The Sleeper Lies by Andrea Mara was a well written shivers down the spine type of story. The first chapter exposes your fears, goose pimples on the skin, and will have you checking your house for uninvited guests. The author did an excellent job keeping your attention and your fear close by. The characters were solid and the plot was belieavable. The “who done it” solution was clever, and I didn’t see it coming, which is always a sign of a good mystery/thriller to me.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions expressed are my own. ( )

This was my first book by Andrea Mara and I found it enjoyable. I admit it took me a bit to really get into the story, but once I did I was fully involved.

Marianne is a single woman who lives in a very rural area in a house that belonged to her father. The story relies on a lot of Marianne’s history with the town and her relationships. The way she came to be living there and those reasons may or may not be related to the odd things occurring now.

There’s also a backstory about mother and Marianne’s involvement in an online serial killer group, which I feel is meant to distract readers away from the real culprit. And it does work. Ms. Mara throws out a lot of little tidbits throughout the book to distract this way.

The mystery begins with Marianne noticing footprints outside her bedroom window in the snow. Since she lives alone, this definitely freaks her out. She starts to feel it may be related to her mother who was murdered since her killer was never caught.

It seems like the story goes in a circle until the conclusion which did come to a surprise to me. I did not guess who was doing the creepy stuff until right before it was revealed.

Thank you to BookSirens for a free advance copy in exchange for my honest review. ( )

This was a really great thriller! It sucked me in from the very first page and kept me totally hooked until the end. A real page-turner, and it absolutely kept me guessing on the truth behind the multiple mysteries. I loved all the various characters and the fact that it jumped around in time worked really well for the story. Truly a gripping book that I had to keep reading once I started. ( )

Living alone can be peaceful but also dangerous as this woman discovers when she awakens one snowy morning and sees deep footprints leading up to her bedroom window. By the depth of the prints she knows the watcher had stood there for a long time…just watching her sleep. This person didn’t just happen upon her cabin as it is literally in the middle of nowhere. The author, Andrea Mara didn’t just pull this account out her head and put it down on paper…it is based on a true event that happened at her Dad’s snow covered garden… and that no one could explain. Meet the main character, Marianne who is a True Crime fan as well as member of various online forums for “armchair detectives”…. people who try to investigate crimes and missing persons cases via the internet. Her two worlds’ are on a collision course that no one can stop. It’s a story within a story that takes the reader on a journey from a small community set in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland to a small town in Denmark. The atmosphere is unnerving and there is a permanent chill in the air throughout that has nothing to do with the snowstorm. ( )

An excellent complex thriller with a great storyline and plenty of plot twists. Family secrets abound in this thriller. A very add I give read with very realistic characters. I highly recommend this thrilling story. ( )