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    Don't Wake Up: A Novel
    Don't Wake Up: A Novel
    Don't Wake Up: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Don't Wake Up: A Novel

    Written by Liz Lawler

    Narrated by Devon Sorvari

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 5, 2019
    ISBN9780062892195
    Author

    Liz Lawler

    Born in Chatham, England, and partly raised in Dublin, Ireland, Liz Lawler is one of fourteen children and grew up sharing socks, pants, stuffed bras, and a table space to eat at. Liz spent more than twenty years working as a nurse, and has since worked as a flight attendant and as the general manager of a five-star hotel. She now lives in Bath with her husband. Don’t Wake Up is her first novel.

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    Reviews for Don't Wake Up

    4/5

    74 ratings18 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The subject of this book would have been very serious but for the stupid main heroin who was doing nothing but drinking vodka, taking drugs and moaning how everyone is so bad and do not believe her. Somehow i couldn't find any sympathy for her the entire time i was listening. The plot is a bit heavy with details and the "bad guy" very easy to identify.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was awesome, it is creepy and puts you think. Alex wakes up in a operating room and she is tied up and naked, she does understand what is happening, she can only see her surgeon's eye and he asks her Taylor wakes up one day strapped on an operating table, she realizes that she is naked and that she was anesthetized, she can only see her surgeon's eyes since he has a surgical mask on, after she asks him if she had been in an accident and he declines he asks her "what would a "No" mean?" and lets her struggle to answer then falls back to sleep. When she reawakens, no one believes her, not her co-workers, her boyfriend, no one. She even starts to wonder, if she was making it up, hallucinating, until someone else goes missing, and when she is found, and tell her what that person asks her, it had to be the same person...Chilling!!! You have to read it!!!
    • 4/5
      Dr. Alex Taylor is a popular and gifted ER physician who wakes up on an operating table at the hands of a psychopath who threatens to mutilate her. After Alex is found, nobody believes the event occurred at all and her coworkers assume Alex is going mad or trying to garner attention. As other violent incidents target her colleagues in the ER, the police and those close to Alex believe she is responsible. When Alex goes missing again, the police wrongly assume she is trying to elude them rather than fighting off a killer intent on making sure Alex never wakes up.I enjoyed this suspenseful medical thriller and didn't figure out the identity of the killer until the end. While farfetched at times, the characters were engaging and it was fast paced.
    • 4/5
      Alex Taylor is excited to head off to a nice dinner with her boyfriend. But instead, she wakes up strapped to an operating table. She quickly realizes the man above her isn't a doctor, but he intends to do unspeakable things to her. However, when Alex wakes up, she appears unharmed. She's back in the parking lot of the hospital where she works. Even worse, no one believes her when she shares her story. Not her boyfriend, not her friends, and not her medical colleagues. Alex becomes haunted by what happened that night, performing badly at work and becoming convinced that there are other victims like her. Did something really happen to Alex, or is she going crazy?This was one of those books that I won on Librarything and then totally enjoyed being introduced to a new author. It was a little wild and crazy in places, but it kept me engrossed and reading, which I really appreciated. I was amazed that absolutely no one seemed to believe Alex: I understand that she had no real evidence to back up her story, but it seemed tragic to me how quickly her friends and family abandoned her to sadness and despair.I wasn't sure I would like this book at first, because I'm not a huge fan of the unreliable narrator to begin with, especially the self-pitying alcoholic one, which seemed to fit Alex quite well. But, I won't lie, she definitely grew on me. This was *even with* the fact that something else had happened in Alex's life thirteen months ago--something that her friends and co-workers felt she had conflated with her "pretend attack," and everyone, including Alex, referred to incessantly. But, of course, it took forever for anyone to tell us what had actually happened, which drove me a little insane. There's dragging something out for suspense and then there's annoying your reader to no end!However, I really enjoyed the fact that we couldn't trust any of our characters--even the policewoman investigating Alex's case, Laura Best, who was only out to further her career, not actually seek justice for Alex. My favorite character was Laura's boss, Greg Turner. He was a great detective, and I could totally root for him in his own series. Not being able to trust anybody else, though, was kind of fun. It kept me constantly guessing. The book was surprisingly compelling: truly a page-turner. There were some great twists and turns in this one. I guessed a couple of pieces, but not all of them. In the end, I stayed up late to finish this book, which is always a sign of a winner for me (my sleep is a precious commodity!).Overall, this was probably a 3.5 star book in many ways, but I was impressed that this was the author's debut. I also enjoyed how it kept me madly flipping the pages, trying to figure out what happened. In the end, a 4-star rating. I see Liz Lawler has another book out now, and I'll definitely be checking that one out at some point.I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Librarything in return for an unbiased review (thank you!).
    • 4/5
      I thought that Alex was a well written engaging character and I didn't waver in my support of her while everyone else, even those closest to her, thought she was having some sort of mental break.Like others who have reviewed this, I read it quite quickly because I wanted to see where the twists and turns were going to take us and if my suspicions were right. I think the foreshadowing was just perfect. There was enough for those of us prone to look but not so much that most people would notice.Really nice effort and enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those slow burn psychological thriller reads. The opening scene is intense. It is one that will grab you and hold you. Some of that intensity did drop in the first half of the story but it picked back up again in the second half of the story. Yet, it was not enough to keep me from speeding through this book. From the first moment, I felt for Alex. What she went through and was still going through afterwards. Her fiancé was supportive of her. Yet, her co-workers not so much. However, I can understand why as there was no evidence of any wrong doing to Alex. So in a way; she came off as mentally unstable. The clues were given as little tidbits. Yet, I thought they were given nicely without giving away too much. I kind of didn't see the reveal until it happened. A good ending to a nice story.
    • 5/5
      She woke up on an operating table. She was told what was being done to her. She blacks out. Wakes up in the emergency room with no signs of assault, no signs of being operated on....what is really happening?I LOVED this book, couldn't put it down. Is she going crazy or is someone out to ruin her?
    • 3/5
      Thanks to the publisher, Harper Collins via LibraryThing, for an uncorrected proof in exchange for my honest opinion.The largest percentage of this novel is spent with the protagonist, Alex, trying to convince everyone (boyfriend, co-workers, police, friends) that she is being truthful about what happened to her. After an assault, she awakens in the same hospital where she is a highly-respected doctor and everyone is doubtful of her explanation. There is no evidence of an attack but she sticks to her story even though as time goes by, she wonders if she's losing her mind.This is a dark, intense, psychological thriller that moved slowly at times. A lot of it seemed unrealistic and, once again like other authors, Ms. Lawler has the protagonist, Alex, turn to alcohol to help her cope with her terrible situation. Since most adults and a doctor especially know that a person can't think clearly and can't remember things when they drink too much, why do authors in this type of story have alcohol play such a big part in the person's life? It's as though they are trying to make the story longer.
    • 5/5
      A Dr. who gets kidnaped by a deranged person is then released and no one believes her story that she was assaulted. Of course that is just the beginning. This was a fantastic story. I'm an avid reader and I can usually figure out who the mystery person is before the end of the story, which kind a spoils things for me. With that said, I did not have a clue through this whole book. This was a very fast read for me and held my attention till the very end. Liz Lawler's first book gets 10 stars from me. Loved it!
    • 2/5
      Despite an intriguing beginning, this novel just didn't work for me, and I eventually found the implausible situations too numerous to sustain even a minimal interest. Despite my lack of enthusiasm, I am grateful to LibraryThing and the publisher for selecting me to receive this book.
    • 3/5
      This was a decent thriller if you are willing to put aside the implausibility of it. The beginning is disturbing - I wasn't sure I was going to be able to continue with the book. But once you get past that, it will hold your attention and you will want to find out what actually happened to Alex Taylor. I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing.
    • 3/5
      This was a fast-paced, very suspenseful book, and also showed what can happen when nobody believes what you've gone through. Scary to think about, but I'll enjoy reading more books by Liz Lawler.
    • 2/5
      This novel has a lot going for it -- especially the central problem the heroine Alex Taylor, a doctor, faces: most people do not believe she was assaulted in a particularly horrible manner and tend to think she's crazy -- even her lover and her best friend question her stability. One police detective even tries to prove she's a serial killer. Soon we are suspecting everyone. All good for the reader so far.But we see more of other characters acting than we do Dr Taylor. What does she do about all this? She drinks vodka and wine and takes diazepam and talks to a new friend, also a doctor, and to the therapist that new friend recommends. She makes other drastic changes in her life but mostly she dithers while other -- more interesting --characters either attempt to help or harm her.I suspected what was going on about halfway through the book and found the end unbelievable.
    • 4/5
      Dr. Alex Taylor wakes up pinned down on an operating table. The last thing she can remember is something striking her and knocking her unconscious. There is a man standing over her now. He's dressed as a doctor, but says he's anything but. He has plans to inflict unspeakable harm on to her unless she answers his question correctly. Alex believes she is bound to die, but then she wakes up and she's unharmed. In fact it looks like nothing has ever happened to her. Her boyfriend and staff at the hospital assure her that she was struck by a fallen tree branch in the car park from the storm and knocked unconscious.Alex knows she isn't wrong about what happened to her, but there is no evidence that her story can be real. A few days after her incident a nurse is brought in to the hospital and Alex is instantly sure that this woman is a victim of the same attacker. Her co-workers, friends, and local police think she's losing her mind. Can Alex prove to those around her that she's not crazy before this madman claims another victim or worse, returns for Alex herself?Liz Lawler has written a compulsive medical thriller with DON'T WAKE UP. The opening chapter quickly sucks the reader in as you wake up with Alex to a situation straight from your darkest nightmare. Lawler continues to build the suspense and tension as more events related to this one happen around Alex. Each new incident has a clear cut connection to Alex, but she can't seem to persuade anyone that she isn't the bad guy, that she isn't crazy. As she turns to pills and booze to soothe her fears those around her continue to distrust Alex until she is ultimately met with the possibility that she could be charged with murder. Just as Alex can't put a finger on who in hunting her, neither can the reader. I found myself binging on sections of DON'T WAKE UP because of Lawler's addictive writing style and use of short chapters. This is a fantastic thriller and I look forward to seeing what Lawler comes up with next!
    • 4/5
      What if...the worst thing that ever happened to you wasn't what happened, but not being believed?What if...that lack of belief in you left a killer free to kill again?This is Alex Taylor's life. Will it also be her death?-- What's it about? --Usually, I like to give my own take on what a book's about, but in this case the description is so compelling I'll let it speak for itself. Here's the blurb:Alex Taylor wakes up tied to an operating table.The man who stands over her isn't a doctor.The offer he makes her is utterly unspeakable.But when Alex re-awakens, she's unharmed - and no one believes her horrifying story. Ostracised by her colleagues, her family and her partner, she begins to wonder if she really is losing her mind.And then she meets the next victim.Now that's an attention grabbing blurb. Fortunately, it's followed by an equally attention grabbing first chapter. After all, how often do you hear a killer query: ''Are you aware you have a retroverted uterus? While removing your coil I had to use a curved speculum.''Are you terrified yet?-- What's it like? --Gripping. Chilling. Utterly convincing despite finally unveiling a thoroughly mad person...but who are they and what has driven them insane?I liked the medical nature of this thriller. As a doctor, Alex is comfortable with medical terminology, and when she wakes up on the surgical table she essentially instructs the doctor to 'give it to her straight'. Unfortunately for her, this doctor (are they even a doctor? Could this be a frustrated medical student?) is all about the sideways approach, and nothing will be straightforward until the final blood-drenched pages.This is the ultimate in psychological trickery as Lawler loosely interweaves chapters from Alex's point of view and those investigating her story. Is Detective Inspector Greg Turner right to trust her? Or will Detective Constable Laura Best's scathing assessment of her as dangerous lunatic lead to Alex's imprisonment and Laura's promotion? Even when the reader discovers the truth, the wrong person is about to be punished...-- Final thoughts --I always enjoy reflecting on how the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together, and this book rewards a little reflection. In hindsight it's almost obvious who is behind the murders, though I defy you to tease out their "logic" prior to the reveal.Alex's abduction and her belief that she has been sexually assaulted is a powerfully emotional scene and may be upsetting for some women, especially in light of the disbelief Alex endures.This is compelling, compulsive reading with a truly twisted heart and mind at its centre. A must for those who love psychological thrillers.Many thanks to the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was awesome, it is creepy and puts you think. Alex wakes up in a operating room and she is tied up and naked, she does understand what is happening, she can only see her surgeon's eye and he asks her Taylor wakes up one day strapped on an operating table, she realizes that she is naked and that she was anesthetized, she can only see her surgeon's eyes since he has a surgical mask on, after she asks him if she had been in an accident and he declines he asks her "what would a "No" mean?" and lets her struggle to answer then falls back to sleep. When she reawakens, no one believes her, not her co-workers, her boyfriend, no one. She even starts to wonder, if she was making it up, hallucinating, until someone else goes missing, and when she is found, and tell her what that person asks her, it had to be the same person...Chilling!!! You have to read it!!!
    • 4/5
      Dr Alex Taylor finds herself in a nightmare scenario, but no one believes her, not even the man she loves. Things go from bad to worse as each new disaster unfolds. A great story which keeps you on your toes, fast moving, vivid descriptions (a bit too vivid sometimes) - definitely a thriller. I did work out who it was before the reveal but that didn't spoil the story, perhaps the why did, a little. However Alex was a bit too perfect, a goody two shoes really which was ever so slightly annoying. Be careful if you are reading this on public transport because you might just miss your stop!
    • 4/5
      Solid suspense/ Thriller. The writing style takes some getting used to but other than that it was a fine book.