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The Sleepwalker

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Our dreams can be forgotten. But our nightmares will haunt us forever.

Sam Fulford is living a perfectly normal life, except for one little thing: a strange sleep condition that causes him to roam in the night and occasionally become violent.

So when Sam wakes one devastating morning to discover his wife dead beside him and his baby daughter missing, his whole world implodes. Did he accidentally kill his wife during a night time episode? If so, where is his baby?

Just as Sam begins to accept the possibility that he is guilty, he finds a photograph that makes him realise someone else may be involved, that he may be innocent and might yet find his missing daughter.

But there’s a complication. Sam has a dark secret that he just can't allow to surface. And it’s soon made clear to him that if he presses on with his quest to find out what happened that terrible night, his secret will be revealed to the world.

Leaving Sam wondering whether it might be better to confess to a crime he’s not even certain he committed. Faced with an unimaginable dilemma, Sam begins to wonder: would it be better for everyone if he was guilty?

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 26, 2023

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L.C. George

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
Profile Image for Louise Wilson.
3,109 reviews1,664 followers
March 4, 2023
Sam Fulford is living a perfectly normal life, except for one thing: a strange sleep condition that causes him to roam the night and occasionally become violent. So, when Sam wakes one devastating morning to discover his wife dead beside him and his baby daughter missing, hie whole world implodes. Did he accidently kill his wife during a nighttime episode? If so, where is the baby?

What a good read this book was. The story is told from multiple points of view. The story has dual timelines that switch back and forward between Sam in the present day and Tessa's past. Then we get Lindy's past and Sam in the present day, until the past catches up. Secrets were revealed. This is a well written, descriptive, and engaging read. The pace is fast with a few twists. The story is character based. The story was a little drawn out and predictable in parts, but it does not take anything away from this domestic thriller. The story has an open ending with a final twist on the last page. That alone was worth reading this book for.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #InkubatorBooks and the author #LSGeorge for my ARC of #TheSleepwalker in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Natalie  all_books_great_and_small .
2,412 reviews111 followers
March 11, 2023
I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review as part of the book tour hosted by Zooloos Book Tours.

The Sleepwalker is a gripping psychological thriller that twists and turns right up until the end. Sam seemingly has the perfect life - married to the woman he adores and finally having a baby after years of trying to conceive. But when Sam awakens one day to find his beloved wife dead beside him and his three month old baby missing, Sam worries he's done something he can't recall. Sam suffers from a sleep disorder called parasomnia, which means he often sleeps and can not recall what he's dreamt. He's on occasion hit his wife in the face and the abdomen whilst she was pregnant with their miracle baby. Sam naturally fears he has killed his wife, and he requests hypnotherapy to see if he can retrieve any recollection through doing so. When the sessions don't bring anything to light, his therapist suggests delving into his past and childhood to see if this brings anything to light. Sam begins to think he should just confess to his wife's murder to save his most hidden secret from being unveiled. But when he then discovers a photograph that could give him the proof that he is innocent, Sam is left with a dilemma he must decide quickly on to decide his fate. This book was cleverly plotted and executed and left me pondering just who the killer was, and what Sam's secret was that could be so bad he didn't want it unearthing. I couldn't read this fast enough, and I enjoyed reading about and learning more about the sleep disorder parasomnia, too.
Profile Image for Ahmed Ismail.
86 reviews29 followers
March 9, 2023
I'm still in shock after reading this book. This is a book that will stay with you for a very long time. L. C. George debut novel checks all my psychological thriller boxes. I found some parts of the book to be expected, thinking that those parts are anticlimactic, but when I got to the end of the book, I knew that this is a masterpiece. This is no ordinary thriller. The Sleepwalker should be read and studied learners of English everywhere for the amount of English idioms used in it can transform your English to a whole new level. Thank you, Netgalley and Inkunator Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I already added L. C. George to my favorite authors. So looking forward to your next book, Ms. George.
P.S. I posted this review hurriedly, and I need to write a thorough review about it soon.
Profile Image for Grace Convertino.
208 reviews5 followers
March 3, 2023
Sam Fulford has an almost perfect life. He married Tessa, the love of his life, and after years of trying to conceive, they are finally, ecstatically pregnant. There’s just one thing that gets in the way of perfection: Sam’s unusual sleep condition, which is known as parasomnia. Parasomnia is a disorder that causes bizarre behavior during sleep, such as sleepwalking, striking out physically or verbally, vivid nightmares/night terrors, sleep paralysis, and more. Sam has lashed out on occasion and struck Tessa in his sleep, remembering nothing the next day. Tessa feels this is a small price to pay for the man she loves with all she’s got, until he strikes her in the abdomen, and she begins to worry about him accidentally harming their unborn baby. When he wakes with no memory from a parasomnia episode to find Tessa dead beside him and their three-month old baby Cora missing, Sam worries he may have harmed his wife without knowledge of anything that has happened during the night. There is no sign of struggle or break in. Sam tells the police he will try hypnosis to see if it jogs any memory of the night Tessa died; but after the second session yields no results, the hypnotist wants to explore his past further. Sam is terrified that his childhood secret may come to light. Maybe it would be best for everyone if he just confessed to the crime he isn’t sure he committed. Then, he find a photo which may prove his innocence and explain everything…

“The Sleepwalker” is an electric novel, crackling with suspense and anticipation. It is told by three different voices/perspectives, but is easily followed and clearly labeled in character and time frame. The overall feel is of a quickened pulse, and the reader wants to flip pages as quickly as possible to get to the root cause of Tessa’s death and Cora’s disappearance. It’s clear the police in charge think Sam is guilty and is using his disorder as an excuse for violence. Sam wonders himself if he isn’t guilty even though he genuinely has no recollection of anything that happens while he is in the midst of an episode. The reader is at once ambivalent. Sam adores his wife and child. Whatever past trauma is behind these episodes, it has nothing to do with the incredible happiness he has found in his little family of three. I can only imagine how terrifying it must be to be a partner of one in the throes of parasomnia. The thrashing about, swinging limbs, open, empty eyes, talking to/screaming at unseen persons, and wandering around must be bone-chilling, most especially to someone newly awakened as a result of it. The blows the partner takes in sleep have to be frightening at best, and cause varying degrees of bodily harm at worst. To wake up and find you’ve inadvertently hurt someone you love dearly because of a disorder you cannot control from a traumatic past held in the subconscious mind is deeply troubling, to put it mildly. The untold grief and guilt which result compound the stress, which further induces the disorder: a vicious cycle. A well-researched, well-written tale, “The Sleepwalker” is definitely meant for psychological thriller fans, and I highly recommend reading and experiencing it for yourselves. Even if you hazard a correct guess as to who is responsible like I did, it won’t affect your enjoyment of the story at all.

I’d like to thank Bookspring, LC George, and Inkubator Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Profile Image for Kay Oliver.
Author 13 books173 followers
April 4, 2023
Twisty whodunit with unreliable narrators. This story explores motherhood in a sinister light. Kept me glued from start to finish.
Profile Image for Stina.
1,296 reviews1 follower
March 5, 2023
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

"Our dreams can be forgotten. But our nightmares will haunt us forever."

This thriller is so good I can't believe it is a debut! And despite knowing the direction it was taking from the beginning, I thoroughly enjoyed the fast pace and short snappy chapters coupled with the multiple narratives from both the past and the present. Conjuring up a wealth of secrets buried deep within parasomniac nightmares, Laura George has penned a disturbing thriller that really leaves you wondering just what he is hiding.

Sam Fulford has the perfect life...now. After a disastrous relationship from which he barely escaped unscathed, he found love with Tessa, they married and after years of trying to conceive, the couple are finally blissfully pregnant. There is just one thing that threatens their blissful happiness and perfect lives. Sam has a sleep condition that is so unusual and unique, known as parasomnia, in which he will often sleepwalk, have bizarre conversations, experience vivid nightmares or terrors and even becoming violent and striking out both physically and verbally. All while he is asleep. Sam is completely oblivious to his behaviour during these times though he is well aware that it happens. And it has become something of a problem for Tessa.

Tessa loves Sam with her whole being. She loves being married to him and that they have created this new life together. She knows he will be a fantastic dad to their child. But she can't help but be just a little bit afraid of him. Not of him, as such, but of the person he becomes during a parasomniac episode. If the experience unnerves him, it terrifies her. On occasion, Sam has already lashed out and struck her in his sleep, remembering nothing when he awakes to find her cradling her abdomen and trembling with fear in a panic attack. Now she fears him harming their unborn child. This fear creates a growing distance between them which is only exacerbated once their baby is born and Tessa will stop at nothing to protect her child. Even if it means staying up all night to ensure Sam does not harm their baby during one of his episodes.

And then one morning, Sam's entire world implodes when he wakes to discover Tessa dead beside him and baby Cora missing. Against all odds, Sam worries he may have struck out and harmed Tessa in his sleep, having no knowledge of what happened when he woke. But that doesn't explain three month old Cora's disappearance. And yet there is no sign of a struggle or a break in. So who killed Tessa and what has happened to baby Cora?

Naturally, the police's first instinct is to work on the assumption that the husband did it...after all, that's what usually happens in cases like these, isn't it? But try as he might, Sam professes his innocence all the while at the back of his mind wondering if he really did have something to do with it. But then, where is Cora? Desperate for answers, Sam even suggests to police that he try hypnotherapy to see if they can unlock the doors to that night, jogging any memory of what may have happened. And yet despite not wanting to believe he had anything to do with Tessa's death, Sam harbours a secret that could change everything should it be discovered. And it leaves him questioning if he really is guilty...

And then, just when all hope seems lost, he finds a photo which propels him back into a past he has no wish to revisit...a photo which may hold a vital clue to prove his innocence and explain everything...

Wow! THE SLEEPWALKER is an addictive read from beginning to end with short snappy chapters that kept the pace moving, ending on a cliffhanger and making the reader want to read "just one more chapter". It is a chilling tale that is disturbing and compelling cleverly plotted with complex issues surrounding sleep disorders, trauma, mental health issues, grief and abuse - to name a few. It is a thriller that certainly packs a punch that leaves you, on some level, feeling deeply troubled. The scenes of parasomnia were incredibly chilling and disturbing at best.

There are a handful of characters to this spine-tingling thriller - some of whom you love to hate - which kind of narrows down the suspect pool. The narrators are unreliable and the tension is palpable throughout. And yet despite knowing the direction in which the story is going and correctly figuring out a major plot twist from the beginning, it didn't affect my enjoyment in any way. The story is so cleverly crafted that you are immediately drawn into the tangled web with no way out until the jaw-dropping end. And just when you thought you had it all figured out, the author throws in yet another unexpected twist that even a thriller connoisseur like me didn't see coming and I'm left with...what the heck? Seriously? I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending as it's not how I would have liked it to end. But nevertheless, it was a very clever twist. Well done, Laura George. I can't wait to see what you offer up to us next time.

Overall, a brilliant debut with a killer twist that even I didn't see coming!

I would like to thank #LCGeorge, #Netgalley, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #TheSleepwalker in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.
Profile Image for BookJunkie.
317 reviews12 followers
March 6, 2023
I need to start off my review by saying how excited I was, to have cracked the case in this story fairly early on. Maybe it was easy, but I feel like I played the detective like a pro on this case.

Don’t get me wrong, although I had a feeling what had happened, the further I read into this book the better it became.

Starting off the story with alternating chapters of kind of a now and then, it builds the momentum perfectly and gives the reader a chance to get to know the characters. Instantly finding who is likeable and who is dodgy…

By the time, it’s all starting to unravel, I was hooked. I couldn’t put the book down. Still having plenty of questions of what and why and how, with everything being explained in good time, leaving the reader hanging a few times before finding something out, the sleepwalker was definitely a thrilling read.

Profile Image for Ely.
316 reviews4 followers
February 9, 2023
4.5 ⭐️! — if you want some psychological-thriller which brings up motherhood to the surface. This book is the answer.

The story remind me of one of famous mystery-thriller I read back in the day but I couldn’t place the title. I was amazed by how the storyline flow going because it was truly written well. As in fact, I couldn’t put the book down for a bit. Then, there are some main issue about “motherhood” throughout the book that give me joy to discoverer it. Also, the other expected issue this book has had give me in tears. Especially about the past between the MCs. Even though I did not get the detailed past or even slightest past about that certain MC, but it didn’t bother me that much.

The thing that I dislike about the book is on the multiple POsV which made me discover the truth on the storyline far before it revealed. Meaning, I put two and two together then as the time goes by “BOOM” my suspicion is correct which annoys me. However, Laura’s ideas to put the certain MC on tight because they had the issue was blowing my mind. It was good and yes I thought that it might be the case. But then, Laura pull over everything and give me the plot that I knew after I pay attention on the clue she lay out on the storyline. Nevertheless, it still get me speechless in a good way.

To conclude, I admire this book because it was easy read for the psychological-thriller-mystery book. The writing style of Laura has giving me the joy because I enjoy every part of it. Also, she pulled up some issues that I personally adoredz The perspective of the good and the bad has open up my eyes because it was depending on which “eyes” the storyline holds.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me privileges enjoying this book. This was quite a quick read and I would recommend this to anyone who love this type of genre but want a quick and easy read — Full Review and analyzing the book will be published after the release date
Profile Image for Amanda.
2,026 reviews51 followers
March 13, 2023
If there’s one thing that I like doing, it’s discovering new authors, and L. C. George is certainly a new author for me. I read the synopsis of ‘The Sleepwalker’ and it certainly sounded like the sort of psychological thriller that I particularly enjoy. I couldn’t wait to start reading and so without further ado, I grabbed a cup of tea, grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what proved to be an interesting afternoon of reading. Overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Sleepwalker’ but more about that in a bit.

I have to be honest and say that it took me a little while to get into ‘The Sleepwalker’ which had a lot to do with the fact that I couldn’t take to either of the main characters because in their own way they irritated me. I realised that not liking the characters wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I did eventually get into the story and from then on I found it hard to put the book down for any length of time. I developed my own theories as to what was going to happen and so I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had wandered in the opposite direction. The more of the book that i read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. All too quickly I reached the end of ‘The Sleepwalker’. I found ‘The Sleepwalker’ to be a gripping, tense and dramatic story, which certainly kept me guessing.

‘The Sleepwalker’ is well written. The author has one of those easy going writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. The author certainly knows how to draw the reader into what proves to be a tense read. For me, this was more of a slow burn type of story, The story starts off slow but then the pace of the story gathers momentum and leads to a dramatic conclusion with one hell of a twist. The story is written using a dual timeline. One timeline focuses on the events leading up to the death of a character and the other timeline focuses on the present day and focuses on the spouse of the deceased and his journey to find out the truth. I did think that perhaps that would prove confusing but I needn’t have worried because the different timelines interlink well and the story flows seamlessly as a result. I love the way in which the author makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action.

In short and overall I did enjoy reading ‘The Sleepwalker’ and I would recommend this book to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of L. C. George’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.
Profile Image for mommy_and_books.
992 reviews18 followers
March 19, 2023
I'll start with the prologue.
He shoved me into the seats.
I was horrified when I read the prologue.
A three-month-old baby is missing.
Dad crying.
Unfortunately, his wife was dead.
What happened to this family?
The prologue sounds terrible.
And this is just the beginning...


Tessa is married to Samuel (Sam).
After a miscarriage, she wanted to get pregnant again quickly.
She got paranoid as soon as her period came.
When she became pregnant after some time, she was delighted.
She was happy with the birth of her daughter.
On the other hand, her body was exhausted.
I suspected she had post-partum depression.
The storm of hormones plus irregular sleep give such effects.
It is known that newborns give their parents a hard time in the first weeks of their lives.

We meet Samuel at the worst moment of his life.
He woke up.
His dead wife lay in bed.
The three-month-old daughter has disappeared.
What happened to them?
We learn that Sam suffers from a terrible disease called parasomnia.
This is a group of many different sleep disorders relating to abnormal or undesirable behaviour during sleep.
Parasomnias include night terrors, nightmares, bruxism, sleepwalking, sleep talking or night paralysis.
Could it be that he killed his wife and took his own daughter away?
Will a hypnotherapist help with this?
Where has baby Cory gone?

You will also meet Linda.
She used to be Sam's girlfriend.
She is a manipulative and mentally ill woman.
He will not back down from anything.
She did everything to make Sam turn his back on his sister Claire.
Not only that, she did everything to cut him off from his friends.
They quarrelled very often.
How did Sam and Linda break up?
I didn't like Linda.
She is a very toxic person.
What happened to her?

I was very scared while reading this book.
I felt sorry for the main character.
I had some suspicions about the culprit.
I knew who the killer was.
I was 99.9% sure who the kidnapper was.
Were my suspicions correct?
You will find out by reading this novel.
It's worth reading.
It draws you in from the first moment.
It grabs you in its claws and doesn't want to let go.
An interesting plot, good action and extraordinary characters make this book flow.
I was shocked after reading it.
A very interesting psychological thriller with a surprising finale.
The perfect story for all thriller lovers.
Do you dare to read it?
Watch as Sam gets to the truth.
Will the truth set him free?
Or would she nail him further and send him to hell?
I encourage you to read this book.
The author portrayed her characters perfectly.
She described the problems they were struggling with perfectly.
If you have problems, don't be afraid to talk about them.
Profile Image for Bea.
63 reviews12 followers
February 7, 2023
I could see where this book was going from the beginning. That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the multiple POVs and the jumps from past & present. The author does a good job of ending a chapter with a cliffhanger, making the reader want to read “just one more chapter” to see what happens next. It was a quick & easy read and definitely a book I would recommend to someone who is interested in reading thrillers, but not fully sure where to start.

Sam & Lindy both are faced with dark secrets that they would rather keep hidden and Tessa was the poor woman caught in the middle of it. Tessa could be aggravatingly annoying at points (her people pleasing making her say yes to things she doesn’t fully agree with) but what I love most about books like this are the questionable narrators. Great book!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance of reading this.
250 reviews2 followers
March 15, 2023
What a fantastic debut novel. Sam has a great life with his lovely wife and beautiful baby daughter. Sam suffers from a sleep disorder and one day he wakes up to find his wife dead and his daughter missing.
Told from multiple character points of view and multiple time lines the story us well written and very engaging. Sadly i gueesed rhe twist about half way through and this did spoil my enjoyment a little as it became slighly predictable. The ending and final twist were good but i felt too many loose ends were tied up too quickly. I wanted more.
Thank you to bet gallery and the publisher for the arc. Look firward to the next novel.
Profile Image for Heather (tales.of.a.bookbound.mom).
352 reviews32 followers
February 13, 2023
This was a great quick thriller. You’ll always capture my attention when the word sleepwalker is in the title because it’s one of the things that freak me out the most. Although I ended up knowing where it was going, it was still suspenseful and required some guesswork. I think that a character you love to hate versus a character that’s annoyingly unlikeable is a fine line to walk and this author got it right. The antagonist was a pleasure to hate. Great read that I’d recommend.
Profile Image for Sarah Westfield .
35 reviews3 followers
February 13, 2023
I started off the book intrigued by Sam’s condition and thought it was something new as I’d never come across it in any other book I’ve read, however I soon worked out the Lindy/Bella link which I was disappointed to have figured it out so soon into the book,

I felt sorry for Sam for loosing tessa and Cora and having no idea what had happened to them. And having his best friend Mike turn on him.

Luckily he had claire turn up.

However even though I worked out the plot early on I didn’t expect the ending to change in the last sentence.
Profile Image for Jane.
285 reviews
February 19, 2023
Tessa and Sam are a married couple with a newborn named Cora. Sam has a sleeping disorder called parasomnia where he sleepwalks and could be violent. Sam wakes up to find Tessa dead next to him in bed and Cora missing. Sam questions whether he did something while sleepwalking. He’s been unintentionally violent to Tessa while sleepwalking. While investigating, the police suspect Sam. Tessa struggled with getting pregnant and struggled postpartum. She was insecure with being a mother. She befriends her beautiful neighbor Bella who seems not to like babies. Bella ends up being Sam’s psychotic ex who’s name was Lindy. Sam broke up with her years ago after she became abusive to him even physically. Bella couldn’t get pregnant with Sam so when she sees Sam after years she decides to buy a house near him and befriends his wife. She makes up a plan to get Tessa to take sleeping pills she gave her then go into her house with the key she copied and take Cora. She has a delusion that Cora is her daughter and that Sam wants to be with her again. She ends up going into their house and picking up Cora but she finds Sam sleepwalking and Tessa wakes up so she ends up suffocating Tessa with a pillow. She takes Cora to a cottage where Sam remembers is near a castle Lindy wanted to go inside to when she was a child but her mother was very nasty to her. Lindy burned the house down with her parents and even killed another man named Paul who she was involved with and he was cheating on her. Sam sees Lindy at a store and follows her to a cliff overlooking water. She appeared to be holding Cora and throws her over the cliff. Sam lunged at her sending her over. He finds out it wasn’t Cora and that Cora was left alone at the cottage. In the end the police let him know Lindy survived and is in the hospital . Sam also tells the secret of being in the car with his dad when he was a child and causing them to crash killing the father and scarring his own face because he found out his father had a mistress and was leaving his family. This was supposed to be the reason for his sleepwalking. The last chapter tells what happened the night of Tessa getting suffocated and Cora taken. The last sentence is left for us to guess who sat down in the bed and who’s dark eyes she saw before the pillow was placed on her face.

The chapters alternate between past to present. There are twists especially the last sentence of the book. One twist is predictable. There were parts that dragged. The characters were ok. I did feel bad for Tessa especially being a new mom and dealing with Sam’s sleepwalking. I even felt bad for Lindy aka Bella because she became psychotic from her abusive childhood especially from her mother and from not being able to get pregnant.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Oksana (myreadsjournal).
207 reviews20 followers
February 21, 2023
Wow, what a ride this book's been! 🤯 I have been so much into good thrillers lately, and this book definitely delivered what I was looking for.

The story follows Sam Fulford - a happily married man to a beautiful and loving wife Tessa, a happy and proud father to a beautiful baby girl Cora. To the outside world - a happy and beautiful family that many could envy. But Sam suffers from a condition which doesn't allow the happy couple to enjoy their relationship and parenthood to its fullest. Sam's a sleepwalker, and not just a kind who wakes up in the middle of the night to wander through the house, no. He becomes an entirely different person, completely unrecognisable, cold, angry, and even violent at times.

His life changes completely when one morning he wakes up to find his beautiful wife laying dead beside him, and his daughter is nowhere to be found. Did Sam kill Tessa during one of his episodes? But where's Cora? Did he do something to her? No, it can't be, he couldn't have! But where is she, then? What happened?!

I'll be honest, I started getting my suspicions at around maybe 60% of the book, but I was also welcomed with a few surprising gasps of my own as the story unfolded. My heart was pounding fast, my breathing was so fast, oof! Exactly what you're looking for when reading thrillers! So good!

I loved that this book is told in multiple POVs, and in dual timelines: before Tessa is murdered and after aka present day. In the beginning I felt as the story lacked something to keep me drawn to it and not wanting to put the book down, but as I read more and more of it that's exactly the stage I got: I couldn't put it down until I knew what the hell happened exactly.

The minute I reached the end I couldn't hold all the goosebumps, and the way this book ended makes you want to have just an extra chapter to know what happens next! I love and hate this feeling at the same time - love it because damn it's so good! Hate it because I know I can't have more.

Overall I really enjoyed The Sleepwalker. It was shocking, it was raw - especially when talking about motherhood -, and it kept me on edge until the very last page.

Thank you NetGalley and Laura George for giving me the opportunity to read this book! Coming out February 26th, 2023.
Profile Image for Charlotte Baddeley.
234 reviews9 followers
March 12, 2023
I have to stop reading amazing psychological thrillers. Nothing is getting done in our house. As psychological thrillers go, The Sleepwalker is right up there. I’m more of a four star reviewer. Normally there is something that just loses that one point but The Sleepwalker is a five star, recommend to your friends thriller.

Told from the point of view of three protagonist, Tessa, Sam and Lindy, in a before and present timeline, this is a story about so many damaged people. For me this added to the enjoyment because it was much more than a villain versus the good guys. Sam is very damaged. We know this because he suffers from a sleep disorder which means he has no clue what he is capable of during his nightmares. I found Sam, who is supposed to be one of the good guys, a bit of a conundrum. At times incredibly sweet and considerate at others quite short tempered and angry. Of course, all the way through the book I was desperate to find out what caused Sam’s sleep disorder. I think Laura George wrote the character of Tessa brilliantly. I have never been a new mum but the way the character of Tessa is written seems to me to describe the all encompassing exhaustion and fear that I imagine a dependent new born brings. Especially as Tessa has already lost a child to miscarriage. Lindy, Sam’s ex is also very damaged. Although she is an evil manipulator, her childhood means you have to have some empathy with her, whilst hating her. So what a mix and what a story.

Of course I guessed what was going on about half way through the book but I think that is what we are meant to believe. This story is about so much more than the bad guy. And as for the ending. Well what an ending and we are left with so many questions. Another chapter would have solved that but isn’t it better we make up our own minds about what actually happened and what happens next?
552 reviews9 followers
March 10, 2023
I was quite excited to read this book when I saw the blurb, and I am happy to say that this book did not disappoint. I loved the multiple POVs and timelines and how the story comes together, how all it all merges together, clicks together, and makes sense. The book sucks you in from the first chapter, even if at first some things seem weird. It all makes sense later. In fact, the book is constructed in such a unique way, and the story is told in such a way that it makes this book stand out from all the huge crowd of psychological thrillers out there, and it does so in a very good way. Although I am usually not a fan of open endings, this one also felt different. Yet I would prefer to have a bonus chapter!
Tessa and her feelings regarding motherhood were way too relatable for me. I remember all that damn too well. All the insecurities. All the fears. All the worries. All the tiredness. Also, I still do not have the answer to the question of how other mothers do it. Yet they somehow do. Yet some have more kids than me and they still somehow do.
Enter Tessa’s perfect friend Bella. Uh-huh. If that is Tessa’s idea of a BFF, I don’t know what her idea of a stranger is.


Also, me and my notes:
- I’m at 12% only and the book has sucked me in so much already – mostly because of Tessa being so relatable with her friendship and motherhood struggles.
- I’m at 24%. I think I know what and who this BFF Bella really is. But is she, really?
- I’m at 82%. Oh sheet.



I believe this is the first published book by LC George, and after reading this she is yet another author I will be keeping an eye on and eagerly reading anything she writes and publishes.
Profile Image for Farida  Yasser .
381 reviews15 followers
February 6, 2023
You wake up with your wife murdered next to you, your 3-month old baby is missing, everyone thinks you're the culprit.
The problem? You aren't sure they're wrong...
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This book was really interesting to say the least, I'm usually not a big fan of going back and forth with time every chapter, but surprisingly, this time I felt more intrigued with the timeline.
I liked how the book's main focus was on the psychological problems of every character, Sam's fear and confusion about what happened the night of the murder, Tessa's postpartum depression and anxiety about her baby's safety, and Bella's manipulative and controlling nature.
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The thing with this book is that it wasn't about discovering who did it, you could work it out from the beginning, it was about the process of unraveling all secrets to finally understand the reason behind everything.
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What caused this book to be a 4 stars only one, was the ending, it was an open end, the last twist, literally the last page, felt like a punch I wasn't ready for, I also wanted closure, the way things ended, a disaster is currently in the making, so yeah, I'm still attached.
Another thing that frustrated me, was how the author ended every chapter with a Cliffhanger, mostly in the form of a question, which felt exhausting because of how much the same technique was repeated.
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In the end, I consider this book as a success, definitely hooking and kept me engrossed the whole time.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Profile Image for Kalyani More.
98 reviews7 followers
February 18, 2023
ARC BOOK REVIEW 🚨
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Book- The sleep walker
Author - L C george
Genre- Physiological Thriller
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My rating- 2.5/5 🌟🌟
Goodreads - 3.6/5
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Trigger warning ⚠️- Kidnapping, Murder, physical abuse.

Thankyou netgalley for the ARC of the sleep walker by L C George.

The sleep Walker by LC George was little below average read for me. The was like okish. I'm saying this because there are a lot of thriller suspense books that are based on this topic that is sleep walking, so the concept as such is not very much unique. If I have to describe the premise in a few words, man who has problem with sleep walking and has encountered a few violent acts while sleep walking, one morning when he wakes up you finds his wife dead in his bed and his baby's missing. All and all story revolves around the mystery of who killed the wife and what happened to the missing baby.

Honestly I could not established a connection with the characters. And the plot felt very flat. Also the climax was very much predictable. The good part of the book was it is bingeable in a few hours.

But I would definitely like to read more title spy the same motor as a writing styles superb easy to read easy to understand. overall 2 star read.

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Profile Image for Riley K. .
683 reviews10 followers
March 21, 2023
Our dreams can be forgotten. But our nightmares will haunt us forever.

Sam Fulford is living a perfectly normal life, except for one little thing: a strange sleep condition that causes him to roam in the night and occasionally become violent.

So when Sam wakes one devastating morning to discover his wife dead beside him and his baby daughter missing, his whole world implodes. Did he accidentally kill his wife during a night time episode? If so, where is his baby?

Just as Sam begins to accept the possibility that he is guilty, he finds a photograph that makes him realise someone else may be involved, that he may be innocent and might yet find his missing daughter.

But there’s a complication. Sam has a dark secret that he just can't allow to surface. And it’s soon made clear to him that if he presses on with his quest to find out what happened that terrible night, his secret will be revealed to the world.

Leaving Sam wondering whether it might be better to confess to a crime he’s not even certain he committed. Faced with an unimaginable dilemma, Sam begins to wonder: would it be better for everyone if he was guilty?

Filled with shocking secrets and a sinister twist, The Sleepwalker is a gripping psychological thriller that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Holy plot twists. I thought this book was amazing. My first read and not my last by L C George. Will recommend to this story to those who love thrillers.
Profile Image for Melissa T.
71 reviews5 followers
March 26, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. From the first chapter it gripped my interest and did not let go until the very end.

A father wakes to find his wife dead in bed next to him and his baby girl missing from her bassinet beside the bed, He harbours a dark side - he sleepwalks and has no recollection of what happens during the night when he goes into a sleepwalking state. He has also been known to do some bad things when he is asleep. Did he kill his wife? Where is his daughter? Will his past come back to haunt him? An unlikely ally shows up to help him figure out the mystery behind it all (someone has has not spoken to in years) - I questioned why they showed up and what was going to come out regarding the father's past.

This book had me questioning a lot of things. Was the father capable of hurting his family? Where was the baby? What bad things had he done in his sleep in the past? It did have a few jaw dropping moments, that's for sure.

At a few points in the book I thought I had it figured out but then a small twist would happen and throw me for a loop. It was a quick read but a very good one. I am looking forward to reading other books by this author.

I would recommend this book for a quick, twist read with a pretty shocking ending.
594 reviews14 followers
March 22, 2023
MAR ‘23 - 4 STARS.
DESCRIPTION : Sam Fulford is living a perfectly normal life, except for one little thing: a strange sleep condition that causes him to roam in the night and occasionally become violent. So when Sam wakes one devastating morning to discover his wife dead beside him and his baby daughter missing, his whole world implodes. Did he accidentally kill his wife during a night time episode? If so, where is his baby?
Just as Sam begins to accept the possibility that he is guilty, he finds a photograph that makes him realise someone else may be involved, that he may be innocent and might yet find his missing daughter.

REVIEW :
Author’s debut book who posts on Facebook’s Psychological Thriller Readers Group. For $.99 thought I’d give it a try. Lots of suspense and anticipation in this book waiting to learn about the husbands disorder. Moves along at a good pace and kept me a little frightened of Tessa’s situation. A few hints early on had me suspicious of this book’s direction and the sinister side to come. Twisty read for me from beginning to end. Kept me thinking about the characters even when I wasn’t reading.
Profile Image for Full of Lit.
469 reviews11 followers
January 29, 2023
The blurb for this book really drew me in! There’s been so many cases of the crazy and quite frankly scary things that sleepwalkers have done in their sleep. This book was a great exploration of parasomnias.

Sam and Tess are new parents that whole overwhelmed are still overjoyed with their new baby. This joy is overshadowed by Sam’s sleepwalking. We’re not just talking wandering to get cookies in the middle of the night. No no…. Sam is a completely different person when he sleepwalks. Irritable, rash, and sometimes violent.

This book is told in duel timelines between Tess BEFORE she is killed and Same present day AFTER she has been murdered. There’s a lot of twists and turns in this book that make it a great domestic thriller.

I did find it to be a bit drawn out, and a bit predictable once you hit the halfway mark so there was no dire need to find out what was going on. It was pretty obvious so you’re just reading the book to the end waiting for what you already know is going to happen to unfold on the pages.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!
Profile Image for Deb.
544 reviews7 followers
March 16, 2023
Told from three different perspectives this book also takes us from the present day to six months earlier, before his wive was murdered and his baby was safe, then back to the present day, this is a dual layered story about a family with a member of the family hiding a dark secret.

Told from several points of view as well as the time slips works really well, the only drawback from it is that it makes the big reveal not so big as you can see what’s coming. However, that aside, it is all in all a really great read and anyone who loves a good psychological thriller will devour this book in one sitting!

It has the content and the quality to make this book one of those books that you really can’t put down. Each character is expertly written, with all their flaws, leaving you routing for some while really disliking a certain one! Everyone loves a good antagonist!

The Sleepwalker was published on 26 Feb. 2023 so graphic yourself a copy now, either from your local bookshop, library or the link below. This book is also available to read for free with Kindle Ulimited.
Profile Image for D.
233 reviews43 followers
March 17, 2023
One star because I really wanted to a write a review.
First of all I want to know those people who are giving only 4 and 5 stars on this book leaving no hope for me to trust these sources anymore.
I have nothing against the author and I am not really good at writing reviews however I owe this to all my fellow book lovers. So here I go….
1. Can anyone tell me what is ‘goose pimples’ and if this term accepted world wide also the use of the term is frequent which did make me feel that it is a real word.
2. Suspense after every chapter between the gap when you are reading present and past and then present again so it gives you a major soap opera feels.
3. It is unnecessarily exaggerated wasting around 200 pages perhaps more as the author could’ve made it really short and less annoying. Do not read 400 pages with usage of commas coming out of nowhere in the middle as if the author decided to give it a touch while flipping pages and a sober person wouldn’t do this to another person.

Pass it for your sanity :)
Profile Image for H.S. Burney.
Author 6 books159 followers
March 29, 2023
This was a great read that kept me glued to my screen the entire time! The writer has a really smooth, highly readable style which compels you to keep reading. The characters were well-defined and the author did a great job putting me inside each one's head. Whether it's trauma, psychosis, or an aching inferiority complex, the author did a great job of depicting it.
I figured out the twist approximately 60% of the way through the book. But I had no desire to put it down. I wanted to know the 'why' behind it. I wanted a description of how the events unfolded. And the writing was paced perfectly to pull me into the following chapter.
There was one question that was left unanswered until the very end, which I thought was a very clever plot device by the author. I got 97% of the way through and everything was wrapped up and I started to feel disappointed that maybe that question hovering over my mind will not be answered. But LC George did not disappoint!
Overall, a great read. Looking forward to reading more from the author.
298 reviews4 followers
April 11, 2023
Tessa and Sam appear to have it all ~ a lovely home, a marriage most would envy and a beautiful baby daughter. But there's a fly in the proverbial ointment ~ Sam suffers with parasomnias, sleep disturbances which can cause him to lash out. When Sam wakes one morning next to the body of his dead wife and with his baby daughter missing, he begins to question whether he could have been responsible for such a heinous act.

Told from the perspective of the current for Sam and from the past for Tessa The Sleepwalker is a truly disturbing tale. Add in Tessa's enigmatically mysterious and too perfect friend Bella and you have a story that will keep you turning the pages until the very end. And just when you think you've worked out the mystery, there's one final twist that'll have you questioning everything you though you knew.

This is the first of the author's books that I've read, but it certainly won't be the last.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Jenny M.
175 reviews4 followers
July 27, 2023
Sam suffers from a strange sleep condition, called parasomnia, leading him to sometimes roam the house at night or even become violent.

Sam wakes up one morning to discover that his wife, Tessa, is dead. His newborn baby, Cora, is missing. The police find out about Sam's condition and instantly make him a suspect. Sam even begins to doubt himself. The plot mainly revolves around Sam wondering if he did indeed kill his wife, or if someone else is involved.

I had this one figured out at about 60% through. There was one final twist in the epilogue. Also predicted that one, but it still made for a thrilling ending! The multiple POV's/timelines lead to the "big reveal" being very easy for the reader to figure out. This book had a lot of potential. Had it been written in a different form, the reveal at the end would have been shocking and exciting. The first half of the book was super exciting, but once I had figured things out, it sort of dragged on.

Thank you Inkubator Books and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Christiana.
84 reviews23 followers
April 1, 2023
The blurb of this book is what really drew me in, the premise was there and for a debut author, the writing was really good. However, while this book held such great promise, the back and forth from past to present was way too much whiplash for me, making it not enjoyable. When I would be getting into the story in the present, suddenly we are sprang back into the past, with details that were frankly unnecessary and could’ve been cut down significantly. I could definitely tell what the twist was early on, a bit predictable and Sam’s trauma that caused his sleeping issue was lack luster to say the least. Also, the therapy sessions would’ve been a great part to expand on and give us more about his past and to see how the session went. Overall not bad for a debut novel and I’m sure more to come with this author as she develops
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