#BlogTour ‘Sleepless’ by Louise Mumford

About the book….

‘The Circle meets Black Mirror in a thrilling, plausible and gripping debut. Frighteningly inventive.’ John Marrs, bestselling author of The One

‘Wow wow wow! What a story that was!… An unputdownable thriller… Absolutely brilliant read that had me on the edge of my seat!’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

Don’t close your eyes. Don’t fall asleep. Don’t let them in.

Thea is an insomniac; she hasn’t slept more than three hours a night for years.

So when an ad for a sleep trial that promises to change her life pops up on her phone, Thea knows this is her last chance at finding any kind of normal life.

Soon Thea’s sleeping for longer than she has in a decade, and awakes feeling transformed. So much so that at first she’s willing to overlook the oddities of the trial – the lack of any phone signal; the way she can’t leave her bedroom without permission; the fact that all her personal possessions are locked away, even her shoes.

But it soon becomes clear that the trial doesn’t just want to help Thea sleep. It wants to control her sleep…

Huge thanks to Sian at HQ Digital for the blog tour invite and gifted e-arc review copy of ‘Sleepless’ which is out now!

This debut novel is bound to give you sleepless nights as you turn over this high concept debut thriller

At the precipitous edge of her sanity, Thea becomes involved in a car accident which makes her realise she needs immediate and effective support to manage this chronic affliction.

An advert for Morpheus sleep research clinics seems to offer the perfect solution-but everything which appeals to Thea, the isolated setting, reputable name of the company and so on is the very thing which raises red flags for Thea’s mother, organiser and head trouble maker pf a post menopausal women’s group.

Cut off from the outside world and with probes stuck to her head which are monitoring her sleeping and waking hours, Thea descends into a world which has the reader on the edge of their seat, wondering if all that she sees and experiences is a fever dream or real.

The notion of sleep and how to harness the seemingly spreading endemic of chronic sleeplessness is the perfect post-modern concept. What would scientists do if they could either enable those surviving on very little sleep, with seemingly no effect on day to day function? Or worse, what if they could harness the power of the unconscious mind?

I loved the relationship between Thea and her mum, the banter between them and bickering felt totally natural and realistic. The isolated setting was perfect, it created an extra sense of dread knowing how far Thea was from getting help.

A gripping narrative with an engaging heroine who you root for from page one, this is a very interesting mix of mystery, thriller and science fiction with a dollop of horror thrown in for good measure. It is sure to appeal to all those who enjoy dipping their toes in these genres!

About the author…

Louise was born and lives in South Wales. From a young age she loved books and dancing, but hated having to go to sleep, convinced that she might miss out on something interesting happening in the world whilst she dozed – much to her mother’s frustration! Insomnia has been a part of her life ever since.

She studied English Literature at university and graduated with first class honours. As a teacher she tried to pass on her love of reading to her students (and discovered that the secret to successful teaching is… stickers! She is aware that that is, essentially, bribery.)

In the summer of 2019 Louise experienced a once-in-a-lifetime moment: she was discovered as a new writer by her publisher at the Primadonna Festival. Everything has been a bit of a whirlwind since then.

Louise lives in Cardiff with her husband and spends her time trying to get down on paper all the marvellous and frightening things that happen in her head.
Twitter @HQDigital @louise_mumford