Sleep

C.L. Taylor

Apr 2019 · Sold by HarperCollins UK

About this ebook

‘Breathlessly gripping’ - international bestselling author Lucy Foley, author of The Guest List

Seven guests. Seven secrets. One killer. Do you dare to SLEEP?

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.

The million-copy bestseller is back in her darkest, twistiest book to date. Read it if you dare! Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley’s The Guest List and Alice Feenery’s Daisy Darker.

Everybody is LOVING Sleep!

‘Wow just wow!... I loved it’ Karen’s World

‘WOW!... Sleep!!! You wont get any if you start to read it in the evening! So be warned!!!’ Reader review

‘Superb... her books just keep getting better and better – this one was a belter!!’ Donna’s Book Blog

‘A cracking story... A heart in your mouth plot’ Books from Dusk ‘til Dawn

‘Extremely creepy, atmospheric and twisty.’ CLAIRE DOUGLAS, author of Do Not Disturb

‘Sleep will keep you up all night.’ MARK EDWARDS, author of The Retreat

‘As always, C L Taylor knocks it out of the park!’ Reader review

“Reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None... a final killer twist that is as satisfying as it is unexpected” Mature Times

“Everything we love in a thriller: creepy, tense and pacy enough to get your heart racing” Good Housekeeping

‘A perfectly written psychological thriller... filled with plot twist after plot twist... I was on the edge of my seat for every page.’ 2016 and Beyond

Ratings and reviews

2.5 Stars Oh dear, this turned in to a jumbled mess quite early on in proceedings. It starts off quite well with introducing us to Anna and you get a good sense of the character in both her professional and personal life. When the accident happens that steals the lives of Freddy and Peter and leaves Mohammed severely injured the description of Anna's reaction is well handled and believable. I could even get behind her mental collapse and seeming paranoia after her release from hospital, attending the funerals and then the Court Case. When her relationship with Alex collapses and she moves back home to her parents I am still "with it" but finding myself having to suspend belief in parts. This is then compounded when she moves to the remote Scottish Island of Rum to get away from everything and start a new job as a Hotel Receptionist cum general factotum. It is once we get to Rum that the book really started to fall apart for me. Not one of the characters have any real depth to them and they all have just a sheen of personality to them. Each and every one of them fits in to a particular niche which gives them a plausible reason for being Anna's tormentor. Unfortunately because of their very generic attributes this means that as soon as they have all settled in to the hotel and the storm hits you know that the least likely candidate is going to be the one responsible. Sadly, it wasn't even really fun getting to the denouement that proved the reader right. It would seem that the author realised this as there is a side story of Freddy's father thrown in that it seems is behind her torment. Throw in a handful of peculiar obituaries and comments from their writer directed towards both the deceased and Anna. All add up to a nice little distraction, but not a truly effective one as although at first they do serve to cast suspicion in other directions they, ultimately, just serve as break points in the action on Rum. I was very disappointed with the book as the pace varied between a slow plod and then frantic, fevered activity. Not always a bad thing but in this case the frantic bits didn't create tension but instead came across as overwrought and, to be honest, rather laughable. With the exception of Anna none of the characters are particularly believable and even Anna eventually becomes a caricature of herself. So, between plot, pacing and characters there isn't a lot to recommend the book and once you are around 100 pages or so in it just became an exercise in getting to the end of it all. Normally when there is so much going on, and there is a LOT going on, I find that it sucks you in and really involves you in the story being told. In this case it just seems like everything, including the kitchen sink, has been thrown at the book and it just left it muddy and rather boring. There is so much hyperbole on the cover that it made me wonder if I was reading the right pages or if another book had been substituted between the covers. THIS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA READERS FIRST.

As with any C.L.Taylor book.... Sleep was easy to get gripped, easy to follow storyline, likeable characters and has a great storyline! This was actually not as gripping as some of her other physiological thrillers but none the less I read it within 24hrs as I didn't want to not know what was going to happen next. Least likely character surprise to wind up the book! Praise for Sleep! Another great book from C.L Taylor!

Another fantastic dark twisted section of CL.Taylors mind down on paper. I got totally immersed in this book from the start. Every opportunity to read I took it even two minutes. It really was so difficult to put down, but it didn’t go far just in my handbag or my pocket. A labyrinth of storylines to follow and dissect to try and work out , knowing full well I won’t because I am a reader not a writer of this calibur.! This will be a gift I will give to everyone, some because they’ll love it and some just to play with their minds. CL.Taylor is an author who just keep on providing us with awesome literature , bravo!

About the author

C.L. Taylor is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her psychological thrillers have sold over a million copies in the UK alone, been translated into over twenty languages, and optioned for television. Her 2019 novel, Sleep, was a Richard and Judy pick. C.L. Taylor lives in Bristol with her partner and son.