Matthew Blake
Release date January 2nd 2024
About:
THE WORLD WILL KNOW HER NAME
What if your nightmares weren’t really nightmares at all?
We spend an average of 33 years of our lives asleep. But what really happens, and what are we capable of, when we sleep?
Anna Ogilvy was a budding twenty-five-year-old writer with a bright future. Then, one night, she stabbed two people to death with no apparent motive—and hasn’t woken up since. Dubbed “Sleeping Beauty” by the tabloids, Anna’s condition is a rare psychosomatic disorder known to neurologists as “resignation syndrome.”
Dr. Benedict Prince is a forensic psychologist and an expert in the field of sleep-related homicides. His methods are the last hope of solving the infamous “Anna O’”case and waking Anna up so she can stand trial. But he must be careful treating such a high-profile suspect—he’s got career secrets and a complicated personal life of his own.
As Anna shows the first signs of stirring, Benedict must determine what really happened and whether Anna should be held responsible for her crimes.
Only Anna knows the truth about that night, but only Benedict knows how to discover it. And they’re both in danger from what they find out.
My Review:
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this book ahead of the release date.
Anna O is an outstanding and compelling book, Matthew Blake feels like he has put his soul into this piece of fiction. The research, the storyline, is just fantastic.
Anna O, if you google her, is a story of Bertha Pappenheim, who whilst this story is not about her the hysteria and the work of Freud is discussed throughout the book.
Matthew Blake’s Anna O fell into a deep sleep after committing a hideous crime 4 years previously. Dr Benjamin Prince, a sleep specialist, is brought in by the Department of Justice to wake her up. By waking her, if it is at all possible to wake the ironically name ‘Sleeping Beauty’ he is subjecting her to stand trial, but whilst studying her and learning more about Anna, he’s also not sure if she is guilty.
This book covers in detail sleep studies, particularly around crime and those who wake after many years in a coma.
And just when you think you have the answers, the story continues to further delve into the characters lives and the after-effects of Dr. Princes studies into Anna O.
Studying the mind of killer has consequences.
The final pages floored me, I pride myself through process of elimination on being able to work out who the culprit is in murder mysteries, usually, but Matthew Blake gives us no clues as to the astonishing (not even sure thats the right word to describe it) outcome, or maybe there where clues and I just missed them.
