Sleep

By: C.L. Taylor

Narrated by: Clare Corbett

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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 has 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.... 

©2019 C. L. Taylor (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Beware! Sleep does not do what it says on the tin: I was awake until the small hours under its dark and twisty spell." (Fiona Barton)

"Sleep kept me awake until the early hours...extremely creepy, atmospheric and twisty. I never guessed that ending!" (Claire Douglas)

"Another cracking psychological thriller from CL Taylor. Sleep will keep you up all night." (Mark Edwards)

Upgraded who dunnit

Very differenf kind of whodunnit. Several different tropes coming together to make a quite satisfying murder mystery. A who dunnit taken to another level. The reader was quite good too.

Sleep

I really enjoyed this listen, a scary thought, as this could easily happen in real life, vengeance is a terrible thing. The narration was very good.

Sleep is not an Option!

This is one classy thriller. After a devastating event, Anna is forced to re-evaluate her life and finds herself working in a very remote Scottish island hotel. We know from the chilling opening line of the book that Anna believes that she is in danger as she becomes marooned at the hotel with seven strangers. Yes, I know it sounds like a cliche, stuck with strangers, cut off in some remote place but this book is so much more than that.

Anna felt very real to me and the book did not rely on her behaving like a complete moron all the time to make its plot work, and there is a humdinger of a twist right near the middle of the book that I really liked, very clever stuff from Taylor. The other characters had a good 'real' feel to them too.

Clare Corbett gives an enthusiastic performance and brings the most important scenes to life. And this book wasn't an easy one, asking an English lady to perform a book including, for example, a burly Scottish guide must always be a tough ask. She sticks to her guns though and pulls it off really well even if sometimes it wasn't easy to determine that a character speaking was male.

This is a clever thriller, it's not overly imbued with action but I did like the strength of the central character, Anna. That coupled with some clever moves in the plot made it a very satisfying read. You aren't going to find yourself nodding off during Sleep!

Everything you expect from a good Thriller

We know right from the start that Anna is aware of the danger she is in. Trapped in a remote Scottish Island hotel with no contact with the outside world due to a storm, the person trying to kill her must be one of 7 people also trapped at the hotel. As with any good thriller, we know a bit more about the danger than the potential victim and we sit on the edge of our seats hoping that she will not succumb to the killer.

I've read 4 other books by C. L. Taylor and this is the best so far.

The story develops mainly from the perspective of Anna, the potential victim. Also we hear from the perspective of quite a few other protagonists. We hear narration from the creepy voice of the killer without actually knowing who the killer is. Other authors too have used this device to good effect. I think it is wonderful.

We gradually get to know and understand the personalities of the 7 guests and keep wondering which one is the murderer.

Great reading by Clare Corbett

Awful book

Genuinely one of the worst books I've ever read. Rubbish story. Awfully bad writing e.g. 'positively brimming with positivity'. Just lazy writing. Oh god I'm so annoyed that this book exists. It is so poor. Absolute trash.

Brilliant

Don't miss this one. Brilliant hooked by 1st chapter. Brilliantly read and written. Well done

She done it again !!

Absolutely love this book. It was fast paced and engrossing till the end !! 5/5 from me !! Also Clare narrating is like always on point.

Atmospheric and entertaining

I enjoyed this book very much, I was drawn in by the simplistic whodunit write up. I loved the setting, it was all a bit noir, with grim miserable weather in the highlands of Scotland.
Wasn't as keen on the setting of the story to begin with, it was a little slow.
Characters were fun and all round simple but fun and fast paced thriller with a great atmosphere.

Would recommend for a fun easy read.

Great Romping Thriller!

Excellent narration, good story, bit daft but non the worse for that. Definitely worth a credit.

Loved it!

C.L. Taylor is a new author for me and I am so pleased I took a chance.She takes the very well worn device of guests trapped in a remote hotel by a storm and runs with it. Very clever twists and turns. The narrator was perfect .

nothing special

I could easily have given up on listening to this story but continued hoping it would improve.
I wasn't a fan of this story.

Disappointed

Had been waiting for this one to be released for ages but it wasn't that great, didn't grip me and I kept allowing myself to be distracted while listening (which I don't if the book is gripping) nearly gave up a couple of times! Not totally bad, but not great. Won't be one that I remember or think 'wow'