Are You Awake?

Product Information

When Mary & Tim realise Samantha's disappearance could link to the disappearances of several other young women in the area over the years, things snowball. It's the usual case of amateur detectives somehow being able to outwit the police & get witnesses to talk, for example, the person they initially think is behind Sam's disappearance conveniently has a 'Road to Damascus' conversion & spills everything. The plot was okay but stretches credulity in some parts, it was interesting though & it mostly kept my attention. 3 stars

The thing is that I actually liked the characters. The mom, Mary is just so freaking exhausted and I just felt her. Tim seemed like a really good guy and I was so sorry for all he went through. The husband, whose name I can’t recall, was kind of oblivious, but in general an okay guy. But my character like was not enough to sustain me. Another fantastic book by Claire! I haven't read a book that I've been disappointed with yet by Claire, she's just that good! Unfortunately, it took me almost three weeks to finish this book and that just never happens. But I found that I wasn't invested in the characters, they were a bit odd and didn't match the tone. Although the two-year-old was a riot!My interest considerably diminished after completing half of it. I had expected something better. Although I understood a mother's fatigue, the plot went in a direction I could not relate to.

Set in the depths of London, Are You Awake? is a book drenched in atmosphere, suspense and deceptions. The insomniac angle is a fascinating one which I understand too well. The first half of the book is anxiety-inducingly slow in such the best possible way and gets snappy the last half. It is told mostly from the perspectives of Mary and Tim but also occasionally by a third. This book is quite entraining and gripping. I enjoyed reading it over the course of a few weeks (on and off) and it succeeded in keeping me interested in the book and the fate of the characters.The two form a strange alliance, they decide to investigate. Hopefully that will keep their sleep deprived brains busy; something to focus on. The tension was there at parts but not entirely throughout. There were various unrealistic events that I could just not wrap my brain around. A few things I did NOT like about this book, please note that this is my opinion based on things to which I relate to and feel targeted with: As I mentioned above, there are some very amusing scenes in this book, and I think it would have benefited if it just embraced the humorous aspects of what silly things the characters were doing here and there. It didn’t deter my reading, but I wonder if other readers would’ve embraced the silliness a bit more if it was straightforward in the funny department. I love reading about amateur sleuths, and it was fun to picture Mary and Tim bopping around town, trying to get information…only to find themselves in more trouble. I also found the pacing perfect. I had a hard time putting it down (until the end, when I was ready for it to wrap up), and wanted to know how it ended. Mary hasn't slept in what feels like years. Her two young children never let her rest, and so one exhausting night, in the middle of a London heatwave, she escapes to a nearby park for some air.