The Sleepover
An absolutely gripping, emotional thriller about a mother's worst nightmare
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3.9 • 9 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
WHO WOULD YOU TRUST TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE?
'An exciting rollercoaster of a read with twists I wasn't expecting. Loved it' Claire Douglas
'I was gripped . . . A real page-turning thriller' Susan Lewis
'Fast-paced, relentlessly tense and terrifying' Claire Allan
'Guaranteed to keep you awake all night!' Phoebe Morgan
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Izzy is thrilled when her shy, 12-year-old son is invited for his first sleepover. Nick has spent years being isolated and picked on; he deserves a night of fun and friendship.
But Izzy is also nervous: it's a year to the day since bullies put Nick in hospital. She drops him off at his new best friend's house with mixed feelings. Arriving to collect him the following morning, her worst fears come true . . .
Nick isn't there.
Who has taken her son?
And will she ever get him back?
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A gripping and emotional thriller, perfect for fans of Claire McGowan's What You Did, Karen Cole's Deceive Me and Jane Shemilt's Little Friends.
What everyone's saying about Samantha King's thrillers...
'Intense and twisty . . . I loved this book!' Karen Dionne, international bestseller and author of The Wicked Sister
'Deeply unsettling - I couldn't put it down!' Isabel Ashdown, author of Lake Child
'I loved this . . . It played in my darkest fears as a parent and sped along to a jaw dropping and unforeseen conclusion' Niki Mackay, author of I, Witness
'Tautly plotted and thought-provoking . . . I raced through it' Joanna Barnard, author of Hush Little Baby
'Taunt, tense and very clever' Claire Douglas, bestselling author of Then She Vanishes
'Absolutely loved this book! A real psycho thriller that had me gasping and even wanting to hide at times' Susan Lewis, bestselling author of Home Truths
'Exceptional . . . A first class, gripping triumph' Claire Allan, bestselling author of Her Name Was Rose
'Nail-biting' Saskia Sarginson, bestselling author of The Twins
'I raced through it . . . It is BRILLIANT!' Lisa Hall, author of The Party
'Tense, gripping, emotional, shocking, mind-twisting' Alex Caan, author of First to Die
'Completely gripping . . . had me glued to the pages' Jenny Oliver, author of The House We Called Home
'Draws you right in from the first page . . . packs a devastating emotional punch' Eleanor Moran, author of Too Close to Comfort
Customer Reviews
Too many niggles to be 5*
The basic story could have been very good but a number of things got in the way for me.
First, it was written mainly in the present tense. I have seen books where this can be effective in building tension, for example, but here it was just annoying.
Most of the characters weren’t convincing or fleshed out enough.
I disliked the mother of the missing boy from the start, partly because of the way she spoke to other adults and was ready to fall out with anyone who disagreed with her. She seemed to have a history of this before the story started.
She had reasons for being anxious and protective of her son, Nick, but she carried this to the extreme. I don’t think many boys would appreciate their mothers holding their hands in public, stroking their hair, talking about the man in the moon to them - and all the rest of it - when they were 12, even if they had been bullied. From the start I suspected that the boy had merely run away to escape from her. (Maybe he did.)
The story felt disjointed in the way, usually through phone calls, new information and suspects were dropped into the plot. The number of suspects and attempted twists seemed like a writer trying too hard. They never surprised or shocked me or added to the tension.
There were occasional things in the plot that didn’t seem quite right and therefore jarred. Would a secondary school teacher really turn up at the house of distraught mother on a psychedelic skateboard? Without giving away too much of the plot, why would a desperately anxious person hiding from a potential murderer not be worried to find the sliding patio door slightly open? I could go on.
It must be me not appreciating the author’s writing style as I see most of the reviews are much more positive. If you think I’m being petty, you might also find it to be worthy of 4* or 5*.
Stunning follow-up to The Choice
An extremely good second novel from author Samantha King.
This psychological thriller takes the reader through the nightmare of mother, Izzy when her son goes missing during a sleepover. This novel takes the reader through twists and turns, the mind field and dangers of social media and a mother’s desperate search to discover what happened to her son.
A real blockbuster read - highly recommended for fans of Clare Makintosh, Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins.