The first novel of Matthew Blake part of an idea, at least, different. In the first pages they will tell us about a double stabbing murder and a sleeping girl, raising the big question of the plot: did she kill them while she was sleeping? She thus presents Anna O, a young woman with aspirations to be a writer who, by the time the novel begins, has been sleeping for four years without anyone being able to wake her up, but keeping her brain activity intact. At this point the reader may be tempted to think about fantasy, and that is why the author explains that there is a phenomenon called “Resignation Syndrome” which became famous in the case of Syrian minors who arrived as refugees in Sweden and who, in the face of bureaucratic waiting and inattention, gradually decreased their activity until they fell into a kind of sleep or natural coma that they maintained for months, even exceeding a year. Blake thus demonstrates that everything he puts in the novel will be trustworthy or not depending on his will, since he has given the first “proof of life” to a distrustful reader with whom, from now on, he will maintain a game that never ends. until the final pages.
In the novel, the case of Anna O is finishing the investigation and the prosecutor’s office is interested in waking up this patient in order to judge her, so Dr. Prince, a specialist in cases of people who commit crimes while they sleep, enters the scene. who will look for a way to wake up the patient knowing that, if successful, this will cause her to be put on trial and possibly sentenced. Still, “Sleeping Beauty” is so fascinating that Prince can’t help but become obsessed with the case..
“Anna O It is a debut that is on par with hits like Loss either The girl on the train that reach bookstores with no other pretensions than to provide entertainment“
Blake writes a novel in the so-called code best seller which seeks to entertain the reader and keep him glued to its pages by promising twists and revelations at the end of each chapter that are combined with public jokes such as the fact that the last name of the man in charge of waking up the young woman is Prince. Even the author laughs at his own quip by having a character who seems to know too much make the first joke. These points, which may seem like a handicap when it comes to taking reading seriously, are quickly accepted when immersed in an agile plot in which the clues are placed on the thin line of reliability, composing a puzzle with a strong psychological setting in which does not lack references to Freud, and inviting the reader to be interested in some of the key points that the novel touches on. The plot is complicated formally, the page turner is underway as the web spreads and the “who” mixes with the “why” spinning until a satisfactory final revelation was achieved for what had begun in a situation that seemed impossible.
Matthew Blake: “If our actions were scrutinized in detail, we would all look guilty”
EFE
This is what the author stated in an interview…
Anna O It is a debut that is located at the height of successes like Loss either The girl on the train that arrive in bookstores with no other pretensions than to provide entertainment and that, surprisingly, continue to be discovered by readers who, year after year, are only looking for a reading that will make them spend pleasant afternoons in this summer period that we already have upon us. Something that seems simple but, obviously, is not; After all, the competition for this type of entertainment is fierce with digital alternatives and a novel always seems to be asked to go one step further. In this case it is the mystery of the dream, a place that is still in darkness for specialists, offering infinite possibilities that Blake has been able to take advantage of.
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Author: Matthew Blake. Qualification: Anna O. Translator: Jofre Homedes Beutnagel. Editorial: Salamander. Sale: Todostulibros.
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