Don't Wake Up

A Novel

By: Liz Lawler

Narrated by: Devon Sorvari

A harrowing psychological thriller debut about a woman who awakens after an assault with no physical proof of the attack and who must try to convince everyone of what really happened.

When Dr. Alex Taylor opens her eyes, she is hooked up to an IV, is bound to an operating table, and her legs are raised in stirrups. Disoriented and alarmed, she assumes she's been anesthetized and brought to surgery after being in an accident. But the man standing over her, with his face hidden behind a surgical mask and wielding instruments, is no doctor she recognizes at the hospital where she works as a successful and respected doctor. He’s a stranger—and he’s calmly and methodically telling her how he's about to attack her. Before Alex can even scream for help, she succumbs to another dose of anesthesia, rendering her unable to defend herself….

When she comes to on a gurney, she finds herself surrounded by her colleagues and immediately reports the attack and rape. The police are skeptical of her bizarre story. And after a physical exam reveals no proof of any attack, even her boyfriend has doubts. Despite Alex's adamant claims, no one believes her, leaving her to wonder if she has, in fact, lost her mind.

Until she meets the next victim…

An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller, Don't Wake Up is also a provocative, timely exploration of victimhood, abuse, and the discrediting of women in our culture.

Got my attention from first chapter

I really enjoyed this book. It was action packed from the start and did not let up. The main character was smart and brave and I truly cared about what happened to her.
The villain was also extremely smart and it took a while for me to figure out who it was. The narrator was top notch. My only criticism is that the story takes place in the UK and the narrator didn’t have a British accent. The narrator was very good, however, l wish they had used a British narrator for this one.
Overall, I highly recommend this book for a fun, exciting ride.

Great concept, terrible audio book!

I want to start by saying, my review is not just about the story, I listened to the audio version and often times the performance can make or break my overall feelings about a book. The story was good, at first but I admit I found our protagonist's actions to be a bit mystifying. I also struggled with the romantic storylines. I was intrigued enough to continue til the end, but something just fell flat. I realized halfway through the book, the setting was the UK, with mentions of the River Avon and even The River Thames, but the reader sounded very American, or possibly Canadian. One of the things I love about British Thrillers is the dialect and accents the reader uses to set the scenes. Hearing a Cockney Style Guv'na is much better than and American saying GO VER NOR. So that makes a big difference in my overall impression. Which was MEH.

Bad narrator choice.

The story was good. Kept me guessing. But, having an American narrate a British story was incredibly annoying. Hearing all the vocabulary that is strange enough as an American listening (surgery for hospital, theater for operating room) was even worse. The only accent attempted was for the Kiwi New Zealand helicopter pilot.

This

One kept me interested. What in the world? There were plenty of suspects who might have been the one. I did wonder why it was set in England with American accent for narrator. Only other thing I wondered is how she could be so young with that many places on her resume and the helicopter part. It seemed that the story started off with a great opening but got distorted as it went on.

Pretty good

The story was pretty good overall, but sometimes I found myself questioning the characters’ thought processes. Also, the medical scenarios were OK, but as a doctor I found them to be unrealistic; this is a common problem I have with books/movies/TV shows, and I both understand and accept that these scenes won’t always be accurate.