Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


How did I feel about this book… well, unfortunately, *insert typical Nicole comment alluding to a storyline that had an infinite amount of potential, but then failed to execute anything truly remarkable*. At this point I could hire a literate parrot to craft my reviews since so many of them are repetitive. But hey, I can’t help it that the market has been so heavily infiltrated with female driven domestic thrillers that only a handful of them are worthwhile anymore. So don’t hate the player hate the game..? No? That doesn’t work in this instance? Whatever, moving on…

I will give credit to this novel for utilizing the ever popular “podcast re-investigating a true crime case” premise, because, hello, who doesn’t love digging through the skeletons in a stranger’s closet for entertainment’s sake? No friend of mine! I eat that shit up like 50% off day after Halloween candy. However, the podcast host was insufferable and the podcast itself, which we are given excerpts of throughout the novel, was not compelling. There is no way a podcast as dull as that would be a national obsession as the book asks you to believe. I know this because I listen to podcasts more than any person who is not the parent of someone hosting a podcast ever should. I know compelling content (or so I tell myself) – “Reconsidered” is not that.

The author doesn’t even attempt to give the annoying “journalist” Poppy Parnell, whose name alone makes me want to roll my eyes until I get a firsthand look at my inner skull, a valid reason to be investigating the case in the first place. This woman is literally showing up at the family in question’s personal events (a funeral – really?), yet she has NO connection to the grieving family, the accused murderer, the town, or the event itself that took place over 10 years ago. And, somehow, despite her super sleuthing ways and overly invasive investigation methods, the evidence she is able to compile and present in her weekly episodes is nothing more than mashed potato bland townsfolk giving their generic accounts of the individuals involved in the case. Oh but wait! In the end she somehow finds the holy grail of evidence that solves the case once and for all! Justice has finally been served! Sure, it was served at room temperature and in serious need of flavor (the “big reveal”, if you want to call it that, was uber predictable and anticlimactic), but it was served.

So why you ask, did I rate this 3 stars given the shining aforementioned review? Well, because somehow, it wasn’t a terrible book overall. There are so many, and I mean so so many unexplained, unnecessary and just plain ridiculous plot points, but I pushed through all the rubbish and turns out I didn’t completely hate it. It kept me interested enough throughout that I didn’t send it off to the ol’ glue factory (as I have with more books than I would like to admit lately). I guess that is the new measuring stick – which is equal parts sad and true.



View all my reviews