Bonjour mes amis, it is so very good to have you here for yet another marvelous review!

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​​​I am delighted to inform those among you who love a thriller that gets their pulse racing, heart pounding and adrenaline rising will not be disappointed by this month’s pick.

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Every Time She Wakes by Petronella McGovern is an impressive combination of suspense, mystery and psychological dread that kept me glued to the page and my other responsibilities ignored until the very end. 

 

Suze, a careers counsellor and loving wife and mother, is in a real mess of stress. Her youngest daughter is suffering from anxiety and avoiding high school (can’t say it’s a great haven of reassurance), she’s facing an ethical dilemma in a job she loves, her parents are pressuring her to resign (I have to acknowledge the level of emotional manipulation at play there, Suze’s parents could teach a masterclass) and raging bushfires are spreading less than 200kms away from her home.

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Just your average woman, trying to have it all, when she can’t even get a break.

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Already terrible circumstances take a turn for the worst when two strangers abduct Suze and her family with horrific results. As Suze braces herself for the inevitable end, she wakes up instead, in her own bed, two weeks before the abduction.

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Dun dun DUN!

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Without any explanation, and her family having no memory of the event, Suze plans her next steps carefully to avoid the same fatal outcome. But an insidious threat remains thanks to a media-protected predator (don’t have to look far for inspiration there) and she is forced to play out a series of parallel lives with danger looming imminently.

With no clarity or control of what is happening, Suze is trapped in a panic room situation, forced to find the answers with the lives of family at stake.

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As if a regular panic room isn’t fear-inducing enough.

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Petronella McGovern (excellent first name, btw) seamlessly blends family drama with suspense in this reality-bending psychological mystery that asks the question, what is it we really sacrifice with each choice over time?

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An absolute must-read for any hungry thriller-seeker, crime fanatic (especially if you’re after something a little bit different) and fan of the time loop trope (guilty!), Every Time She Wakes will keep you enthralled from beginning to end.

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Five out of five warm almond pastries.

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