The Sleeper - Emily Barr
Published: 04/07/13
Publisher: Headline
Pages: 324
I often begin my reviews the same way, stating that as soon as I heard about this book I had to have it but again it’s true! As soon as I saw the cover and blurb of this book I was already hooked. I mean what is more exciting than the tagline ‘Two strangers meet on a train. Only one gets off…’
Lara Finch is bored in her life. She dislikes her husband, hates where she lives and misses the busy city life in London. On top of all that she has just undergone three failed rounds of IVF so is now also pretty poor. So when she gets offered a job in London she is quick to take up the offer, much to the dismay of her husband, Sam. She promises him that she’ll be home on weekends but that she’ll take the sleeper train on Sunday evenings and come home again on Saturday mornings. Sam is reluctant to let her go, but knows they need the money. He sits patiently at home waiting for Lara to return home each weekend, but unfortunately, Lara dreads the weekends. All she wants to do is spend time with the new friends she meets on the train. Soon though her new life starts to take a rather dark turn and everything that was once so boring now seems to be preferable to the now dangerous life she’s living.
From the minute I picked up this book I was hooked. I was instantly drawn into these characters lives and loved how there was emotion right from the very beginning. Hatred, anger, love etc. We are thrown right into the action of the book and slowly race to piece together what happened before we find out. I didn’t see any of this coming! At times I thought I had sussed out one of the characters but was so, so wrong!
Emily wrote this book incredibly well. There is a really fast pace to it and I kept wanting to read just one more chapter before I went to bed! I loved the character development of Lara and Iris, the two main characters and enjoyed the juxtaposition between the two. Lara was a confident, dark woman who wasn’t scared of much. Iris, Lara’s friend, was rather reserved and caught up in her past. Iris was the most enjoyable character for me; she went on a real journey and I liked how that journey really affected every single aspect of her life.
The only thing I would perhaps change was the ending, it was the tiniest bit rushed, for me, and I wanted to enjoy every last second instead of it whizzing by in a flash. a longer epilogue would have pleased me too, I like to know what has happened to all the characters!
I have never read anything else by Emily before but now I will be looking out for her back catalogue and waiting in anticipation for her next novel!
If you like psychological thrillers with a pacy style and shady plot lines then this is for you!
Publisher: Headline
Pages: 324
I often begin my reviews the same way, stating that as soon as I heard about this book I had to have it but again it’s true! As soon as I saw the cover and blurb of this book I was already hooked. I mean what is more exciting than the tagline ‘Two strangers meet on a train. Only one gets off…’
Lara Finch is bored in her life. She dislikes her husband, hates where she lives and misses the busy city life in London. On top of all that she has just undergone three failed rounds of IVF so is now also pretty poor. So when she gets offered a job in London she is quick to take up the offer, much to the dismay of her husband, Sam. She promises him that she’ll be home on weekends but that she’ll take the sleeper train on Sunday evenings and come home again on Saturday mornings. Sam is reluctant to let her go, but knows they need the money. He sits patiently at home waiting for Lara to return home each weekend, but unfortunately, Lara dreads the weekends. All she wants to do is spend time with the new friends she meets on the train. Soon though her new life starts to take a rather dark turn and everything that was once so boring now seems to be preferable to the now dangerous life she’s living.
From the minute I picked up this book I was hooked. I was instantly drawn into these characters lives and loved how there was emotion right from the very beginning. Hatred, anger, love etc. We are thrown right into the action of the book and slowly race to piece together what happened before we find out. I didn’t see any of this coming! At times I thought I had sussed out one of the characters but was so, so wrong!
Emily wrote this book incredibly well. There is a really fast pace to it and I kept wanting to read just one more chapter before I went to bed! I loved the character development of Lara and Iris, the two main characters and enjoyed the juxtaposition between the two. Lara was a confident, dark woman who wasn’t scared of much. Iris, Lara’s friend, was rather reserved and caught up in her past. Iris was the most enjoyable character for me; she went on a real journey and I liked how that journey really affected every single aspect of her life.
The only thing I would perhaps change was the ending, it was the tiniest bit rushed, for me, and I wanted to enjoy every last second instead of it whizzing by in a flash. a longer epilogue would have pleased me too, I like to know what has happened to all the characters!
I have never read anything else by Emily before but now I will be looking out for her back catalogue and waiting in anticipation for her next novel!
If you like psychological thrillers with a pacy style and shady plot lines then this is for you!
Laura