BLOG TOUR: Sleep by C.L. Taylor

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn't feel so guilty...
To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.
Each of the guests have a secret but one of them is lying- about who they are and why they're on the island. There's a murderer staying in the Bay View Hotel. And they've set their sights on Anna. Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.
Someone's going to sleep and never wake up...

Publisher: Avon

Pages: 400

C.L. Taylor is a fantastic thriller writer and I flew through Sleep. It has a cracking opening:

If you're reading this then I am no longer alive. Someone has been stalking me for the last three months and if I am dead, it wasn't an accident.

See what I mean? Taylor draws you straight into the thick of it and doesn't let go.
Anna was involved in a horrific car accident which left two of her colleagues dead and one paralysed. She is consumed with guilt and struggling to move forward. She takes a housekeeping position at The Bay View Hotel  on the remote Scottish island of Rum. She is convinced that somebody is stalking her to get revenge for the accident and she believes running away to Scotland will make her safe. Anna settles into the hotel and seven guests arrive for the weekend, a terrible storm hits and they are cut off from the main land. Anna is trapped and begins receiving messages again like the ones at home. It can only be one of the guests which means she is trapped with somebody who wants to kill her. She must work out which of the seven strangers wish Anna to sleep forever.
Sleep is a truly excellent thriller. The setting is perfect and adds so much to the story. It is like a traditional country house murder mystery but with the added element of not being able to get any kind of help.

The plot twists and turns in a brilliant manner, every time I reaches the end of a chapter, I couldn't stop myself from starting the next one. There are many red herrings and there were several occasions where I thought I had worked it out. However, I did not see the final twist coming at the end, it is so good.
Taylor creates such a good atmosphere in this book. Anna's fear is tangible and the hotel setting is claustrophobic and desperate. You want Anna to escape but there is no where for her to go.
I can highly recommend Sleep by C.L. Taylor, it is tense, thrilling and will keep you up all night.

Many thanks to Avon for inviting me to be part of this blog tour, make sure you check out the other stops. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Fear by C.L. Taylor

When Lou Wandsworth ran away to France with her teacher Mike Hughes, she thought he was the love of her life. But Mike wasn’t what he seemed and he left her life in pieces.
Now 32, Lou discovers that Mike is involved with teenager Chloe Meadows. Determined to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself, she returns home to confront him for the damage he’s caused.
But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as Lou tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that she could once again become his prey…

Publisher: Avon

Pages: 398

You are in for such a treat with C.L. Taylor’s latest book, The Fear. The Sunday Times best-selling author delivers yet another tense, dark, gripping thriller.

Lou Wandsworth ran away to France with her karate teacher when she was just thirteen. At the time, she felt that she was in love with Mike  but now looking back as an adult, it is clear for her to see that she was a vulnerable young girl, groomed by a predatory paedophile. Lou has finally moved back to her childhood home after her father’s death. She knows that she is likely to run into Mike but she is not prepared for that fact that he is still abusing young girls. When she learns of his involvement with thirteen-year-old Chloe Meadows. Lou can see history repeating itself and she knows that she must put a stop to it, no matter how much danger that puts her in.

I have read C.L. Taylor’s previous books and they are fantastic but this is my favourite so far. I felt as though the author had taken everything up a notch; the tension is palpable from the beginning and the twists along the way are so clever.

I think that the author was brave tackling the subject if paedophilia; it is obviously always relevant but it has been in the media so much recently too. Her handling of the subject felt sensitive but realistic. It was so easy to see how Lou and Chloe were taken in by Mike and how his behaviour becomes more manipulative and frightening.

If you are looking for a dark, page-turning thriller then look no further than The Fear.

Many thanks to Avon for sending me a copy to review, The Fear is out now. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Missing by C.L. Taylor

You love your family.
They make you feel safe.
You trust them.
But should you...?
When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire, is distraught, blaming herself. She's not the only one. There isn't a single member of Billy's family who doesn't feel guilty.
But the Wilkinson's are so used to keeping secrets from one another that it isn't until six months later, when an appeal for information goes horribly wrong, that the terrifying truth begins to surface.
Claire is sure of two things: Billy is still alive and her family had nothing to do with his disappearance. A mother's instinct is never wrong. Or is it?

Publisher: Avon

Pages:472

I was so pleased to receive The Missing by C.L. Taylor to review as I had read a lot of glowing reviews for her previous books. After reading this one, I can understand why.
Claire's son Billy went missing over six months ago and her family has been torn apart. All members of the family feel guilty but it is a new appeal that draws out the truth and Claire in particular is left questioning everything she has ever believed in and held dear.
C.L. Taylor presents every parent's worst nightmare in this book, the idea of your child going missing is completely terrifying. Through the character of Claire, the aut
hor explores the wide spectrum of emotions; fear, anger, guilt and loss. Claire struggles to know what to do; it is six months on and the police are no further on in their investigation. A new appeal unearths fresh information and Claire is determined to explore all the new leads herself.
The Missing is brilliantly plotted and realistic. It would make an excellent TV programme; there is just the right balance of gritty reality and raw emotion.
C.L. Taylor is excellent at maintaining the suspense; the book is interspersed with Whatsapp conversations but it is not revealed who the people are until the very end; all we know is that they are related to Billy's disappearance.
The Missing by C.L. Taylor shocked and surprised me, I will definitely be catching up with this author's other books now.

Many thanks to Avon for sending me a review copy of this book.