I love a book
that I can pick up and that has me turn turn turning the pages til I’m done, especially
when, like over the last couple of months, I’ve been in a bit of a reading
slump. If He Wakes, the debut novel
from Zoe Lea is that book. I read it a while ago but I’ve been holding off on reviewing
because, well, because today is my spot on the blog tour and it would have been
a little but counter-productive to post about it before then.
Anyhow.
What’s the
deal. If He Wakes is about friendships and relationships and love and
trust and ALL OF THOSE THINGS THAT MAKE FOR SUCH A GRIPPING STORY.
Rachel finds a
message on Twitter that leads her to think her husband is cheating; Susie, her
bestie, gets all her bank cards frozen and can’t get in touch with her fiancé and
it seems like people have been keeping secrets all over the place – secrets and
questions and answers that aren’t answers and twists all over the show and I just
– liked it a lot. The thing about thrillers – although is this a thriller? – is
that they’re really hard to review without being super spoilery and I’m always
torn between doing a massive spoiler alert and GOING FOR IT or just testing
myself to see how much I can say without saying too much. Ha. Anyway, this be a
spoiler free zone because all you need to know, really, is that I liked this
book, it’s gripping and it’s intense and if you need a quick read this summer
then this is one you could put on your list. It’s an aeroplane book, you know?
You could totally read it on a flight to Tenerife. I will say this though: it
gets a bit dark and it deals with some pretty heavy stuff. Full disclosure, except
not really because no spoilers.
It did take a
while to get going, and I won’t lie, the first half of the book did drag a
little bit – not so much that I was bored or tempted to give up, but it
definitely could have been a bit, I don’t know, tighter, enough that I was sort
of wishing it would just get there
and then it did. You know like when you go to the theatre and the play suddenly
gets so much better once you’ve had
your glass of wine at the interval? That.
I worked out
where it was headed, but there was enough going on that it didn’t happen right
away and didn’t bother me once I’d had that lightbulb moment; it was a smashing
read regardless. I also really liked the whole first person – third person
switch in viewpoints. Super clever, that and really effective. I’m a fan of
well done split narrative and it worked well here. Also, it’s set in Chester
which is fairly near to me, about an hour and a half maybe, anyhow, we all know
how I love a book set in a place I have an idea of so it has that going for it
also.
In a nutshell,
this is a strong debut and its worth a read. You can get a copy here. 
