i know when you're asleep by jessica blade

published: march 25, 2026
source: arc from author
rating:★★★✩✩

from goodreads:

When pranks turn deadly, Mandy must find a way to win the game assigned to her, where the killer keeps changing the rules.
The ominous note slipped into Mandy Wright's locker reads like a hoax...until she finds her friend's body discarded in a dumpster, the victim of a gruesome firework execution.
But obeying the killer's warning to cut ties with her friends doesn't stop another one of her friends from being tragically murdered in what everyone insists is merely a "disturbing prank gone wrong." And when a new note spells Mandy herself as the next target, there's only one chance of survival: finding a way to outsmart a killer who doesn't play by their own rules.

my review:

i received this book for free from the author in exchange for my honest review. first, i want to say thank you to jessica blade and her team for the opportunity to arc read!

this book was good, but not great. i almost dnf'd it a few times, but i wanted to see it through. i needed to know who the killer was, who was writing the notes, and most importantly, whether my theory was right. unfortunately, by the end, i was left feeling a little disappointed.

mandy, the main character, was honestly pretty obnoxious to me, which kind of sucks considering the entire story is told from her POV. a lot of her thoughts and conversations felt repetitive. it was constantly, "i can't talk to my friends because they'll get hurt," and after a while i was like... okay, we get it. every situation somehow circled back to being about her, and it made parts of the story feel a little mundane.

donna wasn't much more interesting for me either. just like mandy, she got on my nerves at times. i actually thought she was involved in the whole rogue situation because of how quickly she and mandy became close. it almost felt like she wanted to isolate mandy just as much as mandy wanted to isolate herself.

that being said, i did like the overall storyline. the plot was interesting enough to keep me reading, even when i wasn't loving the characters. the mystery aspect had enough intrigue to make me want answers. my biggest issue was the pacing. it felt pretty slow for most of the book, and it didn't really grab my full attention until the final stretch. unfortunately, once the reveal happened, it kind of lost me again.

i will say that it did a good job setting up the next book in the series, but i don't think i'll be continuing on with it myself.

overall, it wasn't a bad read, just not one that fully worked for me. thank you again to jessica blade and her team for allowing me to arc read and review this book.