Are You Awake? by Claire McGowan
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 4th February 2023
Published: 8th November 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
From the bestselling author of What You Did comes a chilling story about a missing girl and two potential witnesses. They both think they saw her. But can they trust their own eyes?
With two young children, Mary hasn’t slept in what feels like years. For his part, Tim never feels safe enough to sleep. And so one hot, exhausting night, the two strangers meet while seeking solace in a nearby park. There, they witness something horrific: a violent attack in the window of a neighbouring house.
Bonded by what they’ve seen, Tim and Mary are desperate to find answers. And when they see news reports of a missing woman who was last seen walking alone not far from them, the pair are convinced it’s her they saw being attacked—no matter what the police say.
But with her marriage under strain and the police on their tail, Mary begins to doubt her own mind…and Tim’s. And as the pair are drawn into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, the culprit appears to be even closer to home than they thought. Have they got it all wrong, or is something even more sinister going on?
MY THOUGHTS:
The premise for this tense slow burn psychological thriller is almost chilling. Imagine being awake in the dead of night, sleep deprived and with insomnia that you see something...think you see something...are almost sure you DID see something that could shed some light into the disappearance of a young woman? Can you be sure of what you saw? After all, you've not slept - really slept - for two years so your mind could be playing tricks on you...couldn't it? But you are almost certain...aren't you? It was her, wasn't it? Definitely...maybe...I don't know... Maybe you just dreamt it up. But then your neighbour says he saw her too. So you can't both be wrong...can you?
Meet Mary Collins. Thirtysomething mum to toddler Audrey and baby Leo. Sleep deprived from the constant demands motherhood brings to her shining little cherubs. The children unfortunately share a room in their pokey little two bed flat on the outskirts of London, meaning when one wakes then the other does also. And life becomes a constant revolving door of meeting each childs' needs one after the other after the other after the other...all night. Meanwhile hubby Jack snores his way through slumber and oblivion as his exhausted wife sees to the children without an ounce of sleep.
One night whilst soothing the cries and demands of her children, she is looking out the window when she sees something...a face at a window, seemingly crying for help. But as quick as she saw it, it's gone again. She blinks. Was it real? Did she see it at all? Because there is clearly nothing there now. Then she looks down into the park across the street, which backs onto a row of houses...one of which she had seen the face. Or rather, thought she did. And there in the park at 4am is a man. What is he doing there at this hour? Without thinking, she deposits the children back to bed and barely stopping to grab a robe, Mary marches out the door and across the street to where the stranger is snooping.
And that is how Mary and Tim meet.
She soon learns that Tim saw the face she did at the window. So she didn't imagine it. It was real. Problem is, he is as sleep deprived as she is so who would believe them? But regardless, both are sure of what they saw. And both are convinced it is missing teenager Samantha Ellis, who vanished walking home one night after her shift at the care home where she worked. And so together they decide to investigate Samantha's disappearance.
But neither of them are prepared for the storm they unleash in the wake of their digging. Can they succeed where the police have failed? Will they find Samantha and uncover the truth before it's too late? For all of them?
ARE YOU AWAKE? is a slow burn thriller that does take a while to pick up pace but there is enough intrigue there to keep you turning the pages. While both characters' backstories provided sufficient insight into their insomnia and sleep deprivation, I did tire of Mary's two year old daughter Audrey's constant and incessant whining and complaints on just about everything. And her demands were uttered at one volume - LOUD!! Audrey was, simply put, exhausting. "MUMMY! HATE PORRIDGE! WANT COCO POPS!", "MUMMY! WANT PANCAKES!", "MUMMY GO HOME! GO HOME NOW!", "MUMMY! MORNING TIME! PLAY LEGO WITH ME!", "MUMMY! NOT SHOPS! IT'S PEPPA TIME!", "MUMMY! I WANT I WANT I WANT!!!" Every time she opened her mouth she uttered demands and was unbearably grouchy - all the time. Her demands were constant, tiring and really reaaaaallllly draining. And I'm not even her mother! I only read the words and I could hear those demands all day long...it was exhausting. No wonder Mary didn't know whether she was coming or going...I doubt I would either. Her narrative at the start was a bit much and seemed more like a chaotic day in the life of rather than the mystery of Samantha Ellis. Tim was a little more bearable though carried a ton of shameful guilt about his time in Syria and now suffers PTSD as a result. And of course insomnia is the result of that. Hence why he was peering out of his window at 4am also.
Unfolding through the alternating narratives of Mary and Tim, there is also the odd narrative from the missing Samantha, leaving you wondering what exactly has happened to her. I did find the story dragged a little bit but that could just been the incessant droning and whining of a demanding two year old I did not take a liking to one bit. It was a little bit much but then some of Mary's flippant remarks in her narrative made me chuckle.
I really did enjoy ARE YOU AWAKE? despite Audrey's constant rants, and she thankfully blended into the background and became more of hubby's problem to deal with once he decided to be a parent instead of sleeping in when Mary more than deserved one. The suspense began to build as more questions are raised and the further Mary and Tim delved. The first half was more about Mary's chaotic life while the second half really picked up the pace and got down to the nitty gritty. Finally, they were getting somewhere. But would they uncover the truth before it's too late?
There are a few red herrings, but equally so, they are also a paramount part of the mystery. Figure that one out. I did...and it seemed I had two answers instead of one. But which one what the truth?
Overall, a good solid mystery with the chilling psychological aspect where sleep deprivation can mess with your mind - tricking you into thinking you saw something when you didn't or you didn't see anything when you did. It will have you questioning your own credibility and leave you pondering the reliability of our two narrators.
I would like to thank #ClaireMcGowan, #Netgalley and #AmazonPub for an ARC of #AreYouAwake in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her first novel, The Fall, was published by Headline in 2012. She has also written a series of novels about the forensic psychologist Paual Maguire, which currently consists of The Lost (2013), The Dead Ground (2014), The Silent Dead (2015) and the novella Controlled Explosions (2015). There are three more novels to follow in the series. This crime series has been optioned by BBC Drama.
Claire has been described as ‘a knock-out new talent’ (Lee Child) and ‘Ireland’s answer to Ruth Rendell’ (Ken Bruen). Her short story ‘Archaeology’ was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015 and her story ‘Rosie Grant’s Finger’ appeared in the anthology Belfast Noir, as well as ‘The Last Resort’ in the CWA anthology Deadly Pleasures. She is now also writing romance as Eva Woods, and The Thirty List was published in 2015 and The Ex Factor in 2016. Her first stageplay, Backseat Drivers, was produced in London in 2015.
For two years Claire ran the Crime Writers’ Association, and is now a Senior Lecturer in Crime Writing at City University London. She also enjoys teaching workshops for other festivals and organisations. Her journalism has appeared in Glamour, You magazine, Stylist, and other publications.
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