Matthew Blake has a hook that grabbed my attention and sustained me for most of this novel: a young woman is suspected of murdering her two closest friends and business partners, a particularly bloody business of 20 knife wounds apiece, and is found sound asleep with knife in hand at the scene. Anna O is the victim of resignation syndrome, a medically contested disorder wherein the patient responds to trauma by slipping into a coma. This occurs after an evening spent at a fun event where her family and friends enjoy supper, then play an extended game of Hunters and Survivors, using paintball guns to mark the opposition, running through the woods on a farm. After four years, and every treatment failing, Dr. Benedict Prince is the psychologist and sleep disorder specialist who will attempt to stir Anna back to wakefulness, to face trial for the murders.

Blake gives us a great twisty turny plot with plenty of red herrings. Dr. Prince’s ex-wife is a homicide detective who is first at the scene, and the most familiar with the case. Prince feels the stress as he tries to use his as-yet untested approach to inducing wakefulness, bombarding the patient with sensory inputs representing familiar, positive life experiences, in an attempt to instill hope. He views the trauma as an overwhelming loss of hope. When Dr. Prince’s mentor, Dr. Victoria Bloom, is found murdered in like fashion, everyone realizes that the situation is suddenly much more complex and dangerous. Dr. Bloom had a hand in treating a murderer from twenty years ago with an identical MO. Coincidently, this murder occurred on the twentieth anniversary, to the day. Anna was deeply engaged in researching and writing about that murder, with great plans of an article, book, and maybe more. No doubt the two are intertwined, but how?

While this could have used a bit more editing to tighten and shorten the story, it will please most readers with its pacing and complexity. In the spirit of A. J. Finn and Ruth Ware, you are sure to enjoy this suspenseful page turner.