The Innocent Sleep by Karen Perry

★ ★ ★ ★ 

Harry is making a special birthday dinner for his wife, Robin when he realizes that he left her birthday present at a friend’s home. The only problem is his son Dillon is sleeping in the other room. Dillon is impossible when it comes to falling asleep so Harry decides to just run out quick, it’s only down the block a little and he really wants tonight to be perfect for Robin. Suddenly, the ground starts moving beneath Harry’s feet. He runs home to make sure Dillon is okay and finds the rubble where his house used to be. Dillon is assumed dead in the tragedy, even though his boy isn’t recovered. Years later, Harry and Robyn have found a sort of peace in between them. Harry has been having an affair and Robin continues working. Robin realizes she’s pregnant just as Harry sees a familiar face on the street. Harry is shocked to see a boy that looks exactly like Dillon with a woman in the street. Could it be that Dillon survived? If so, where has he been and with who? Or has Harry’s guilt driven home the edge to the point of hallucination?

Karen Perry wrote this book with a great deal of skill. By taking awhile to reveal some events, she lets you fall into a sense of false security that you know what’s coming. That’s when she reveals that there’s more to the story than what you thought you saw coming. I enjoyed this book. Parts moved very slowly, so I was a little caught off-guard when things sped up out of nowhere. The reveals were very interesting though and made it very difficult to put the book down for work. For those attempting to read the book and having a hard time, I highly recommend sticking with it for this. Now I’m not a huge fan of cliffhangers, so I wasn’t a huge fan of the end, but it seems like many of the other reviewers appreciate the freedom in choosing to believe what they want at the end of this book. This is a good read for those who are looking for a good book to read. However, if you’ve got a pretty extensive to-read list, I’d say throw this somewhere on the bottom and get to it when you have time.