Scan barcode
A review by eri_cat93
Anna O by Matthew Blake
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This was the least thrilling thriller I've read.
Look, it isn't bad per say but it's needlessly wordy, way too long, and reads very self important. The concept is intriguing - a woman murders two people while sleep walking and then falls into a seemingly endless sleep as a stress response. She's been moved to a new facility where our MMC, a prominent sleep psychologist, will test out his new treatment theory on her.
Told mostly through Ben's eyes, but jumping to other characters when convenient, there's a lot of anxiety and repetition plus chapters that just sort of end for the sake of drama but continue on the next page as if no break was needed (because it wasn't).
Through the first half or so, I was bought in and this book did keep me hooked despite getting very monotonous because I wanted to know how it would end. The ending was...fine. I suspected the big end twist ~1/2 the way through, but there was still a nice surprise element to it.
My biggest gripe with this book is that most of the 'flashback' chapters are supposedly entries in Anna's diary, but they were just normal chapters not diary entries! These sections either needed to be presented as normal chapters occurring 'before' or actually be written like a diary.
Look, it isn't bad per say but it's needlessly wordy, way too long, and reads very self important. The concept is intriguing - a woman murders two people while sleep walking and then falls into a seemingly endless sleep as a stress response. She's been moved to a new facility where our MMC, a prominent sleep psychologist, will test out his new treatment theory on her.
Told mostly through Ben's eyes, but jumping to other characters when convenient, there's a lot of anxiety and repetition plus chapters that just sort of end for the sake of drama but continue on the next page as if no break was needed (because it wasn't).
Through the first half or so, I was bought in and this book did keep me hooked despite getting very monotonous because I wanted to know how it would end. The ending was...fine. I suspected the big end twist ~1/2 the way through, but there was still a nice surprise element to it.
My biggest gripe with this book is that most of the 'flashback' chapters are supposedly entries in Anna's diary, but they were just normal chapters not diary entries! These sections either needed to be presented as normal chapters occurring 'before' or actually be written like a diary.