Book Review / The Boy that Never Was by Karen Perry (also known as The Innocent Sleep)

When a couple's lost child resurfaces they are forced to embark on a journey into their shared past—one rife with dark secrets and lies

Tangiers. Harry is preparing his wife's birthday dinner while she is still at work and their son, Dillon, is upstairs asleep in bed. Harry suddenly remembers that he's left Robin's gift at the café in town. It's only a five minute walk away and Dillon's so tricky to put down for the night, so Harry decides to run out on his own and fetch the present.

Disaster strikes. An earthquake hits, buildings crumble, people scream and run. Harry fights his way through the crowd to his house, only to find it razed to the ground. Dillon is presumed dead, though his body is never found.

Five years later, Harry and Robin have settled into a new kind of life after relocating to their native Dublin. Their grief will always be with them, but lately it feels as if they're ready for a new beginning. Harry's career as an artist is taking off and Robin has just realized that she's pregnant.

But when Harry gets a glimpse of Dillon on the crowded streets of Dublin, the past comes rushing back at both of them. Has Dillon been alive all these years? Or was what Harry saw just a figment of his guilt-ridden imagination? With razor-sharp writing, Karen Perry's The Innocent Sleep delivers a fast-paced, ingeniously plotted thriller brimming with deception, doubt, and betrayal.

Published:     27th March 2014
Publisher:  Penguin/Michael Joseph
Author Website:  Click here
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand Alone

Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

My Review

What I liked about this book...

There were some really great aspects to this book.  What I liked the most would have to be the character introductions and development throughout the story, in particular the character of Harry - the father.  I liked how, obviously, there was a big disaster at the beginning with what happened to their son and it showed how they grieved and moved on with their lives.  The character of Harry throughout the book goes through so much and I feel is the character that developed the most throughout and the one character that I really 'bonded' with.   There are also some really interesting twists in this book that I really didn't see coming and surprised me.

What I was not fond of with this book... 

Although this book was written really well and taking into account what I said above, unfortunately this was one of those books that I 'just could not get emotionally attached to' even despite the fact that I liked following Harry throughout.   Personally, I would recommend not reading this book in the summer.  By reading this book in the summer I really felt that I didn't have the same reading momentum I would have had if I had read this in the winter.  It is more of a story where you have to pay attention to the details closely and follow the characters whereas, for me, a summer read consists of something easy that I don't have to to think about too much.  If I had picked this up in the winter, I think I would have probably enjoyed this book a lot more.  At some point in the future, I will definitely be picking this book up again and giving it a try in another season. 

About the Authors

(From Goodreads)

Karen Perry is the pen name of Dublin-based authors Paul Perry and Karen Gillece.

Paul Perry is the author of a number of critically acclaimed books. A winner of The Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year Award, he is a lecturer in creative writing at Kingston University, London, and course director in poetry at the Faber Academy in Dublin.

Karen Gillece is the author of four critically acclaimed novels. In 2009 she won the European Union Prize for Literature (Ireland).