This was such a nail biting fast read, truly a page turner! This thriller is a parents worst nightmare as 12 year old Nick has continually been bullied since the beginning of his academic years, to the point he is attacked and hospitalized. Things seemingly start to get better for Nick, when he is invited to a sleepover by his new best friend. The events that unfold up to this point will give too much, that I dont want to spoil it! What an amazing read, if you love a good mystery this one is for you!

Thank you to Netgalley, Samantha King, and Pub for this opportunity.

[ I will be reviewing this book on my social media handles on publication day ]

Wow! What a story! Every parents worst nightmare. 12 yo Nick has been mercilessly bullied for a long time. Bad enough that he was attacked and ended up in the hospital. He's finally doing a bit better, even made a couple friends. Then he's invited to a sleepover. When Izzy goes to pick him up the next morning, he's missing. Sucha good book; fast paced and great character development. Unputdownable!

What would you do for your child?

Izzy, the main character in The Sleepover by Samantha King, tries so hard to let her son, Nick, be independent and live his own life. At the same time she struggles because one year before the beginning of the book, Nick was beat up by some bullies at his old school. He had chosen, at the age of 11, to walk to school by himself.

Izzy struggles with her son's burgeoning independence. She wants to keep him her little boy forever, and wants to protect him from all the people that may hurt him. She's a little one-dimensional in this regard.

When Nick is invited to a sleepover at his friend's house, Izzy is reluctant to let him go. She's thrilled that he is apparently making friends, but she's scared that he could get hurt by said friends.

When she goes to pick him up from the sleepover, and finds out he's missing, the whole book is set on its course. Will she find him in time? Will he still be alive? What happened?

This book is told in first person present tense. It's a weird type of writing; one I can't really get past. I was taught in school not to write this way, so when I find a book that is, I find myself yelling in my head at the writing. I also ran across a couple proofreading errors, but they didn't really detract from the story.

I've noticed that Izzy "reflects" a lot. Yes, the author actually uses this word. This actually did bug me. I couldn't figure out why the author couldn't find other words to say the same thing.

The characters don't develop very well, either. The story is told very well, and had enough interesting twists to keep me reading, but I found the characters one-dimensional.

Luckily for me, this book is action-driven. I don't like books that are character-driven. I don't know why, but they tend to bore me. This book also has plenty of back story, which makes the present easier to understand. The flashbacks are told quite well.

All in all, this book is really good, and I will likely read it again. It will be a while, but this story was unique, and I really appreciated all the little twists and turns. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, the story would switch, and I would be confused all over again. I actually love stories like these. It's one of the reasons I love Saw 1.

The Rating

I gave this book 4 stars. It's really good, and I will enjoy reading it again, but the character development wasn't as great as I would expect from a thriller, and the main character was a bit one-dimensional for me. Character-driven books may not be my cup of tea, but I do like some in my action books.

If you enjoy a thriller, you should definitely check this book out. I could tell it wasn't professionally edited or proofread, but the story is good enough that it doesn't seem to matter much. I was reminded of The Family Upstairs a bit when reading this book, so if you like that book, you might like this one.

The Conclusion

I really did enjoy this book. I probably won't be adding it to my top-ten list any time soon, but I loved it enough to recommend it, and even choose to reread at some point. I won't be deleting it from my kindle anytime soon.

The Sleepiver is very parent’s worse nightmare! An emotional psychological thriller, it will keep you interested throughout. I enjoyed it.

Almost every day parents all over the world face a battle with their consciences over the safety of their children. The battle over how to keep them safe whilst also granting them the freedom that they need to grow up into independent individuals. It's easy when they are little but as they grow older they want to be more adventurous and have more life enhancing experiences.

Isobel (izzy) had her doubts about allowing her twelve year old son Nick to go to the sleepover at his friend Adrian's house. She knew that she was being overprotective but she felt that she had every right to be considering what had happened at the school gates a year ago.

But after a heated conversation with her ex husband Craig,she backtracks and decides to allow Nick to have some fun with his school friends.

Only that one small decision plunges Isobel into every parents worst nightmare because the next morning when she goes to pick Nick up,he isn't there. The other boys insist that they don't know where he is,no one saw him leave, he has simply disappeared,without trace.

Where is Nick? What happened on that fateful night? How many lies and threads will the police have to untangle before they uncover the shocking truth?

This utterly enthralling thriller is voiced entirely from Isobel's perspective, a complex, relatable character who due to one small decision found her life torn apart and threatened. She found herself being constantly lied to and having no idea who she could trust. Throughout the book Isobel took us back into her past where we learnt about the tragic fate of her first husband, the early days of her relationship with Craig and events before and after the terrible incident at the school gates. There was quite a number of untrustworthy characters scattered throughout this story,many of whom were not who they appeared to be,lived in denial and wouldn't have recognised the truth even if it had jumped up and slapped them round the face. I loved DCI Maxwell and his team, each one of them was a likeable, dedicated individual who really cared about Isobel and the fate of her missing son.

Wow...just wow, I really really enjoyed this well written, tightly plotted, intense thriller that had me totally captivated from the first page. I had no idea what it was about when I requested it because there was no synopsis on Netgalley. I only requested it because I really liked the cover and I'm so glad that I did. It's packed full of twists and turns,the characters were believable and the story has a totally unexpected twist. The author cleverly manipulates the reader into thinking they know the truth and then throws in a twist that completely blows your theory into tiny little pieces. I would love to watch a film or tv mini series adaptation of this book and it is definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of this year. Worth far more than five stars and very very highly recommended.

It was meant to be the best night of her son's life.

Was it his last?

Izzy is thrilled when her shy, 12-year-old son is invited for his first sleepover. Nick has spent years being isolated and picked on; he deserves a night of fun and friendship.

But Izzy is also nervous: it's a year to the day since bullies put Nick in hospital. She drops him off at his new best friend's house with mixed feelings. Arriving to collect him the following morning, her worst fears come true . . .

Nick isn't there.

Who has taken her son?

And will she ever get him back?

The premise had me hooked and I knew I needed to read it. It was a pretty good book, it kept me hooked trying to figure out what happened.
Izzy had doubts about weather to let her 12 yr old son, Nick, to go to the sleepover at his best friend Adrian's house. She knows that she is being overprotective but she had every right considering it was a year to the day bullies put Nick in the hospital. After an argument with her ex husband, Craig, she allows Nick to go to the sleepover. That small choice turns in to every parents worst nightmare, when the next morning Nick isn't there when she goes to pick him up. The other boys don't know where he is, nobody saw him leave, he just vanished.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.