The Sleep Room: A Novel by Frank Tallis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This novel has quite a quaint feel to it. It is set in the 1950's and the language is very reminiscent of that, a fact which often fails with some books but you can almost believe this book WAS written in the 1950's; the manners and mannerisms of the characters as well as the language and settings are really spot on and very believable.

We start with Dr Richardson having an interview with Maitland, a doctor of psychiatric medicine who runs Wyldehope, a treatment centre for mental illnesses. Maitland's main interest is sleep therapy, an experimental kind of treatment that he oversees at Wyldehope where eight female patients are kept artificially asleep for most of the day in a bid to cure them of their schizophrenia. Dr James Richardson is offered the position on the spot and accepts.

From then on we enter into the world of Wyldehope; there is an eeriness, an unsettling feeling as the story progresses for the reader and increasingly for Dr Richarson. There is a definite gothic feel to this book, with shrouds of mist and noises, bumps in the night and something that just feels off kilter...not least in the sleep room where the eight sleeping women repose, quiet as corpses, in the dimly lit room, their hearts and brains monitored and where Dr Richardson notices some odd anomalies. Even when woken for their feeding and voiding, there is a strange zombie like feel to their actions.
Then there is Michael Chapman, a patient on the normal ward, having treatment for delusions, convinced his bed moves and that something bad is going to happen.
Along with the strangeness of the place and the sometimes 'off' seeming behaviour of some of the staff there is a blossoming love affair between James and one of the nurses, a mystery surrounding colleagues of Dr Maitland and some strange goings on that culminate in.....
Well, that WOULD spoil the story! Suffice to say that the more you read this book, the more intriguing and uncomfortable it gets; uncomfortable as in an itch, an expectation that something is going to happen but the reader can't quite see what...but it keeps you reading and it keeps you on edge and trust me when I say you will not see the twist but you will love it.

An extraordinarily excellent read, I've read nothing like it, it is totally unique. If you love a good suspense read this without fail. Characterisation and plot are superb and the atmospheric descriptions just keep you glued to the pages and you will not be disappointed by the ending.

Thanks to netgalley for the review copy of this book.



View all my reviews