Published By: HarperCollins
Pages: 400
Released On: 03/07/2025
Imagine the past returning to you in fragments. A hotel room, a pillow, a lifeless body.
Your ordinary, innocent life upended by one flash of memory. You can’t remember what led to the crime.
All you know is that you must return to the scene, to the clues that lie waiting in Room 11.
But this is a mystery that goes far beyond that room, that night, that murder.
Are you ready to unlock the truth?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I mean, Matthew’s previous book Anna O was a revelation and he immediately became an author to watch, and so I was thrilled to receive this copy of his new one. He sure knows how to open a book with a bang. He hooks you in instantly and it doesn’t let up for one minute.
It is a thriller, yes, but whist it’s mainly set in the modern day it had a very strong historical novel feeling about it. There’s also a bit of romance, there’s crime and a detective, adventure – it’s got a bit of everything.
Like I say, it’s mostly set in the present day in Olivia’s point-of-view. But we do get the odd flashback from 1945 from her grandmother Sophie’s point-of-view. And we also get a couple of viewpoints from mysterious men, one of them who appears to be quite the troublemaker (understatement of the century).
I didn’t realise it had such a connection to WW2. I admit, I requested an early copy of this book because of who the author was, assuming it was another traditional (but fabulous) thriller – which I read much of and love. But this has such a consciousness about it, such emotion, such heart an soul that adds an extra layer to the generic thriller.
It may be 400 pages but I read I in a day as I was so invested in the characters. They are all very well written. They’re not always nice characters, and at times you are unsure who you can and should trust, but they do wonders for Olivia’s storyline, as well as their own.
I’ve have loved a bit more set in the 1940s because I was obsessed with those scenes – perhaps a short story or novella is needed? Because I would read these scenes for ever.
I don’t know what Matthew’s background is, but this is the second book that revolves around someone with a memory issues – only this time it’s down to dementia, and he’s depicted it in such a sensitive way but without hiding the difficult elements of the illness.
Another cracker of a book and I cannot wait for what comes next – Matthew Blake will definitely be a go-to author going forward.
Books By Your Bedside 