Jessica Jarlvi is a hugely talented writer and definitely one to watch’ SOPHIE HANNAH. A breathtaking, heart-pounding, dark debut, sure to delight fans of The Girl on the Trainand Before I Go To Sleep. When Anna, a much-loved teacher and mother of two, is left savagely beaten and in a coma, a police investigation is launched. News of the attack sends shock waves through her family and their small … shock waves through her family and their small Swedish community. Annaseems to have had no enemies, so who wanted her dead?
As loved-ones wait anxiously by her bedside, her husband Erikis determined to get to the bottom of the attack, and soon begins uncovering his wife’s secret life, and a small town riven with desire, betrayal and jealousy.
As the list of suspects grows longer, it soon becomes clear that only one person can reveal the truth, and she’s lying silent in a hospital bed…
What readers are saying about WHEN I WAKE UP…
‘An absolutely fantastic read with brilliant characters. I did not see that coming. Shocked. 5*’
‘I was in complete suspense all the way to the end. There were so many jaw dropping momentsand it has been a long time since a book has gripped me that way’
‘The reader is taken on a gripping and tensely dark ridewhere you suspect everyone! A great read’
‘The action was tension-heavy and fast-paced… I cannot WAIT to see what Jessica Jarlvi will deliver next’
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A Unique, Original and Clever Scandalous Suspense! Anna, a beloved teacher is brutally beaten and in a coma. Initially, there are no suspects. Anna’s life appears normal, with the exception of a student with some issues, plus the fact that her career takes precedence over everything other than her children. The gradual unraveling reveals the POV of Anna in tandem with the personalities and motives of the remaining characters. This was a riveting story with unique characters and the right amount of twists and turns. There’s obsession, jealousy, secrets, infidelity, manipulation, vengeance, blackmail and greed, casting plausible suspicion on most of the characters. Ends up, I was happy with the conclusion!
Great “what if” story that leads the reader down a seemly normal path, until it twists back on itself, again and again. Chilling to think…this could happen!
Anna is a no-nonsense school teacher who really tries to help as many students as she can. Sometimes students can misinterpret these intentions and become enamored of a teacher to the point they will do anything to be around the teacher and in the family dynamic that is her personal life. Add an insecure husband who has delusions of grandeur-being in a successful band which truthfully isn’t very good and he paints houses on aan ass needed basis instead of trying to find a better job. She is attacked one night and the suspect list is such that they all could have done it. I like they way the relationships between individuals as wells as sexual discovery and preferences adds to the psychological twist and complicates the journey the author takes the readers on. I enjoyed a fresh look at human nature and the circle of love.
Loved this book and will definitely buy more books from this author.
At first, the book started off a bit slowly but it picked up. It had me guessing as to who the villain was right up to the end when I finally figured it out. I enjoyed that it kept me guessing. I will definitely look for more by this author.
Kept my interest. Modern tale of love triangles and entanglements
Oh my goodness! This book took me on a wild ride that I wanted never to end! It was a thriller, a mystery, a love story, packed full of action. Anna is a popular teacher, married with two children. She is brutally attacked in the school’s parking lot, taken to hospital, and remains in a coma for some time. There are several people in her life who would have a motive, but Anna is well loved, so who would attack her? The story is told from several perspectives in alternating chapters, but it was so well done, I did not find it confusing at all, which I usually do. This will surely be a best seller!
I managed to read two thrillers set in Sweden by different authors within a week by total coincidence. this book was all over the place for me. The set up is a well-liked teacher in a small town beaten within an inch of her life and in a coma in the hospital. Her husband and twin boys are left to fend for themselves, and the police initially have no leads.
The narrative then begins to jump back and forth between present day and the previous fall at the beginning of the school year, with different characters providing POV. We get to know Anna, our teacher, better during these flashbacks and get a clearer picture of her marriage. It was interesting to see how six loosely connected or completely unconnected characters become tangled in a bizarre web.
At times the story was very compelling and I was rushing to see what would happen next. At other times it felt bogged down by unnecessary information. Anna, Iris & Daniel’s characters were fully explored, we were only provided with broad strokes for the others. Sex is prominent in this book, and at least for me, some of the scenes felt like way to much information. There was one red herring plot point that seemed so useless and did little to drive the narrative. The conclusion felt a bit anticlimactic.
A little slow. I got bored. Gave up half-way through.
Poorly written. I had to force myself to keep reading it.
I like happy endings and given all the twists and turns, I believe she ended up with the right person! Don’t want to give away the ending.
The mystery was the only thing that kept me reading. I was not all that drawn to the characters and the story seemed to drag on a little long.
Stopped reading. I couldn’t identify with the characters and I am a teacher. I tried.
Well, this is not my usual style of writing I usually read, but, found I had to read to the end to see what happened. I wanted Anna to end up with Iris even though the subject matter is not my cup of tea.
I thought it was super creepy! I still can’t get over who the “bad guy” was and you don’t know until the end!!
Wee-written but not my favorite genre.
It was a good story, but a bit stretched out.
I was enthralled at first but was u comfortable with the sex scenes.
For me it bordered on pornography!
I stopped reading after the lesbian sexual encounters.
Whiny, immature husband and an under appreciated feeling wife do not make likeable characters to me. I could not relate to any of the characters in the book. The end made no sense to me, it felt like the author wanted to get the book over with. Not my cup of tea.