Lock Me In

A NetGalley Book Review

One morning, Ellie Power wakes up with bruises all over her body. Her bedroom door is broken. This is a bad sign as her mother usually locks her in when she leaves for her night shift at her hospital job. Ellie has to be locked in at night.

You see, she has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and believes there is another identity living inside her. Her alter, Siggy, sometimes takes Ellie over at night. Ellie has no recollection of what she does when Siggy takes over.

She is terrified of Siggy who seems to get violent, as evidenced by the bruising on her own body as well as her mother’s injuries. To prevent any harm, Siggy must not be allowed to get out at night.

Detective Sergeant Mae met Ellie and her mother years ago when he was investigating the mysterious disappearance of Ellie’s best friend, Jodie. That investigation ended badly for him and his partner but when Ellie’s boyfriend, Matt, goes missing, DS Mae cannot help but take a keen interest in the case.

Ellie is worried about what transpired on the night following which she woke up with bruises, as it was the last time that Matt was seen.

This is an interesting, well written and captivating psychological thriller that kept me hooked from the beginning to the end. I’m always amazed as to how our brains function and DID is such a complex subject that I find myself wanting to understand it more.

The author narrates this story from Ellie’s (first person) and Matt’s (third person) points of view in addition to recordings from Ellie’s treatment sessions, and with only a brief narrative from Ellie’s mother.

This gives us great insight into the thoughts and motivations of these characters. I was drawn into Ellie’s struggles with her conflicting identities and really empathized with her.

I found the characters well developed and easy to relate to, although I was left with some unanswered questions about Dr. Cox and Ellie Power’s father. To me, it felt like some parts of their story lines were not totally closed off. I would have liked to understand some aspects that the author introduced about them.

Although at some point I thought I could tell where the story was going, there were some twists that surprised me. I totally did not see the ending coming! I loved the chemistry between DS Mae and his Trainee Investigator, DC Catherine Ziegler and the way they worked well together.

This is Kate Simants’ debut novel and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work. I rate it at 4 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone who loves psychological thrillers with a twist.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.