Book Review: SLEEP by C.L. Taylor

Title: SLEEP

Author: C.L. Taylor
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Read: April 2019

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.

Each of the guests have a secret but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they’re on the island. There’s a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they’ve set their sights on Anna.

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.

Someone’s going to sleep and never wake up…

My musings:

COVER LOVE! This book was a total cover love impulse read – just look at that spooky cabin in the mist. I knew I had to read it!

As for the cover’s promises of an atmospheric setting – yes, it totally delivers that! Set on the remote Scottish island of Rum (this is indeed a real place – I googled it and the pictures are amazing!), the story follows a more traditional “locked room” type mystery, with seven strangers trapped in a small hotel on the rugged island coast, cut off from civilisation by a terrible storm that rages around the house. As is the wont of mysteries, the visitors cannot just be run-of-the-mill middle-aged tourists who peacefully settle in front of the fire and play cards together to weather out the storm. No, of course there are some strange goings-on, and the possibility of a murderer amongst them, which has everyone on high alert. It doesn’t take long for all the dirty secrets come out in spectacular fashion and each character’s deepest darkest character flaws to be exposed.

Slater joins the line of authors I have read this year who have been trying to make their mark on this timeless theme. I must say that this setting was especially appealing to me, and I have put Rum on my travel list, murderous hikers notwithstanding. This island practically asked to be cast in this particular type of thriller!

What I am going to say now may reflect my general fatigue with mysteries and unusual twists at the moment, because some things worked for me, and others didn’t. Personally, I did not warm to Anna. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, because she has been through a truly horrible event, and I so wanted to reach out to her and feel her pain. That said, I thought the author did a great job in portraying her PTSD and guilt after the accident, so I’m not quite sure why she irritated me at times. In hindsight, none of the characters were particularly likeable, which is ok, given that each and every one of them is supposed to have the potential to be a vicious stalker. But oh boy, at times this read like a camp for the screwed up and dysfunctional! If the remote island really attracts bunches of those types of people, I may have to reconsider my travel plans.

When I reflect on novels that have really ratcheted up the tension, I find that mostly they didn’t rely on bunches of unlikeable characters doing crazy things and putting themselves in ridiculous situations. Rather, they relied on an undercurrent of menace so subtle that it snuck under the radar and quietly settled into my very soul, without even realising. Despite the implied danger to Anna, I never felt that sense of foreboding or menace here. It certainly didn’t keep me up at night, as the cover promised. I think the setting was a bit underused here, as it could have delivered all that and more all on its own! At times, the characters acted so crazily that I felt like getting out a prescription pad for a bunch of psych meds. And the ending just capped that feeling off for me – it was all just a bit too implausible for my liking, and some threads never fully came together for me.

As I said earlier, I am currently in a thriller reading slump, so take my words with a huge grain of salt. C.L. Taylor is a talented and popular author, who showcases her talent in creating this wonderful claustrophobic setting and has delivered a thriller that worked brilliantly for a majority of readers. If you like the genre, and enjoy a locked-room type mystery, than ignore me and definitely give this a go, knowing that a certain degree of suspension of disbelief is required.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.