While Other People Sleep (Sharon McCone #18) by Marcia Muller

While Other People Sleep (Sharon McCone #18) Reviews

• 
  Pamela Mclaren

  Private investigator Sharon McCone has a copycat following her every move and while her boyfriend is negotiating a secret, and potentially deadly, hostage negotiation. It makes for tight knit thriller in which McCone has to settle her own dark instincts to gain the upper hand over her adversary as well as her own inner demons.
  
  Meanwhile, McCone is also running her own agency and has cases that she must focus on, as well as her own. This is a rocking roller-coaster of a read and the first one where I really got sucked into the story and stayed with it, without any of the usual quirks that set my teeth on edge when I started this series. Marcia Muller has, in my opinion, matured and created a main character that interests and maintains the readers attention.
• 
  SuperWendy

  The first half felt too scattershot to me. Muller has Sharon spread thin with her Identity Thief, Ted's and Neal's problems, and two separate cases that Mick and Charlotte are working on. Not to mention her worry about Hy being incommunicado in South America. It wasn't until Sharon loops in her friends and colleagues about her troubles that the story came into focus for me and the second half is a pretty good cat-and-mouse chase. This read like Muller didn't have enough to oomph up the main mystery so tacked on some filler to beef up the word count. I enjoyed the return visit with the characters, but not a highlight in the series for me.
• 
  Vanessa

  This continues to be an excellent series, and I found this one to be the best yet!! Her side characters are rich, and as per usual, the story quickly picks up the pace as it rolls along, one event sequencing smoothly into the next. At first, I found the plot unrealistic, as Sharon is a top-notch investigator, and what would be the problem in solving this one in a timely manner, and how could an identity thief/stalker get the best of her? But, Marcia Muller clearly unfolds the scenario, showing the reasons in great detail, exploring the issues of stalking and the powerlessness it can give even a smart, strong individual. She does not fold, however, although her frustration mounts as the clever stalker learns to almost read her mind. There is also a side story centered around Ted, one of her employees. Ted is acting strangely and chooses not to confide his problem to anyone. Although I had the problem figured out about half way in, I still found it interesting.
  
  A great story, and well worth the read, especially if you like this series.
  
  
• 
  Sandie

  Things are going well for San Francisco-based detective Sharon McCone when she first hears the news. Her agency is buzzing along and she just hired a new investigator she has high hopes for. She and her partner, Hy, are doing well in her personal life. She isn't caught up in any high risk cases. All in all, things are great.
  Then she hears from a friend that someone was impersonating her at a galley opening. The woman had a business card, in fact, one of Sharon's business cards, and was passing herself off as Sharon. She looked much like Sharon although younger. Although it gives her a moment of unease, Sharon decides to shrug it off as someone using her credentials to get in someone they might not otherwise be able to enter.
  
  But it doesn't stop there. Sharon starts to get more reports of the woman who has apparently decided to pass herself off as Sharon all over. This is concerning. It can impact the business, especially when Sharon starts to hear from men the imposter is picking up, sleeping with and convincing that they have slept with Sharon herself. One of her staff has started acting strangely so much that their partner asks Sharon to look into it. The woman impersonator starts leaving gifts around, showing up in the private parts of Sharon's life such as the airport where she and Hy keep their plane, and soon it's obvious the woman has broken into both the office and Sharon's home. She orders things using Sharon's credit cards then cancels them. What is her purpose? How can Sharon find her before she does something worse?
  
  This is the eighteenth novel in the Sharon McCone series. Readers of the series will be happy to encounter so many of the same characters from the earlier novels while those reading this as a stand alone will find enough material given that they don't feel lost. The tension is slowly cranked up until a confrontation occurs that brings everything to a head. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
• 
  Alton Motobu

  Someone has stolen Sharon's identity, running up credit card bills, impersonating her in public, and breaking into her home. We are drawn into the mystery because of the diabolical nature of the impersonator who is as skilled as a CIA operative in bugging her home, finding information about her, and ruining her reputation. Sharon uses her own detective skills to uncover the impersonator half way through the book. The second half of the book is about what Sharon does to find out why the thief is doing it, to locate her, and to bring her in, which she does. But the climax falls flat. The thief is in the air in a stolen airplane, and Sharon talks her down in the middle of a storm, but the plane goes out of control as soon as it lands. The thief is hurt with non-life-threatening injuries. What I just described is how the author described the crash. There was nothing about how panicked the thief was in the air, what actually happened during the landing, and how all the injuries occurred. I was very disappointed because the author is usually terrific in climactic endings, but this was was a dud. Could have been 5 stars with a better ending.
• 
  Spuddie

  Someone out there is pretending to be PI Sharon McCone...attempting to look like her, handing out business cards, and doing dishonest deeds...all in Sharon's name. But who? And why? At first it seems like a silly game, but when things escalate to hijacking her credit cards, hacking into her voicemail system and deleting messages, ordering thousands of dollars of work to be done on her home, McCone goes into "fight back" mode and gets her whole team in on the case. All this while she's working on a case for her office manager's partner and worrying about her significant other, Hy Ripinsky, who is in South American somewhere working on a touchy international kidnapping case and is currently incommunicado.
  
  Fast paced, and as usual with a little of the 'unbelievable' about it, it's always good to visit Sharon and her circle of friends and family in San Francisco.
• 
  Amy Bradley

  This was unnerving, chilling, and creepy in a way that I enjoyed.
  
  Someone has been pretending to be Sharon around town, who looks somewhat like Sharon from a distance. Sharon is first told by a friend who encountered the other woman at a cocktail party with a name tag identifying her as Sharon, pretending to be Sharon in conversation. Later, an art dealer contacts Sharon and is confused when Sharon is not the woman he met before - and slept with.
  
  As well, something is going on with Ted.
  
  Very convoluted, as Sharon tries to discover who the other woman is - and what she wants. Stalking, homophobia, obsession all rear heads to a climatic finish.
• 
  Shannon Appelcline

  Muller's newest mystery strikes closer to home than most, as both Sharon and Ted are harassed (and Hy is perhaps in danger as well). Putting aside the unlikeliness of the simultaneous yet unconnected attacks, the plotline is well laid out and provides for strong characterization.
  
  Unfortunately, the story of Sharon's stalker drags on too long, and too much of it is about how the stalker is one step ahead of Sharon, which gets old quickly.
  
  So, a good setup, but it overstays its welcome.
• 
  Gail Burgess

  The mysteries are very close to home in this one. Sharon must figure out who is impersonating her and besmirching her identity in the process while also determining what is going on with normally reliable and affable Ted. I enjoy the regular cast of characters in this series and this book gave an extra dose of them.
• 
  Nick Duretta

  Muller is a good writer, Sharon McCone is a great character, and the premise of this installment is very intriguing: another woman is impersonating McCone and stealing her life, bit by bit. What is she up to? What does she want? Unfortunately, the answers ultimately are a bit disappointing, but the ride along the way (including some other subplots) is a fun one.
• 
  Darcee

  Completed books 12-18 in this series. This last one was not a favorite. An identity crisis for Sharon McCone as a stalker was moving in on her life. Not as strong a story as the previous books. Did like books 12-17 much more.
• 
  Kenneth Flusche

  This book held my attention so well it became a quick read.
• 
  Dawn

  Two mysteries in one book. Kick-ass lady PI.
• 
  Barbara Nutting

  Read 2009
• 
  Joyce Haivala

  It took me forever to read this book. I wanted to know “Why” but it wasn’t worth reading the whole book to almost find the answer
• 
  Paige Kuether

  Written in 1998, but Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone books are so well written, tense, suspenseful,
  and complicated that they are great reads.
• 
  Deanna King

  I am not sure that I actually enjoyed the 'story'- some parts were interesting, however, it seemed to 'drag' a little bit. When a book really grabs me, it doesn't take me long to finish reading it and this one I could easily put down and return to a few days later. The one thing I did find interesting was the way the sections were set, not as chapters, but as days of the week. It begins with 'Wednesday night, and then moves to Thursday and so on. There were a lot of things happening in the story that I didn't think quite fit, and the protagonist at times and the situations were a tad bit unbelievable. The ending was disappointing on why 'the bad guy' was doing what she was doing- I know that is a bit vague but in case you want to read this book- I do not want to give you a spoiler.
• 
  Mary

  Continuing on my quest to read all of the books again. Another one finished.
• 
  Jennifer

  3-1/2 Stars
  
  A solid entry in a series I really enjoy. The previous entry had a little too much about planes and flying and, while this book has some of that too, it was secondary to the main plot. Someone is stealing Sharon’s identity and she has no idea who or why. This was a fantastic cat-and-mouse plot and I was thoroughly engaged.
• 
  Nancy

  Intriguing plot. As I am coming to expect, Marcia Muller creates yet another fast paced, quick reading story with her usual cast of characters.
  
  With her agency going great guns, Sharon McCone is known as one of the best detectives in the business...until her reputation is threatened by an impostor. The woman's resemblance to McCone is uncanny. Her knowledge of McCone's life is chilling. And with lover Hy Ripinsky away on business, McCone is alone as the double insidiously sabotages McCone's career, invades her home, and leads her into a deadly game of cat and mouse through San Francisco's underworld. Now, with professional detachment giving way to blinding rage, McCone is fighting for her life. But her very essence is also at stake...as a hunger for personal justice overrides her fiercely held ethics and lets loose a primeval urge for revenge.