Sleeping with a Psychopath: A real-life psychological crime thriller, the unbelievable true story. THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

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The nighttime habits of antisocial personalities vary, Dr. Gene Beresin, Executive Director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells Bustle. There's really no one consistent activity or set of activities that all psychopaths do. However, whatever they choose to do, it's going to be self-centered and in the moment. "No matter what else is happening around the individual (even if it is monumental), if it is not immediately relevant to what the psychopath is interested in at that time, it is disregarded," Beresin says. I've just finished this book and I have mixed feelings on it. I felt as though it was really a book of two halves and I find myself with different opinions on the beginning and the end. I don’t want to go into detail, about the lengths he went, you should read that yourself. I read so much with a dropped jaw. I liked the quotes at the start of each chapter that related to what had happened. I have to agree with Carolyn that there is something much deeper with this man. I don’t think there is a cure. It is who he is. The title of this book is a bit misleading in as much as the 'psychopath' of the title never actually spends the night with the author. Forgive me for pointing that out, but it's one of the weird things he does (or rather doesn't do) in a very long list of extremely weird behaviours. She is in love with the 'idea' of the man rather than his reality. I have so much respect for the strength Carolyn has shown in writing and publishing this account. At times I found myself loosing focus whilst I was reading and I found parts a little repetitive. There will be many people who question how she believed such outlandish lies, but her honesty and strength stand out to me. I felt both gripped and haunted by this read, I almost feel like I cannot trust anyone. There are many chilling but important messages within this book.

The first half of the book, I really liked. Carolyn told her story well and, as heartbreaking as it was, I very much enjoyed reading it. She finished each chapter with a 'summing up' of Mark's behaviour based on what she knows now, which I found interesting. I'd 100% recommend listening to Sleeping with a Psychopath as I bet that throughout the book most readers will be asking themselves whether they could fall victim to a similar crime. OMFG so so many alarm bells would have been going off in my head & the behaviour he exhibited in those first 24 hours would have had me running for the hills! Or is it just easy for me to say that having never been in this kinda situation before? I didn't realise this was a true story to start with, so I did a little research & read the news reports...what an absolute uncaring bastard (that's me being polite) he was! I would have said the same around two years ago before my middle aged daughter was scammed, scammed online out of a lot of money, through her trust, her big heart and the cleverness of that other terrible person. Romance scam. I felt that Carolyn didn't come across as a particularly likeable character - often stating her (perceived) personality traits for the reader. I.e. "I am a very strong/positive person", which were often at odds with the way she was behaving - she spent most of the book in a state of deep depression and despair, long after Mark was out of her life.

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Interestingly the book doesn't stop at the fraud played upon this poor woman, it covers the later police investigation which took far longer than seems reasonable. In fact, some things were so astonishing she began to question her new lover. Was all as it seemed?

How can you spot a psychopath? Although there are many different characteristics of a psychopath to look out for, a 2015 study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences did find that psychopaths tend to be night owls. As the study found, people with psychopathic traits seem to work better at night. So if you want to know if someone is a psychopath, their night time habits can possibly clue you in. You're right. It is totally extraordinary. My life is like a film; you couldn't make it up ... But there's something I have to tell you,' he confided, as he leaned across the table towards me. 'I'm not normal.' I hope Carolyn Woods will make some money from this book. Being left with nothing - no money, no home, not a lot of self-respect - after going through such a trauma is horrible to even imagine. Most of all though, I hope she'll use the book to draw a line under the experience she had and move forward. I admit it… I am obsessed by psychopaths. I love reading books with narcissistic, psychopathic characters and the more ruthless the better, however this is in the fictional books I read. Reading about psychopaths in a true crime, non-fiction account is absolutely TERRIFYING. I feel so sorry for any woman who finds herself in this situation, thinking she's found 'The one', yet he's just interested in milking her for everything she has, not caring what financial & mental destruction he is causing.Sleeping with a psychopath is a true crime story. Carolyn Woods meets and falls for a man named Mark Conway. But soon her world is turned upside-down by his lies and betrayals. I loved Dirty John when it was on Netflix, so if you too were a fan of that you'll find this book fascinating at the depraved lengths these men will stoop to! I was really looking forward to this story which promised to be “a real-life thriller”. It turned out to be a fairly tedious and repetitive tale of how a well off, naïve divorcee got duped by a manipulative egomaniac. She’s too much, quiet literally the most annoying and stupid woman ever - firstly views herself as too good for antidepressants and also somehow connects a friendly supportive hug (okay slightly inappropriate but not to this extent) between and doctor and patient to the MeToo movement in which women were literally sexual assault. This women is so god damn annoying. Rant over… for now.

You're right. It is totally extraordinary. My life is like a film; you couldn't make it up … But there's something I have to tell you,' he confided, as he leaned across the table towards me. 'I'm not normal.' It’s so easy to say “I wouldn’t do that” or “couldn’t she see what was happening” but I was able to understand why Carolyn did allow herself to be dragged down this murky path. Simply put, she fell head over heels in love with a professional conman. A man who had spent most of his life honing his craft, learning how to read people and press the right buttons to get exactly what he wanted and to make his victims fall for his lies. The second part of the book which covered the investigation was easier to get through and a bit more interesting - perhaps because it was less about her. All in all, I won't be recommending this to anyone unfortunately. So when I read this, I did believe that a grown woman with her own home, money in the bank, independent and strong willed woman could be wooed by this psychopath.So many red flags. He told her he’d just been shot in the arm, then in the leg. Did she not notice he had no wounds when they were being intimate? The rudeness he showed towards her family would have made most women run for the hills, but she stayed. I think because she, right from the day she met him, loved the luxury champagne and limo lifestyle. I started skimming at 75% when we were informed in great detail about how badly the police handled everything. Again, always someone elses fault. One of the main reasons Mark got away with the extent of the fraud he did was due to his charismatic character. From the very first meeting it was clear that he was a bit of a creep and she'd have been best off staying well away from him. I felt those parts were written with the benefit of hindsight and she really failed in her quest to make the reader truly understand what it was that had drawn her to him in the first place - and what made her stay. You’re right. It is totally extraordinary. My life is like a film; you couldn’t make it up ... But there’s something I have to tell you,’ he confided, as he leaned across the table towards me. ‘I’m not normal.’ At some point when your psychopath has felt like he or she has built a sufficient trust bond with you, his or her affections turn romantic, as you are overwhelmed by a relentless flood of affectionate attention and proclamation of love, even if you are already in a suitable romantic relationship at the moment. If you are in a relationship with someone else, the psycho will find ways to discredit the person you are in a relationship with now and create mind games that will have you thinking something is desperately wrong. Not surprisingly, you will probably start thinking that the person you love(d) is a “psychopath.”