I love a story set on an island, add in a woman on her own, a big creepy old house far away from any neighbours with no easy way to get help and this has all the ingredients for the perfect ghost story. This was so good! I recommend this to anyone who liked The Woman In Black
This is a deeply unsettling story about a woman called Zoe. Zoe is an artist who has decided to come to the island to get away from everything, she is renting the McBride house and is intending to do some painting while she is there, but the lonely McBride house has deep rooted horrors still lingering there.
I love a story set on an island, add in a woman on her own, a big creepy old house far away from any neighbours with no easy way to get help and this has all the ingredients for the perfect ghost story. This was so good!
Zoe is a great character, not easily spooked and with far more gumption then most. I liked the information we get on her past and how it makes you question present day events. This story keeps you guessing to the last pages.
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I used to think I didn’t believe in supernatural phenomena. After reading this, I’m not so sure!
This book kept me awake through the night - even when I wasn’t reading it! It’s a truly terrifying thriller, and any reader who states that they don’t believe in ghosts before reading it will find themselves questioning that stance. Even at the end, the line between natural and supernatural - or unnatural, perhaps?! - remains blurred. I’ll definitely be reading up on myths, incubi and the Scottish islands after this!
This is one unputdownable thriller. Totally captivated from start to end. Brilliant writing.
Zoe has left her husband and son behind in the US to spend a month in McBride house on a remote Scottish island. The reason for her need of time alone is revealed in parallel to learning of the history of her temporary home and those locals living under the strain of McBride’s past.
Mick is owner of McBride and has invested much time and expense doing up the home his family has owned for centuries in the hope he could banish the demons that it has become to be associated with local folklore. This much to the anger of those he lives amongst believing he has disturbed the spirits which had laid dormant as the house itself fell into ruin.
But it is not lonely folklore that has created the distrust, bodies have gone missing – a 7 year old boy simply disappears and before then, a wife and her own son. Are the sounds, the feeling of a physical presence, the intermittent availability of wifi which Mick had never installed, simply a reflection of Zoe’s troubled mind or something more sinister.
The only way she believes she can continue is to find the truth. But this is easier said than done given the animosity of some locals and the suspicious behaviour of others whose paths she crosses.
Merritt is one heck of writer to have pulled together such a compelling and credible thriller that at times strays into the world of the macabre – not one to be read late at night.
A thriller like no other.
‘While you sleep’ is a thriller like no other that I have read. It is set on a remote Scottish island where the residents are still haunted by a tragic incident that occurred over a hundred years ago.
A seemingly innocent American traveller comes to stay in the feared McBride house, however over a short period of time the house starts to have an effect upon the middle aged Zoe Adams and she is determined to find an answer to all of the hauntingly mysterious goings on within the house.
The ending is emotional and will keep you thinking for days, as to what was real or merely the imagination of a highly sensitive woman.
The author mixes a story of ghosts and the intangible with reality and as the story twists and turns tension and suspense builds to a final thought provoking conclusion.
You wouldn't want to stay in the McBride house especially when trying to get away from a troubled marriage yet Zoe Adams went there to paint in peace and tranquillity. How wrong she was!
I really enjoyed reading this book, it was difficult to put down, just as you thought you knew what was happening something new or unexpected happened. It is a story of crime, romance, magic, mystery and a good helping of psychological drama.
Zoe Adams rents a newly renovated isolated house on a remote Scottish island in order to give herself space to get her head around a troubled marriage leaving her husband and child in America. The house has a troubled history that goes back 150 years when a mother and son died in strange circumstances and gave rise to stories of the house being haunted. These stories tempted a young boy to enter the house to see whatever was said to happen there and promptly disappeared.
Zoe soon gets first-hand knowledge of the house’s haunted history or are the voices, noises and disturbingly erotic visions she experiences real, or a figment of her disturbed imagination? With and without the help of the assorted characters she encounters, the second-hand bookseller, the young teacher and the unfriendly barmaid, Zoe gradually uncovers the history of the house and its previous occupants. Woven into this are the uncertainties from Zoe’s reluctance to describe her traumatic visitations.
A brilliant tense, spooky book that I struggled to put down. Very well written and kept me guessing right until the end. I would definitely recommend this book.
This is a tense, spooky read which kept me guessing until the end. The characters are well-rounded and believable and I really felt for the main character.
It was hard to know if it was a real ghost story or a thriller - a brilliant mix of paranormal and human angst.
I found it hard to put down although I did find it a bit disturbing when I read it at night.
I would definitely recommend this book and I will look forward to reading something else from the same author.
A page-turning and atmospheric gothic thriller full of twists, turns, horror and very dark magic.
Artist, Zoe Adams is on a sabbatical from her life – temporarily leaving her husband and son and moving to a remote Scottish island to paint. Seeking to isolate herself and escape she finds that she is drawn into the tightly-knit and often secretive community and that her presence in the newly renovated ‘McBride’ house is not universally welcome. Zoe soon discovers that the house was once home to the reclusive widow Alisa McBride and her son, both of whom disappeared over a century ago. Local legend has it that Alisa killed her son, then herself after becoming pregnant by an unknown islander. But as disturbing ghostly goings-on at the house begin to unnerve Zoe she knows she must find out more about the house and its secrets and perhaps reveal a few of her own.
The house is decidedly creepy and this book has the feel of an erotic gothic horror. There are elements of magic, folklore and spiritualism that stop this book from being an authentic ‘thriller’ but I found it a real page-turner nonetheless. There were a few niggles – in such a remote place there always seemed to be someone around to rescue Zoe! Zoe herself could be a self-obsessed and annoying, and some of the situations she finds herself in a little contrived - but I would thoroughly recommend this as a superbly-written ‘hybrid’ with a satisfying blend of genres, some good characterization and an unexpected but plausible conclusion.
The writing is evocative, and allows you to imagine being on your own, in the dark, in a house people tell stories about...a page turner.
This wasn't what I was expecting! A ‘psychological thriller’, yes, but with supernatural and erotic elements much more prominent than the blurb leads you to believe. Maybe this can be best described as a cross-over between a ‘neo-Gothic horror story’, crime/mystery, and an erotic novel.
Zoe, an artist, seeks refuge and time away from her home in the US by travelling to a remote Scottish island, being the first tenant of an old house bearing many mysteries. The islanders tell stories of women losing control of themselves there, and of the mysterious Ailsa McBride, whose husband used her for his experiments, dabbling with the dark arts. The island is home to 130 people, with more than a fair share of them being mean and/or weird. There were many things I found far-fetched - and they weren't even the supernatural ones, as I was quite happy to suspend disbelief over those. The writing is evocative, though, and allows you to imagine being on your own, in the dark, in a house people tell stories about...a page turner.
Young susceptible woman, old haunted house, stormy seas, tales of dead children. A real page turner that will keep you up all night.
Written by bestselling author, S J Parris. A great read.
Zoe arrives on a remote Scottish island in the hope of rediscovering herself. She has left her husband and child in America to stay in a newly refurbished house in order to have peace and solitude, paint and write.
The house is the property of the landlord of the pub and has been in his family since it was built in the last century.
The locals are intrigued by this stranger and why would she want to stay in this remote old house with a tragic history. She, of course, knows nothing of the history and the locals have been told to keep quiet and not to scare her.
Straightaway strange things happen to her in the house, strange singing at night, strange smells and weird dreams.
Is it all in her imagination? Is someone trying to hurt her?
She seeks answers and help from the local bookshop owner and the young attractive school teacher.
A modern gothic melodrama.
This atmospheric suspense took me a little while to get in to but gradually I was drawn in by the story of Zoe Adams and her disturbing experiences on a remote Scottish island. The landscape descriptions perfectly evoke the suspenseful, eerie tone of the story and it is easy to think that Zoe believes there is a ghostly explanation for the strange and frightening events that she is experiencing because she is influenced by the wild and remote location she has escaped to. It seems obvious at first that it is the people of this isolated community who are trying to scare her, but as the story unfolds, and her experiences become more frightening, the seeds of doubt are sown – is there really a supernatural explanation or is Zoe actually a very unstable and fragile woman? There are clues along the way but there is a twist at the end which I really didn’t see coming and I like that ultimately I could interpret the ending in my own way.
I found this a really great and genuinely unsettling book that kept me racing through the chapters.
Well!!!!! What a book! A chilling s*xy novel which definitely sent goose bumps down my back! I read it over the Christmas holidays when I was at my mum's house......in the country.....where we don't pull all the curtains as we don't have close neighbours......and therefore you can see your face reflected in the window when it's dark outside.....!....if you've read the book you'll know what I mean.......and why I didn't actually feel that comfortable reading this book at night.
It certainly wasn't the standard thriller I had been expecting when I initially read the synopsis and so because of that it was all the more interesting to read and the time frame in the book is actually very short as the events unfold rapidly over a short space of time.
I would describe it as a thrilling 'ghost' story with a very strong and unusual s*xual story line which you're hit with almost immediately and it just hooks you in, it's such an easy book to read and it's really gripping, eerie and honestly quite scary - I actually had to stop reading it in bed one night and it was enough to give me very weird dreams at one point too. The strange happenings, the noises, the singing, and the terror they create are all too palpable through the pages of this book, it is decidedly creepy, and if it'd been me, there would've been no way I'd have stayed on in the McBride house after that first night (but then there wouldn't have been a story to tell!)
There are enough hints throughout the book as you get to know more about Zoe, the main character, to make you question what exactly happened to her, to her son, what has made her run away from America and her husband but just what IS the truth? And just who are the people she has got to know in the village and are they who they say they are and what part do they play in the story?
The book contains two threads - the ancient history of the previous occupants and the s*xual experiments and manifestations Tamhas McBride created using his wife as his 'guinea pig', plus the modern day thread of the young boys Ian and Robbie and just what scared Ian who then disappeared without trace - ? I found this a really great and genuinely unsettling book that kept me racing through the chapters but which, for me, had a very disappointing ending which I felt let it down badly and the many loose ends in the story had been conveniently and neatly tied up and dealt with. It left too many unanswered questions for me and the final couple of chapters were too weak and palpy which was a real pity. I would however love to read more novels from this author, especially if they were as 'unusual' as this one and I do think this is one book I'll read again at some point in the future...but only during the day !
While You Sleep is a creepy, atmospheric thriller and something very different to my usual read. I loved it!
Zoe Adams is a foreigner to the remote island in Scotland that she chooses to make her temporary home in more ways than one. She is the first newcomer to the island in months. The infamous McBride house is to be her sanctuary after she flees her home in America to escape her marriage issues. But the McBride house has a lot of secrets
The owners of the house are also the landlords of the local pub, Zoe is taken there on her first night on the Island to meet the islander’s acquaintance. Some of them are more welcoming to Zoe (and newcomers in general) than others.
Edward, the local teacher, and Charles the local bookshop owner befriend Zoe almost immediately.
Both are aware of the history of the McBride house where Zoe has chosen to stay, and both are concerned for her wellbeing, whilst telling her not to listen to local folk scaremongering. Zoe as you can imagine, is confused by the mixed messages she’s receiving.
She decides to just ignore the tales of the house’s history and enjoy her time in a house so very different to her own.
‘While You Sleep’ opens with two young boys taking part in a dare outside the McBride house, which is supposedly haunted. One of them loses their nerves and makes a run for it, whilst the other stays and is never seen again.
The locals are clearly still in shock, even though more than a year has passed since the boy disappeared and Zoe arrived, the two things shouldn’t be connected, but Zoe is soon to find out to that everyone on the island is connected whether they want to be or not.
A ghostly, creepy, absorbing thriller that will keep you turning the pages.
When Zoe rents a beautiful house on a remote Scottish Island she is hoping for a peaceful escape. What she finds is a house full of secrets - dark, erotic, disturbing and violent.
From the first moment Zoe arrives on the island she catches hints that all is not as it should be with the house. People are hiding things. There are strange noises and she has nightmares. She finds herself involved in several local mysteries attached to the house. Who were the woman and child residents who secluded themselves? How and why did a local boy disappear? What did he see? There are several layers of mystery running simultaneously.
She meets and becomes involved with a colourful cast of locals who become intriguing as you wonder who she can trust. The isolation of the house, the island and the fact that she is an outsider combine to make her feel vulnerable.
This book is a real page turner. I found myself absolutely captivated by the plot. It weaves different threads that keep you interested. Like watching one of those scary movies – you find yourself shouting ‘Don’t do that! Don’t go into the cellar; don’t drive in the dark all alone.’ It was absorbing and it kept me guessing and I didn’t know what to expect which is a rare treat.
I wouldn’t recommend that you read this book on your own, in a dark remote house with no outside contact, but other than that, if you like a good horror/thriller, this is one for you!
Part thriller, part horror story (with a few erotic pages thrown in for good measure), ‘While You Sleep’ by Stephanie Merritt, is a cracking good read! The tension builds throughout the book and has all the elements needed to create tension and jeopardy – a remote Scottish Island, large rambling house with no Wi-Fi, storms, curses, rumours of strange goings-on and a lone woman hiding a secret of her own! Not everyone is quite who they seem to be and the woman in question, Zoe, has travelled all the way from America to find peace away from the difficulties and traumas in her life back home. She plans to rest and recuperate and continue with her art work, hoping to find inspiration on a bleak Scottish island, but quickly learns that not all the locals welcome her and there is something very disturbing about the house she has rented. Local legends and recent horrific events combine to create a strange and terrifying atmosphere in the house but Zoe is determined to stay put and get to the bottom of what might be going on. The author’s descriptive prose, paint the scene of moody, bleak and lonely isolation and interweave past and present events to create a nerve-chilling climax to the story.
This is a book I would recommend with reservations. If you want a straight forward story and a simple ending then this is not for you. If you want to be frustrated and entertained, buy it!!
Well at first this book annoyed me as I thought that the premise was ridiculous, then it drew me in and got me trying to work out just who was doing what and how the story would be resolved and then I found the big reveal which was interesting and quite satisfactory.
I do like ghost stories but this one confounded me as it was straight in, full on as it were with the erotic bits (excuse the pun) and so who did what to whom? You'll just have to read it yourself and find out!!
While You Sleep is a novel of demonic possession and madness, tragedy and murder set in a remote Scottish island. Definitely one for a winter evening, or afternoon if you have a nervous disposition!
Stephanie Merritt is better known as S. J. Parris, writer of 16th century mysteries. For her latest book she has come right up to date and set the story in Scotland.
Zoe Adams leaves her husband and young son in America to seek solitude and peace after a nervous breakdown, although we are not told the circumstances until much later. She rents a house on a remote Scottish island where she hopes to restart her artistic career. However, it is not long before Zoe hears strange noises in the house and in spite of her rational instincts, begins to believe the property is haunted by a19th century woman and her son who tragically died there. The novel becomes increasingly dark in tone, as Zoe uncovers a history of madness, demonic and perverted sexual possession.
The novel is certainly gripping, and a real page turner. Is the haunting real or a product of Zoe's imagination after her mental health issues? As a reader I did not take to Zoe very much. She is somewhat arrogant and yet makes disastrous decisions. She also seems to lack basic common sense over practical matters, having given no thought at all to transport on the island, assuming there will be taxis everywhere, or even how she will do her shopping. There is a also the ill-advised entanglement with a local teacher, half her age, to whom she is attracted. The one voice of reasons appears to be her friend Charles, who runs a bookshop in the village, and could know more than he tells her about the house and its reputation.
‘White You Sleep’ is certainly a departure from Merritt's previous work, and I enjoyed it greatly, with some reservations. I can thoroughly recommend this novel.