Natali Simmonds is the author who became huge with Good Girls Die Last in 2023. It was a brilliant book. A blistering feminist thriller. This was followed by My Daughter’s Revenge and now, While My Baby Sleeps. I honestly think no one has a right to be this talented. Publishing a thriller of this calibre a year, with all of the other stuff she has going on, the TV rights for Good Girls Die Last also sold, is simply not on.

Jokes aside, I met Natali Simmonds in person at Laura Pearson’s book launch for The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up. She talked about this book and how hard she thought it was going to be to write it. Natali suffered with severe sleep deprivation for years. Her two daughters were born close together. You can feel it in this book. The real emotion. The experience. It has all of the mum-with-a-toddler haze all wrapped up in a thriller so perfect you will think of it every moment you are not reading it. I was desperate to know what was going to happen and read it into the night.

While My Baby Sleeps is a masterclass in thriller writing. An absolute perfect novel that I practically inhaled. I loved the story, I loved the characters (or hated them), and the ending was perfect and unpredictable. I am going to insist you read it. You will not be disappointed.

I have to stay awake… I need to keep him safe. 

I haven’t slept properly since Riley was born. I love my baby so much – every noise he makes and every sleepy blink has me rushing to his side to make sure he’s safe.

Yet the lack of sleep is getting to me. There are terrifying blanks in my memory, and my temper is blindingly short. I can’t rely on my partner – I don’t even know where he is half the time. But at least I have Maggie next door. She tells me this is just what new motherhood is like, so I have no choice but to ignore the blackout rages and blurred vision, for Riley’s sake…

But after another night of no sleep, the last thing I expect is a police officer at my door. My neighbour has been found dead. The man I’ve been furious at for weeks for keeping me and the baby awake with his late-night parties.

Though really, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised… Because this morning, I woke up on my doorstep. And I have no memory of what happened – or where the blood on my hands came from.

As I hear Riley start to cry, I swallow against the rising panic in my throat. It can’t have been me. I’m no killer, I’m just a sleep-deprived, loving mother… aren’t I?

An absolutely unputdownable, addictive suspense thriller with a jaw-dropping twist. Perfect for fans of gripping page-turners like The Housemaid, The Family Across the Street and The Family Upstairs.