but her devastated family and friends have no answers, neither do Gavin and Kirk Lang, the owners of the house she was found in. 

As they get deeper into the investigation they seem to find more questions than answers. There are numerous suspects in the arson but there is little in the way of evidence connecting anyone to the crime, or Roxy to the Lang brothers, and Natalie is left feeling angry and frustrated when she’s sure that everyone involved is lying to her and holding back important information. 

When Roxy’s mother Cathy is found murdered the investigation takes on a greater urgency as it seems whoever killed her daughter is targeting those who know about their actions. But everytime the team think they have a clear suspect, something else comes to light that seems to point in another direction. Can Natalie and her team find the killer before they strike again?

There were so many suspects that it was impossible to figure out who the killer was, which is something the author is a master at doing in her books. As soon as I’d made up my mind is was one person, I would change my mind and think someone else! There was one person I didn’t trust from the start and was the person I couldn’t shake my bad feelings about. I don’t want to name them or say if I was right because either one could spoil it for other readers. 

The Sleepover is the fourth book in the fantastic Detective Natalie Ward series and each book feels like connecting again with old friends for me. In this book, Natalie and her husband David are still barely speaking two months after their daughter, Leigh ran away from home. Natalie is increasingly unhappy in her marriage,  David is struggling with his gambling addiction and a lack of self confidence as he still can’t find work, their eldest child Josh is acting strangely and increasingly aloof, and they are still having difficulties with Leigh. All of this is distracting Natalie but at the same time she uses the case to try and take her mind off things and avoid spending time at home with her husband. In this installment we are teased with information as to why Natalie’s relationship with her estranged sister ended and why she finds it so hard to forgive David’s lies. I’m getting desperate to know the full story about Francis though. Please tell me we’ll find out soon Carol! 

This book was full of complex, morally ambiguous characters which I absolutely loved. None of us are one dimensional and finding the humanity and empathy in someone unlikeable or “evil” is fascinating to me. The Curtis family, who are the main focus of this book, were so well written and each of them were a mix of victim and villain in their own way. It is a testament to the author’s talent that despite all of this I never lost any sympathy for them in what they went through, and hoped that the surviving members would be proven blameless. I felt like the kids in particular were trapped in a toxic cycle and if they could just break free of it they’d have a chance to be better people. The Lang brothers were the perfect villains. Despite their house being burned down I never felt any real sympathy for them and actually wanted them to be proven guilty. They were such shady characters and I really liked that we were given these characters to dislike while the evidence didn’t always seem to point in their direction. 

So if you like police procedurals and crime fiction then this book, and series, are for you. The Sleepover is a gripping and readable thriller that keeps you guessing right until the sensational conclusion. Now I’ve just got to not-so-patiently wait for book 5….

Thank you to Bookoture, Carol Wyer and NetGalley for they chance to review this novel in exchange for an honest review.