EMILY KOCH

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"Gripping", "exhilarating" and "memorable": If I Die Before I Wake review round-up

I need a place to come to see all my reviews in one place - for those days when the writing is tough!So... here's a round-up of all the reviews I have received for If I Die Before I Wake. You can read The Guardian review here. I loved what reviewer Barry Forshaw said about the book. He wrote:

“How would it feel to be trapped within one’s own body, able to see, smell and hear but unable to communicate? If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch is audaciously told from the point of view of Alex, a victim of locked-in syndrome after an accident. Initially yearning for death, Alex then tries to discover what has happened to him; he is perhaps solving his own murder. It’s a clever premise, and though Koch takes her time before really getting to grips with the material, this is a debut to be reckoned with.”

Then there was a lovely surprise as Jeff Noon reviewed If I Die Before I Wake for The Spectator. He really seemed to get what I was trying to do with the novel. He wrote: “In the darkness of the stilled body, this is a novel which glows with life.”Review of If I Die Before I Wake in The SpectatorThere was also a lovely review in the Daily Mail. Christena Appleyard said: “The author conveys a real sense of the true horror of being locked inside a body that won’t move with a brain that still works. And she persuades us to stay with the story to its strangely exhilarating conclusion.” Read the full review here.20180119_133551.jpgThe i newspaper called it "a gripping debut".DykLLriX0AMrcqZIn the Evening Standard, William Leith also called If I Die Before I Wake “a gripping debut” (if two people say it, it must be true, right?!) and said “I look forward to the next one”.Screenshot 2019-02-07 at 21.36.03In the Sunday Express S Magazine, reviewer Jake Kerridge said: “It’s the depiction of a man coping with being locked inside his own body that makes the book so memorable.”Review in the Sunday ExpressThe book has also had great mentions in Prima magazine and Woman & Home, as well as this write-up in Literary Review.Screenshot 2020-03-05 at 13.28.52 Thank you to all the reviewers, magazines and newspapers - and to my publicity team for getting copies of my books out there for people to read.