Before I Wake

I appreciated the speedy delivery and the condition of the book when it arrived. Good work.

Anyone who has experienced emotional trauma knows how deeply it unsettles you. Reality tilts out of focus. You question who you are, where you've been, and whether you've really done what you remember. Meet Arden Davis, former criminal profiler. Wait, I know what you're thinking. You're wrong. We're not talking the Dr. Freud, leatherette couch, tell-me-about-your-feelings variety of criminal profiler. Arden went the distance. They took her to the brink. In the dark, alone, and with time ceasing to have meaning, they fed her the killer's thoughts. They hatched a madman's consciousness in her mind. Knowing him, being him, Arden was going to catch him. But he beat her. Her brought the world's evil crashing onto her family. For that, she could never forgive herself. Buried in that guilt, Arden Davis went to sleep. But sleep never lasts. The madman recants the murder of Arden's parents before his execution. The real killer may still be loose. Can Arden take that chance? When she chooses to return to the FBI and the remote institute where the horrors began, the killing begins again. The demons have followed her. And the darkness. Take a wild ride! See what can hatch in the quiet hallways of the human brain. Anne Frasier delivers! You won't be able to put this one down. Five stars!! Plus one.

I picked up a copy of BEFORE I WAKE and planned on reading just a few chapters before I went to bed, but found myself still sitting on the couch at 3 in the morning, flipping through the final pages. I have liked all of Anne Frasier's books, particularly HUSH -- great character development and forward momentum. BEFORE I WAKE is the first of the post-HUSH novels that really had me hooked from beginning to end though. I think a lot of it has to do with the ease in which i was able to identify with Arden, the main character -- I get where she's coming from and she doesn't feel flat and two-dimensional like a lot of thriller novel protagonists. It did take me a little while to get used to the idea of mind bleaching, it seemed a little far-fetched for me at first, but I quickly found myself buried in the story. It definitely helps that Frasier's writing is clever and funny, even in the scariest of situations. Anyway, it's really a well-written book and more importantly, a fun read from beginning to end.

I picked up Before I Wake on a whim, and wow, I'm glad I did!! This book is good. The characters have the nuance and contradiction of real people despite playing roles that could have easily ended up cartoonish in a lesser author's hands. The deft pacing kept me hooked until the end. I have the feeling that I won't be able to shake the mysterious atmosphere of Before I Wake for a long time... and that's a very good thing!

This thriller features a former FBI profiler. She is no longer in the business because a few years ago, while attempting to locate a killer - she was talked into undergoing scientific experiences in which she was dunked into a tank for days on end and forced to "get" into the mind of the killer via sensory deprivation and other means. In the process, the killer found out and killed her family - or did he? Now, she is out of retirement and returns to the site where these experiences where conducted because there have been more murders. This book is spooky. From the cover of the book which features a desolate looking asylum to the description (very well done by the author) of the interior of the institution (read asylum) the author does a wonderful job of making you feel as though you see the abandoned cafeteria, the holding areas for the former "subjects" and all the spooky stuff still around. I really enjoyed reading this book. The characters were interesting as you were never sure if they were the good guys or not. The one complaint I have is that the atuhor, at one point, chooses to remove the characters from the asylum and transports them off the "Hill". I feel as though the book lost a little bit of its appeal at this point. She definitely should have written the entire story within the grounds. Still, a solid thriller with alot of detours and you won't really be able to figure out the ending on your own. A good investment.