Kathryn Croft

A gripping psychological thriller you just can't put down

While You Were Sleeping

dorah luxieux

ok it took me a minute to finish this book and man did the ending had me shocked. bro it's always the ppl you least except. anyway great book. five stars.

Shirley Jones 

Absolutely loved while you were sleeping, full of twists and turns, I would never have guessed the ending , fabulous read!

Emir Andrés Ibañez

Reseña en español aquí

This story gives you what it promises: a gripping story that keeps you wondering all the time and you can't put down. But I have many mixed feelings about it, especially because I'm very skeptical of all these new books that publishers want to sell us as copies of "The Girl on the Train" or "Gone Girl", which we know will not be so.
So let's go first with the positives.

What stands out most from this book is its easy-to-read structure, due to the constant rhythm of the plot with its twists and their mysteries more and more entangled along with simple and easy to digest prose.
It is a well-structured story with the revelations set in the right places and with the typical doubts and false premises that makes the reader suspicious even of his own shadow.
But this book, while a thriller with all its features, is not a psychological thriller as it claims to be. It is a mystery novel more of the pile, with its comings and goings, where you have to find out who the murderer is... but nothing more than that.

I think the biggest flaw of this book was Tara, the protagonist. The whole story is told from her perspective but I couldn't empathize with her in any moment. It's a flat character that only serves as a tool to narrate the novel. The little development she had didn't leave me at all a good impression: she's the typical middle-aged woman who is limited only to being wife and mother, who can't be anything other than that, who is unable to do something for herself and always needed the help of others, and if it is some man then much better.
The rest of the characters were a bit more developed, but not enough to make a difference. Perhaps Rossie, who, despite being the most insufferable being on the planet, was the only one with a personality. Noah, Tara's husband, is the dullest character in the whole book. And Spencer, the youngest son, was there to make a difference between Rosie and him (that she was rebellious and he wasn't), because he has no relevance at all, he's there just being a burden and all the time he's sent to a friend's house so that the plot can advance. His sister, Lisa, was also an interesting character, but... not that interesting.

Each and every one of the characters in this book have problems with infidelity: everyone has been cheated or a cheater and there's a lot of resentment in their speeches. Typical comments from people who hasn't the guts to get angry with the person who cheated on them so they get angry with the third person, who has nothing to do with their relationship. Pathetic.

The two twists where the story has a closure, I found them not credible, almost nonsense. They put down all the tension and the mystery that was sustained throughout the book. And it's a shame, because it was a good story, a good mystery, with a good rhythm and a good resolution (if I want to play to be a conformist) but it was so poorly executed that I was scolded. That scolding that grabs you when you trip meters before you reach the finish line or when you burn the food in an oversight.

I know this is the fifth novel by Kathryn Croft, that she already has a public and she's a success in sales, but for now this book didn't convince me. Maybe I'll give some chance to her previous novels.
At the moment I want to go take a strong drink to remove the bitterness that got stuck in my throat.


Netgalley sent me a copy in exchange for an honest review.


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While You Were Sleeping A gripping psychological thriller you just can't put down

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