As I read on though, some things really got to me. Mary is supposedly an attorney, but she asks the simplest questions about crime and evidence. Also, Mary’s husband is actually kind of the worst and I just could not stand reading about how terribly unhelpful he was. I actually wanted to slap the man through the book. What a dud. The Dead Ground is the second installment in the Paula McGuire book series. It begins from where, The Lost, the first installment had left off from. The protagonist, Paula McGuire is still a forensic psychologist who resides in the small town of Ballyterrin, North Ireland. Paula lives with her father, who is a former policeman, while at the same time she is still chasing the ghost of her mother that has constantly been haunting her. With that said, Paula is an exceedingly likable character, who made lots of mistakes, with Aiden O’Hara, the newspaper owner, and DI-Guy, her boss. However, despite the number of mistakes that Paula has done, she still has work to do, considering the fact that a baby has been snatched from the hospital and everyone is racing against time to locate the missing baby. Apart from having the theme of pregnancy, this book also has the theme of missing babies, which proved to be both compelling and disturbing at the same time. How can you make the MC a lawyer who asks questions like: "Wasn't it a crime to hide evidence too? But how did they even know that's what it was?" GURL??? ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS. THE BAG BELONGS TO A MISSING GIRL. OFC IT'S EVIDENCE. AND YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT'S A CRIME. HAVE YOU NEVER WATCHED CRIMINAL MINDS?? EVEN A LIL NCIS??? CMON!!!

Set in the depths of London, Are You Awake? is a book drenched in atmosphere, suspense and deceptions. The insomniac angle is a fascinating one which I understand too well. The first half of the book is anxiety-inducingly slow in such the best possible way and gets snappy the last half. It is told mostly from the perspectives of Mary and Tim but also occasionally by a third. Though Mary's occupation as a lawyer isn't convincing enough to add depth, it did not really matter to me as the story is super good. If you seek a clever and atmospheric thriller to curl up with, make it this one. From the bestselling author of What You Did comes a chilling story about a missing girl and two potential witnesses. They both think they saw her. But can they trust their own eyes? The plot had really nice build to it, everything went well until the end. The ending is a bit rushed but it didn't ruin it for me.

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Mary wound me up with how she was with her children. She didn’t even sound like she wanted them, was the author hinting at PPD? If so, it was way too subtle and came across instead as Mary just moaning constantly. I have chosen not to have kids as I like my sleep, my time and everything that comes with not having kids. This is a choice; Mary chose to have not just 1 but 2 kids very close together in age. I just found her winding me up constantly! What is exhilarating about this novel, is that it takes place during a time when the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are working hand in hand so as to find out what happened to the missing people such as Paula’s mother, who had mysteriously disappeared during the Troubles. Some of the missing people were believed to have been captured by the paramilitaries, while other people believed that the missing people had decided to run away. In this installment, Paula’s family is not the only family that has lost a loved one. Apart from Paula, we are also introduced to other pivotal characters such as Paula’s boyfriend, Aiden who is in charge of the local newspaper. Aiden’s father who was the editor and the owner of the newspaper was murdered because the IRA were not happy with the stories that he wrote. That said, it was an interesting idea and it did keep me reading as I wanted to know what had happened - though the finale was a little flat; I was expecting a big twist but there were no real surprises at the end. They talk & realise that the person they both saw looked like a local missing teenager, Samantha. Her family have been on the news recently begging for her safe return, & Tim & Mary fear she has been kidnapped & is being held in the empty house on Cliveden Road. The two of them report what they have seen to the police but nothing much comes of it, so they decide to continue their own investigation. For Mary it's a chance to have something for herself outside of motherhood, whilst for Tim, it's the first time he's been interesting in anything (apart from stalking his ex-wife) for a long time. Can they trust each other though, & given their respective issues, can they even trust themselves?

There are two main narrators of this story: Tim and Mary. As the story starts they are complete strangers, but soon they will be united by their present circumstances. The story is set mainly in the outskirts of London during a boiling hot summer. A local nineteen-year-old girl called Samantha has been abducted in the dead of night, walking home from her shift as a care assistant in the Care Home. The local police have been overwhelmed by sightings. DS Alison Hegarty, herself struggling with infertility, is called in to investigate. She’s convinced the fall was not an accident, and finds the new parents have a lot to hide. Wealthy Ed and Monica show off their newborn while their teenage daughter is kept under virtual house arrest. Hazel and Cathy conceived their longed-for baby via an anonymous sperm donor―or so Hazel thinks. Although I liked Tim, and felt compassion for all he has endured-I struggled whenever the narrative switched to A few things I did NOT like about this book, please note that this is my opinion based on things to which I relate to and feel targeted with: There are a few red herrings, but equally so, they are also a paramount part of the mystery. Figure that one out. I did...and it seemed I had two answers instead of one. But which one what the truth?Furthermore I found the message, awareness around violence against women and the highlighting of the woman’s movement well done it was subtle and cleverly intertwined into the story.