The Night of the Sleepover by Kerry Wilkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Night of the Sleepover is the first book in Kerry Wilkinson’s Sleepover series. Having never read from this author before, I had no real expectations going in.
I found Wilkinson’s writing to be quite engaging. She was able to hook me from the start. I was intrigued and couldn’t stop thinking about this when I wasn’t reading it.
In this story we are following single-mom, Leah, who 20-years ago had a her three best friends disappear during a weekend sleepover.
Four girls started out the night, comfy in their pajamas, eating pizza and even sneaking some vodka, but only one remained in the morning. Leah.
As you can imagine, the years since haven’t been easy. She’s had a difficult time getting close to people. It’s a small town, everyone knows her troubled past. Some even cast suspicion on her, how could she have slept through that? Those who don’t, tip-toe around her with pity in their eyes.
As the 20th-anniversary approaches, Leah receives word that, Owen, the little brother of one of her missing friends is going to be making a documentary on the disappearance. He reaches out for her help.
Soon after the news of the upcoming documentary spreads, Leah receives a mystery email from a dummy account stating two words, ‘stop them’.
Leah is scared. Is this message from a friend, or a foe? What could their motivations be? Why would someone want to stop the truth from coming out? After all these years, is the truth better off staying buried?
As mentioned above, I was hooked into this story very quickly. I liked Leah’s perspective and we do get her both in the present, as well as flashbacks to the time of the infamous sleepover.
I thought both timelines were equally intriguing and liked following along as they perfectly-pieced together the truth of what happened that night. This is the kind of story where you need to know and there’s no stopping until you find out.
I enjoyed the level of intensity that Wilkinson was able to conjure here as well. I felt for Leah, to have that night always looming over her like a dark shadow, and then with the anniversary approaching! Honestly, it was like cutting open your own old wounds.
I wasn’t sure who to trust either. We meet a few different side characters throughout Leah’s story and many of them seemed suspicious as heck to me.
The narrator for the audiobook had me feeling like I was literally listening to Leah recount what was happening to her. It brought it to life and in my opinion, made the narrative even more thrilling.
Full disclosure, this was a 3.5-star book for me, which I would have rounded up, pretty much the whole way through, but that ending…
Yeah baby, that’s what I like!!!
I’m so excited for the next book, After the Sleepover. I haven’t read too much about it, so I am not sure in what direction it is going, but regardless, the anticipation is real. I’m starting it tonight!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Bookouture and Bookouture Audio, for providing me copies to read and review. I can’t wait to pick up more from Kerry Wilkinson!!