After surviving a difficult year, Natalie Marsh is heading for Ellsberg Keep, an exclusive mountain resort that promises to provide the tranquility she desperately needs. She’s eager to relax and to reconnect with her estranged cousin Lily, who works as the Keep’s nurse—a reunion that begins abruptly when an accident on the winding mountain roads lands Natalie in the infirmary in the care of her … her cousin. They have little time to bond over childhood memories, though, because everything is thrown into chaos when the owner of the Keep is rushed to the medical wing, wildly delusional and raving about a murder plot.
Despite Lily’s care, the owner dies. Is his death simply an accident, or are his frenzied suspicions true? Determined to help Lily cope with the loss of her patient—and the accusations that she’s to blame for his death—Natalie searches for answers and is swept into a mystery that grows more puzzling as frightening hallucinations torment the dead man’s son. When a staff member who asks too many questions disappears, it is clear that this idyllic resort harbors someone with deadly intent—and Natalie may not survive to uncover the truth.
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The twists just kept coming with this thriller. Natalie Marsh was headed to a resort with no cell service to recover, get away from it all, and reconnect with a cousin she hadn’t seen since she was a child. Little did she know she was about to get sucked into family drama beyond imagination, and it isn’t even her family.
The twists and turns in this story just keep coming. It just shows you can’t trust anyone when money and inheritances are involved. Natalie gets way more than she bargained for on this vacation. This one just kept me guessing until the very end.
If I was less eloquent, I would review this book by saying, “WOW”! Since I try harder when reviewing a book I’ll still say, “WOW” but tell you why. This novel is a non-stop thrill ride that keeps you wondering who did it and then suddenly you change your mind. I laughed as I suspected more and more characters until almost everyone in the book was a suspect. Black also has a way of adding more and more to the mystery with new baffling deaths and disappearances.
This is a game of CLUE that you won’t win because the large cast of characters are all very shady. I loved this aspect! Of course, the main characters Natalie and her boyfriend Gideon are the only ones I left off of the list. It truly is almost to the end before things start to become clear and you find out who is behind all of the chaos.
This book is a must-read for all murder/mystery suspense readers. If you are already a huge fan of Stephanie Black I know that you will love this book. If this is the first of her books you’ll get to read, I know you’ll become a fan for life. This wonderful novel earns 5 Stars from me.
TO DIE, TO SLEEP is a murder mystery that begins pleasantly and then grows in intensity to the climatic end. Readers will find themselves cheering on these characters as they try to figure out what is going on. Recommended to fans of the author and genre.
I appreciated that even though this is the third book by this author with the same main characters, it can easily be read on its own. Having only read the first book, NOT A WORD, years ago these characters weren’t real familiar to me, but I had no issues getting into this story. I also appreciated that there is a bit of romance, but it very much takes a backseat to the family and friend dynamics of this story, and especially to the mystery. This story is foremost about what the protagonist, Natalie, stumbles into when she’s supposed to be vacationing and the subsequent investigation that ensues.
I really liked these characters. It was so easy to connect with them. I also really liked the whole mysterious vibe that Ellsberg Keep emits with its hard structure and being set during the cold of winter so that it feels even more isolated. Then there’s the whole plot… full of twists and turns, which kept me guessing almost to the very end.
The only thing that didn’t quite work for me was some overly dramatic characters and their actions. Some of it just felt too convoluted and illogical. Particularly the extreme loyalty and obedience towards Trudy and then the way she hides so much. Then there was also Isabel, Jake and Charlotte.
In the end, was it what I wished for? I really enjoyed reading this one! It’s a murder mystery with plenty of twists, a creepy setting, and lovable characters. Definitely recommended!
Content: Some violence, but nothing too detailed or gory.
Source: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
This was a book that I did not want to put down. Stephanie Black wrote a book that kept me guessing until the very end. There were many plot twists and turns and unique characters that made this book a page-turner.
Ellsberg Keep sounds like an idyllic vacation … unless you work there or are related to one of the employees. Then you find out that murder and mayhem are afoot.
Natalie Marsh is a psychologist who has been involved in a few too many murder mysteries. Reconnecting with her cousin was supposed to help her relax and ready to come back to her practice. She has a supportive boyfriend who is there for her anytime, night or day, and is ready to catch a flight at the last minute to be by her side. Everything seems to be going right until her cousin is implicated in a murder.
If you love a fabulous suspense/murder mystery this book would be one you would want to read. Even if you are new to the genre this is a good place to start. I love Stephanie Black’s writing style and look forward to anything she publishes.
This book contains non-graphic violence.
Source: I received a complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
I had the opportunity to get an advanced copy of this book by Stephanie Black, and the following is my honest opinion.
I got sucked into the story pretty quick, but I also quickly found out that this book is also connected to other books by Stephanie Black. Books that I have not yet read. I must admit that I felt as though I wasn’t as connected to the characters, since I haven’t been getting to know them from the start from the other books. Despite that I still really enjoyed the book.
I was told that this book was written with Hamlet in mind, but I’m not familiar with the story of Hamlet besides the fact that it was written by William Shakespeare. You don’t need to know about Hamlet to even enjoy the book, because I certainly did. In fact, I was so frustrated with the fact that I needed to go to work and have other obligations that prevented me from just being glued to this book.
If you are like me and like to read things in order, then I was told by the author that you need to start with her book Not A Word, then read Mind Games. But if you read this book first, then you’ll be just fine as well. You’ll just want to go read them afterward so you can better understand where Natalie and Gideon are coming from.
I highly recommend this book to all who love to get woven into a thriller of a mystery.
Wow! This book was so well written and grabbed my interest from the very beginning. As the plot thickened, I would form my guesses about who was responsible, only to have conflicting evidence be presented that made me question my opinions. I was hooked the whole way through! I would definitely recommend this book!
Ellsberg Keep is a mysterious place shrouded in death and danger, and when Natalie finds herself right in the middle of the peril, she can’t seem to tear herself away, even though she’s had a rough year.
Natalie is a solid character. As a psychologist, she has experience dealing with the crazy, yet nothing could have prepared her for what she finds at Ellsberg Keep. I loved the anticipation of wondering what would happen next and thrilling whodunit element that kept me guessing.
Stephanie Black has created a subtly suspenseful story with characters who are alarmingly deceitful. I had no idea who to trust and who was going to die next. Some characters are completely creepy, with their psychotic behaviors, and others seem normal, but aren’t. Relationships aren’t always as they seem. I completely enjoyed this story and always look forward to more of these puzzling novels.
Content: mild+ violence (death–not graphic)
*I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given*
If you’re looking for a great suspense/thriller to read on Halloween, a dark and stormy night, or basically anytime this is the perfect book. The cover is eerily fantastic and the story inside is a maze of plot twists and turns.
Psychologist Natalie Marsh has had a difficult year and is overdue for some rest and relaxation, which is why she’s going to Ellsberg Keep up in the mountains, which has no cell phone reception or internet. She plans to rest and get to know her cousin Lily who she hasn’t seen since they were kids. Natalie doesn’t even make it there without literally running into a problem and within 24 hours of her arrival the owner of Ellsburg Keep is dead. (Dun, dun, dun!)
It was very hard for me to put this book down to get other things done, I NEEDED to know who was behind everything. When I thought I had it all figured out, I found out I didn’t. This happened several times!! This book is told from multiple character points of view and moves along at a great pace, with never a dull moment for the characters or the reader. Thank goodness Gideon, Natalie’s boyfriend, joins her at the Keep because I don’t think she would’ve survived her stay without him.
This is the third book in the Natalie Marsh series, but you don’t have to have read the previous books (Not a Word and Mind Games) to understand what’s going on, however, I think once you read this one you’ll want to read the other two. Move over Agatha Christie there’s a new suspense queen in town.
I don’t think I realized when I started reading this book that it was a sequel to another of Stephanie Black’s books I’d already read, “Mind Games”, or that there was another one before that one.
I also didn’t realize that this book was a modern twisted Hamlet, even though that’s the work of Shakespeare I probably knew the best because of multiple studies between junior high, high school and college. It was only after I’d started reading and things started happening that bells started ringing in my head and I asked myself, why does this seem so familiar?
Ding!!! I then remembered the title of the book, “To Die, To Sleep” and other lines from Hamlet, and various names and characters started taking on eerie simliarities. And I do mean eerie. From the beginning of the book, Natalie’s “vacation” was anything but. When things kept happening, and the body count started climbing, and it was a dark and stormy night… you get the picture.
Again, I recommend not reading in a dark room, by yourself, or in the middle of the night. Stephanie Black is a master at suspense and turning a story around until you don’t know if you are going or coming or standing in the room with a murderer, or the next victim. Or something like that.
It actually was entertaining, amidst the page turning and nail biting, to see the parallels between Hamlet and the characters, lines, settings, and even situations.
Overall, a great read. I highly recommend this book and that you seek out the rest of Stephanie Black’s books. I will be doing so myself as soon as possible.
I did receive a copy at no cost to myself and wanted to share my opinion freely, which is to stay that you really need to read this book if you like mystery, Hamlet, being a little scared, clean reads, or all of the above.
To Die To Sleep is an intriguing murder mystery set at posh resort secluded in the mountains. Natalie Marsh just needs to get away from life and reconnect with her long lost cousin Lily. When the owner of the resort dies, Lily is beside herself, she thinks she might be the reason why.
The family will do anything to maintain the reputation of Ellsberg keep, including delay the announcement of the owners death. The mourning seems callous and unexpected as the story unfolds. No one is as they seem and Natalie Marsh is trying to stay out of trouble while supporting Lily.
This is a fabulous murder mystery and keeps a reader thinking about it long after putting it down. While this story can be a stand alone novel it’s the third in a series. The first two books are Mind Games and Not A Word. I found I was missing a large part of Natalie’s background in this story, but not enough to detract from the main plot, and was glad the author Stephanie Black didn’t spend a great deal of time rehashing those other stories. It got me intrigued enough to want to go back and read her previous novels.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves, suspense stories, and murder mysteries with a little love sprinkled in. I received an advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
To Die To Sleep kept me guessing until the very end. Natalie has gone on what is supposed to be a much needed vacation to visit her cousin Lily at the exclusive resort Ellsberg Keep. From the very start her vacation turns out to be anything but peaceful as she and Lily are pulled into one mysterious death and suspicious activity after another. A complete page turner, I couldn’t predict who the villain was and even found myself questioning characters I thought it just can’t be! With a beautifully done nod to Hamlet, suspense readers are sure to love this novel. I highly recommend it!
I am not generally a reader of Suspense novels, however, upon seeing the cover of Stephanie’s new book To Die To Sleep I knew I had to read it. I can honestly say I was not disappointed by this book. I have read suspense novels in the past which were predictable and quite honest boring in their own way. I like suspense novels to hold my interest and keep me guessing. To Die To Sleep kept me guessing. I had to take a break from reading so that I could brainstorm with my husband over who could be the killer. We went over, in detail, every possible suspect. We discussed it for a good hour and then I still didn’t guess correctly. I had a moment while reading where I thought it could be a certain character but then denied that theory because it was not probable. Every guilty or tense conversation with a different character made me second guess who it could be. I would think I had it all figured out then something else would come up and I would get set back into guessing again. It wasn’t until the killer was revealed that I accepted who it was. There were plenty of clues as to who the killer was, but I ignored them by telling myself it wasn’t possible.
Stephanie kept me guessing all while getting me involved in her character’s lives. I came to know each character and it wasn’t like some books with multiple characters in lead roles where you feel overwhelmed. I felt like the characters and their roles balanced well. I do wish that some of the lesser characters had been more involved, but the book did not hinge on these characters being more prominent. I enjoyed reading this novel and will be reading more of Stephanie’s books in the future.
I will say honestly that this book is by far my favorite suspense novel because it is the first where I wasn’t bored by guessing the plot ahead of time. It held my interest, kept giving me twist when I thought I was on the right track, and kept the characters well balanced and involved in the story line.
I loved that Gideon did come out to ‘rescue’ Natalie knowing that she would refuse to be rescued which placed him into the position of her protector while she figured things out. Gideon was my favorite male character in the novel, and I worried for him when the cards seemed stacked against him. I was ready to jump into the book and smack a character for insinuating that Gideon was a suspect. If there were one thing, I would have hope for it would be for more character development of Gideon, Natalie, Lily, and Soren. I feel like Anthony was a pretty well-developed character and thought he figured more prominently than some of the main character’s.
I will recommend this book to anyone who will listen because I so thoroughly enjoyed it myself.
**Note: The views and opinions in this review are my own and not a reflection of the author or the publisher in any way.**
Stephanie Black
Imagine going on a vacation to recover from some horrible happenings in your life, only to find yourself stuck in an overpriced retreat where people keep dying. That is Natalie’s life in this book.
The author does a great job of keeping the reader guessing about who the bad guy is. Even when Natalie figured it out for real, I wasn’t entirely convinced she was right, because it wasn’t who I thought it was going to be.
I think Anthony and Finn were probably my favorite characters. The entire Ellsburg family had me shaking my head in disbelief at times. Definitely an interesting bunch of characters. Also, the setting for this story? It was supposed to be this posh (overpriced) getaway up in the mountains. To me, it came across as this spooky, dark and drafty fortress – probably due to all the dying and crazy people, but also due to the cover of the book.
This was one of those books where I’d tell myself I’d read “just to the end of the chapter,” and finally have to force myself to put the book down 4 chapters later. Not too creepy to read alone at night, but suspenseful enough that I had to keep reading in order to find out what was going to happen next.
Suspense books are some of my very favorites! I’m always happy to be a little bit scared when I know I’m perfectly safe in my house. Stephanie Black’s books are some of my very favorite suspense novels. I never quite know what to expect when I open one of her books, but I always love them. This one was no different.
I’m just going to say up front that you need to read Mind Games before this one. If you don’t, I think you’ll be a bit confused about a few things. So start there!
This book has so many different characters. And the reader gets to see things through different perspectives. I loved the way the perspectives combined to give the reader a full picture of what’s happening in this one. But it wasn’t enough to let me figure out who the killer was before it was revealed.
Natalie is a repeat character. She’s the main character in this one, as well as Mind Games. It’s always fun to me to be able to read about repeat characters. And I loved the way she was calm about everything going on in this one. She’s a psychologist, so crazy things and or people don’t bother her too much.
There are plenty of crazy things going on in the plot of this one. It keeps the reader engaged from the very beginning. I loved it!
I was sent an e-copy of To Die, To Sleep as a gift from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
I wasn’t sure where this book was going to take me. I wasn’t expecting a fortress type castle getaway in the dead of winter! Talk about things that make you go “hmmmm”. Little did I know I was in for an insane roller coaster ride. Black kept me guessing and every time I thought I had it figured out, another twist, another turn. And I didn’t know who Natalie could trust, so why was she trusting anyone? I became so paranoid I felt no one was trustworthy and I was internally screaming at her to stop sharing all of this information!!! Didn’t she know there was a killer on the loose? A true whodunnit worthy of Sherlock Holmes, To Die, To Sleep is the perfect blend of mystery and suspense. You won’t want to sleep because you will be up finishing the very last page…..and wondering how in the world it all happened. I am still rethinking it, mind blown. Five stars for this fantastic novel, it blew me away! I received a copy of this book for free; all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book was so suspenseful and keeps you guessing right up to the end. Very well written and well edited it is told from different characters POV. This is a murder mystery that takes place in a exclusive Mountain Resort where Dr. Natalie Marsh goes to spend some time reconnecting with her cousin Lily who works as a nurse in the Resort Infirmary. When the Owner dies and it seems to be Lily’s fault things start going from bad to worse and the two get tangled up in some very dangerous situations when more people start dying. This is only the second book of Stephanie Black that I have read, but I can tell you she does not disappoint. I highly recommend this book to Romantic Suspense lovers. You will not be disappointed in this one.