After the Sleepover (Sleepover #2) by Kerry Wilkinson
Genre: Psychological thriller, Mystery
Read: 9th December 2023
Published: 15th December 2023
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
“Gone. They’re gone.” Dylan’s wide-eyed mother bites her nails in desperation. “All three kids. They wanted to sleep outside. But I went to check this morning and… the tents are empty. They’re gone.”
Twenty-five years ago: teenage Leah had a sleepover with her three best friends. By morning, the other girls were missing. This small town has been searching for answers ever since. Now it’s happened again…
Three boys decide to camp in a field next to one of their homes. When dawn comes, dew glistens on their empty tents.
Overgrown farmland is searched. Three distraught families are desperate for news. A mother herself now, Leah’s heart breaks as terrible memories flood back…
Leah thought she knew what happened at the sleepover years ago but now another three children are missing. What if she was wrong? And how far will Leah have to go, to finally discover the truth, before it’s too late?
A completely addictive psychological thriller packed with twists, that will have you up all night racing through the pages. After the Sleepover can be enjoyed as a standalone read, and anyone who loves Shari Lapena, Lisa Jewell, or The Perfect Marriage won’t be able to put it down.
MY THOUGHTS:
Three teenagers disappeared...now it's happened again...
The follow-up to "The Night of the Sleepover", I actually liked this one more. I'm not sure why. Maybe because there was more of a sense of closure at the end? Throughout this book I was thinking "4 stars"...and then, the ending. Ramped it up 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Definitely worthy of it with that bombshell ending. While this is the second in the series, it can easily suffice as a standalone although you do get more backstory to the original mystery by reading the first book.
The story opens with a premiere screening of the documentary that was being made in the first book about the disappearance of the three teenage girls at a sleepover at which Leah attended when she was fifteen. She woke up the following morning and her friends' sleeping bags were empty; they had gone. And their disappearance has remained a mystery for twenty five years. The documentary didn't really rake up any new information, just rehashed old theories, introduced new ones and ended as ambiguously as it only could without the mystery ever being solved.
The following morning after the screening, Leah awakes to a couple of police officers on her doorstep. Three teenage boys have disappeared overnight and the mother of one of the boys was asking for her. Did Leah know her? She wasn't sure but apparently they were at school together. But school had such a vague recollection of memories mostly due to the fact three of her friends had vanished overnight and she was expected to carry on as normal despite no one knowing what had happened to them. Now it seems Jennifer Bailey wanted her at her side as the only other person to know what it feels like to be "left behind".
The mystery deepens as police continue to search Jennifer's farm. How can three teenagers disappear overnight? For it to happen in a small town not once but twice in its lifetime? It seems the town's WhatsApp group is full of theories and answers, all of them pointing fingers at someone or something. Questions are raised and allegations made. But does anyone really know what's happened?
As much as she doesn't want to be, Leah become embroiled in this latest mystery as Jennifer rants and figuratively cries on her shoulder. Suspicion falls on their weird neighbour who has threatened violence if her son Dylan, one of the missing boys, continues to trespass on his land. And when asked about Dylan's father, she reveals a not so nice picture of the absentee parent. But through it all, Leah listens and takes note. Before the end of the book she will have the mystery figured out...but at what cost?
AFTER THE SLEEPOVER is a slow burning mystery like the first one, it's startling difference being that jawdropping ending which I felt was a perfect touch. There are plenty of red herrings throughout to keep you guessing as to where this story will go. Will you figure it out as Leah does? Or will Kerry have you hoodwinked?
While this book does refer to Leah knowing what happened to her missing friends, that mystery is reserved for the first book and is not actually revealed in this one. And while you can read this one as a standalone, I don't think you will pick up on a lot of the nuances peppered throughout unless you have read the first one also.
None of the characters are really likeable, even Leah is pretty hard to connect with. I found her relationship with Ben a bit of a non-starter as it didn't really go anywhere in the story so I kind of felt what was the point?
As always, Kerry's trademark wit can be found throughout which had me chuckling at times. But the piece-de-resistance of this entire tale was the final pages. I cannot say enough how perfect that ending was.
I would like to thank #KerryWilkinson, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #AfterTheSleepover in exchange for an honest review.
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Kerry Wilkinson has had No.1 crime bestsellers in the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Singapore. He has also written two top-20 thrillers in the United States. His book, Ten Birthdays, won the RNA award for Young Adult Novel of the Year in 2018 and Close To You won the International Thriller Award for best ebook in 2020.
As well as his million-selling Jessica Daniel series, Kerry has written the Silver Blackthorn trilogy - a fantasy-adventure serial for young adults - a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter, plus numerous standalone novels. He has been published around the world in more than a dozen languages.
Originally from the county of Somerset, Kerry spent way too long living in the north of England, picking up words like 'barm' and 'ginnel'.
When he's short of ideas, he rides his bike, hikes up something, or bakes cakes. When he's not, he writes it all down.
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