We meet our main character Lily at her place of work, where as far as she knows, she's having an entirely normal day until she gets a call which will change the trajectory of her life...

Standing at back door, looking directly at her ring camera, iss a stranger wearing a cut out mask of her 5 year old daughter Maisie. Who are they and what do they want?

I really enjoyed reading the first 30% of this book and I was hopeful that it would carry through but unfortunately, it did not.

One of my absolute pet peeves with a book is where an author has a young child as a main character but they don't write them as such. Maisie is meant to be five in the book yet she could easily have been written as an eight or nine year old. I feel like the author has never been around a five year old child?? I just couldn't get past that, it really annoyed me.

Also, the ending?? Where did that come out of? We had no inclination as readers that that was where the book was leading to because we knew little or nothing about the protagonists past apart from going through an acrimonious divorce.

There were a couple of inconsistencies also, at the start of the book Lily was in her office and then suddenly of a shot, was at her front door with the police and Maisie was in her car?!?!

I'd still give this book three stars because it started well and I thought the story was original but I think it could have benefitted it from a couple more edits.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The book sent chills down my spine!!!

A strange man standing in your garden wearing a mask with your daughter's face?!??!?! What?!?!?! I'm terrified already.

I was on the edge of my seat the whole entire time, and I had goosebumps!

Certainly not one to read by yourself at nighttime; but definitely a must-read!

It's a really good concept let down by the ending. There just isn't enough information given about what turns out to be the reason. It's haphazardly thrown in there in a way which doesn't make an awful lot of sense. It would have been better if more background had been detailed and then it would make more sense other than being a random event which didn't make much sense.

Could have been better.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

For some unknown reason I never knew I had this one to download, it never showed up 8n any messages or even on my NetGalley Shelf .

I had mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I flew through it and it kept my attention. I was really interested in the way captivity was portrayed and how the characters responded. On the other hand, the plot could feel all over the place. So many elements were thrown in that made it feel it disjointed. I definitely didn't guess the ending, but when the great reveal happened, it seemed to come out of nowhere and didn't have a strong impact.

All that said, I will read more by the author.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc.

Pub: October 2020

This was the perfect thriller!
It literally be gave me the creeps.
Once I started I couldn't put it down.
I loved every second of it.

I flew through this book, with a well-thought-out plot and really believable characters. would definitely recommend it!

I had mixed feelings about this book. The plot is certainly unique but to the point that it feels strange and implausible. The twist at the end was surprising but again, felt weird.

Once I finally started this book, it took me five months to finish it; I just never felt like I understood or got the characters and, when the climax was finally reached, I felt it was so out of left field! I really dislike when thrillers wrap up with this wild twist that you literally would never expect - because there were no hints or characters involved earlier in the plot to tie the story together. It just seems disjointed.

The premise and introduction of this book really gripped me and held my attention. However, as I got further into the book, unfortunately my attention wasn’t held captive anymore, The plot and writing as a bit disjointed and I feel the author was trying to do too much at once and it wasn’t delivering quite well. Unfortunately, thrillers can be tricky that way and it’s easy for a goof thriller to go downhill quickly.

Thrillers are hit or miss for me. And unfortunately this one was a miss. It felt like a bunch of different idea's and conclusions where thrown into a bag and randomly picked to be put into the ending. Even though a good cliff hanger ending did not save it. It is one that left me scratching my head, not because of the who done it but because of the what did I just read factor.
But I do think if this was one of those books that got adapted into a movie, all of that whirlwind would be amazing on screen, It just doesn't work in print.

I was intrigued to read this. Ook but found the writing style really hard to follow and I fortunately didn’t keep my attention.

I’ve still rated it a 3 star though as some parts were well written

I love the cover of this novel and the inside. "While You Slept" is an suspenseful novel by R J Parker. A page turner for sure.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. While I did enjoy the concept and it was creepy the book didn't live up to my expectations and I found it a bit of a drag. That is my opinion only.

Firstly let me thank NetGalley and the author for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book had so much promise. From the description and the beginning the book was great. Super creepy and icky feeling, felt like this would be a great book to lose yourself in and be creeped out. But then it just became too unbelievable, slow, and just, lost its intrigue for me.

One of those really frustrating books where the concept is brilliant and leads you in but then the execution weak. A great start which kept me going with enthusiasm but then the whole thing seemed so unreal and unbelievable.

I really enjoyed this, I liked the way it was written and it had me gripped!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

An incredible psychological thriller that I could not put down.A journey through a deranged human mind and the effect this can have on innocent people's lives. Characters and situation are clearly well defined, to the point it felt like reading a news' story rather than fiction. I would have offered more insights into Lily and Maise's mind, AKA less tell and more show. But overall the rating is very good.

The premise of this book was so interesting and really pulled me in... but unfortunately the actual story just didn't deliver for me. It started off so well, with real creepy vibes - protagonist Lily receives a push notification on her phone from her home security system and when she checks her cameras, she sees a man stood in her garden wearing a mask with the face of her 5 year old daughter Maisie on it. However, from there, the story went rapidly downhill for me. The writing style was too choppy, and honestly I kind of lost interest a bit. Sorry I couldn't be more positive on this one, but it just wasn't for me personally.