Don't Wake Up

DEBUT Dr. Alex Taylor awakens in her own hospital's operating theater. To her horror, she realizes she's the victim of an assault in progress. Her masked captor asks, "What does 'no' mean?" The next time Alex comes to, she's in the emergency room. As she explains what happened, her boyfriend Patrick and the hospital staff react with barely contained skepticism. As the police investigation takes off, Alex goes from victim to prime suspect. When more deaths occur, her behavior becomes increasingly erratic. Lawler sets the tone immediately, with a terrifyingly uncomfortable scene that's so intense, even the most jaded crime fiction readers might cringe. Although Patrick stands by Alex, he doesn't believe her story, nor do the police. Even her closest friends question her sanity. Meanwhile, Alex is taunted by her attacker, forcing her to turn to an unlikely ally for support. VERDICT Lawler's disturbing, unconventional, and often distressing debut successfully examines the struggle for credibility even the most successful and respected women face when reporting a crime. Fans of dark psychological thrillers will find this one hard to put down. [See Prepub Alert, 8/10/18.]--Julie Whiteley, Stephenville, TX

December 15, 2018
As this mind-game debut thriller opens, Dr. Alex Taylor finds herself strapped to an operating-room table, with a mysterious man preparing to perform a terrifying procedure on her. Even worse, nobody believes her afterward, and, when she continues to insist she was assaulted, her sanity comes into question. As Alex is tossed back and forth between getting on with her high-pressure life and watching her career erode as she insists on the seemingly impossible, readers will be gripped by the will-they, won't-they frustration of waiting for the police (who have issues of their own) to accept the truth. For a good portion of the book, Alex and those around her refer to what happened last year, shorthand for another event that may be related to the current enigma. That mystery is sometimes awkwardly handled?wouldn't someone mention what the event was??but, overall, this is a compelling read with believable, memorable characters and an exciting setting that will appeal to fans of Grey's Anatomy and psychological thrillers like Alice LaPlante's Turn of Mind.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)