I remember his lips feeling salty and soft... This is where I threw in the towel for good. You cannot FEEL salty. His lips can TASTE salty. Unless you meant his lips felt grainy, which seems unpleasant, and doesn't fit the context of this ~~romantic~~ scene. Feeling salty... foh!!!

The pacing is on the slower side, but I was pulled in immediately by Isabelle’s voice. The structure of the narrative, coupled with the moody atmosphere, works to slowly build a palpable level of tension. I thought I had everything figured out, but I was caught off guard by one of the twists. Isabell decides that Valerie was the person carrying Mason around at night because they looked alike. She accuses Valerie of taking her son.It might seem like nothing could disturb that sort of tranquility...but with an effortless toss of ONE tiny pebble...the whole pond becomes a moving, rippling being, ever-changing and ever-surprising. Isabelle thinks that Detective Dozier knows the truth about Valerie’s death. But she tells her false version of the narrative on Waylon’s podcast, casting suspicion on Ben for Allison’s death. I had come to think of him as a library book, entering my life on rented time. Something that I could enjoy for a few hours, curled up and comfortable, devouring as much of him as possible before our time was up. And because he wasn’t mine, I couldn’t scribble in the margins or write my name on the spine; I couldn’t leave my mark on him in any discernable way.” Isabelle Drake can’t sleep. Even as a child she struggled with what happened after she closed her eyes at night. Her repeated sleepwalking episodes were a mystery to her parents and troubling to her little sister, Margaret, who adored her big sister but was frightened by these behaviors.

In this book, Willingham creates a really creepy and unsettling thriller out of the subject of sleepwalking. How is it I never realised how creepy sleepwalking can be until now? Both for the sleepwalker themselves and for those around them. The truth is, people love violence—from a distance, that is. Anyone who disagrees is either in denial or hiding something.” Isabelle Drake has never been perfect. In fact, she's felt extreme guilt since she was a child. But so much about her childhood seems to be behind a curtain of things she doesn't want to think about and things she can't quite remember. Instead, she moves forward and is thrilled when she is hired at her dream job.This is where Isabelle finds herself when her son goes missing in the middle of the night. "I was asleep the whole night" she says when the police ask, and it's true-- she was. Isabelle recalls moving to Savannah after college to write for The Grit. Ben was the editor-in-chief. A couple inherits an apartment with a spine-tingling past in this unputdownable thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six. For her though, she just couldn't understand how Ben seemed to move on after Mason. He gave up on him. Isabelle can't do that. She's not going to chalk it up as a loss and move on. Her son could still be out there. She refuses to see him as gone forever. Isabelle avoids Waylon. She wonders if he’s been searching her house. She watches more of the baby monitor footage and sees herself sleepwalking.

The book is very fast paced and the reveals to the different parts of the mystery come at regular intervals that allowed me to remain engaged with the story rather than getting bored. I'm glad I gave Willingham another chance and will be interested to see what she comes up with next. Isabelle Drake’s toddler son Mason was kidnapped a year ago. She hasn’t slept since. The case is now cold, with no clues and no leads for the police. Even her marriage is over, not being able to stand the strain of a missing child. Isabelle tries to keep the investigation active by speaking about Mason at true crime cons. At one such event, she bumps into a crime podcaster who wants to highlight Mason in his next show. But as they proceed with this, Isabelle starts questioning her own memories of what happened that night. Oh hey there! Listen to Novels & Nonsense Podcast episode 2: Goodreads & Bad Reads to hear me discuss this book and more. Can't wait to hear what you think💖As this is advertised as a thriller in every blurb and almost every review, I was hoping for something fast and high-octane. But this was too slow and meandering for my mood. Thank God for the audiobook!