This is the first C.L. Taylor I've read, and I was not disappointed. Thrilling, mysterious, and atmospheric, this book grabs your attention and holds on tight. I am a sucker for starting over books, but this isn't just that. This is a multi layered story, with twists that come out of nowhere but then fit neatly into the plot.

Anna has been having difficulty sleeping. She is wracked with the same kind of guilt that plagued Lady Macbeth, although she is not at all like that infamous villain. Anna ends up in a car accident that results not only in the deaths of her colleagues but leaves a group of unsavoury, vengeful characters thirsty for some misbegotten sense of justice hungering after her. Someone has decided that she needs to pay, but they are cloaked in mystery and no one else seems to care about Anna's doubts. Anna isn't a meek heroine either, she is strong, clever, and resilient. I especially loved how she handles her situation with her boyfriend.

The novel takes us into the minds of a few characters, and although at times I found myself confused and then making judgements, the end had me reeling - C.L. Taylor delivers a perfectly wrapped package tied up with a great twist. Even the last page shocked me.

With thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for a digital ARC to read

Anna, troubled by her guilt, runs to the Isle of Rum (a remote island in Scotland). All she wants is a fresh start and one night of untroubled sleep. But as guests start pouring into the hotel she is a receptionist at, Anna finds herself amidst another mystery. A mystery that is full of misleading clues and innocent danger.

While Anna’s boyfriend is a total douche, his existence is strangely comforting :P. Anyway, coming back to the characters in the hotel, I loved how different they were, yet so reserved and secretive. Their behavior at every instance could be viewed as suspicious and that is something I thoroughly enjoyed.

The writing, as usual, is simple. The author refrained from adding multiple details (Thank God for that :p) and that worked so well for the mystery as a whole. I am saying this again, C. L. Taylor is one of my favorite mystery writers and I would definitely recommend this to the ones who are still exploring this genre.

Anna is running away from her past and the tragic accident that killed two of her colleagues and severely injured another. She thinks that taking a job on the remote island of Rum will help her come to terms with her guilt but some has followed her intent on harming her.

Now she’s trapped in a hotel with seven strangers as a terrible storm blows in with no way of escape. Can she survive?

I absolutely devoured this novel! CL Taylor is becoming one of those authors that I can pick up one of her books and know I’m going to enjoy it from beginning to end.

I love the way CL Taylor takes an ordinary person, some you could see in the street and puts them in extraordinary situations, pushing them to their limit. I really felt for Anna dealing with all the guilt, with an unsupportive boyfriend and a lot of people who blame her for the accident.

The island of Rum made for a really atmospheric and almost claustrophobic setting coupled with Anna’s paranoia made it such a tense and gripping read.

I don’t want to say too much more about the storyline, because I don’t want to give away spoilers, but boy was this a real tension packed read with an ending I didn’t see coming at all!

My only issue was the fact that the character happens to find a job on a remote island, by chance and in her first week a bad storm happens to roll in…a bit of coincidence but I think the author manages to get away with it.

Overall Sleep is fast paced and thrilling read that you just won’t want to put down.

This was a well written psychological thriller with a great plot line. I love all this authors books and although this isn't my favourite of her books, it was very well written and kept you guessing throughout. Great book I would highly recommend.

Sleep is a gripping thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. Anna takes a job on the remote Scottish island of Rum after a car she was driving crashes, killing two of her colleagues. Convinced she is being stalked, she takes a job in the only hotel on the island but soon realises her problems have followed her there, with deadly consequences. This book is fast paced and kept me enthralled until the very end. A great read!

I really enjoyed 'Sleep' by C.L. Taylor. It was a one-sit-read for me, whilst inside on a wet and windy night. The perfect acoustics for this atmospheric thriller.
After an horrific accident with colleagues, Anna needs a new start and leaves to work at a remote hotel on an isolated Scottish Island. When a powerful weather front traps her and the other guests it soon becomes clear that someone there has malicious intent towards her...but who?
The reader then joins Anna as she battles to work out what is going wrong, it seems all the guests have their own secrets to hide, but who can be trusted? This makes an engaging premise for the thriller and the isolated setting works really well as the backdrop. I was hooked.
The drop from 5 to 4, stars is because of the final chapters. I did feel the ending raced rather quickly, and was, what I call, a 'movie' ending, so you do need to raise the suspension of disbelief here and the final chapter didn't work for me. I would have been happy with finishing on Chapter 54 and have a more depth in the main climax. But I'm probably being a fuss pot!
A really great book for book clubs as it has lots of discussion points. Overall, a very happy reader who was thoroughly entertained and I'll be checking out more books by this author - read it!

Thank you very much Avon Books and Netgalley for the review copy.

Sleep is not so much a modern-day thriller as a twisty 'Christie-esque' style tale. I enjoyed reading it on a wet Sunday afternoon and evening and finished it the same day. An interesting cast; a wonderful, if scary and claustrophobic, setting; and very readable story although the final chapter seemed a little hurried and led to a (for me) not so brilliant ending. This is my second book by CL Taylor, both courtesy of NetGalley and I am now planning on catching up with her other books. With thanks to NetGalley and Avon/HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review a free e-ARC.

Sleep is a gripping, well-paced thriller that deserves all the praise it’s getting (and will continue to receive). CL Taylor creates deftly drawn, sympathetic, it-could-be-you characters in a cracking plot that keeps you reading long into the night. The Christie-esque formula of people in peril is a tried and tested winner that Taylor has expertly refreshed, bringing it up to date with some clever additions from modern-day monsters (can’t say who without adding a spoiler). Her twists knock you sideways without going OTT and keep you hooked to the very last (and rather creepy) final chapter. Highly recommended! Now to read everything else she’s ever written...

Anna tried to escape her of life after a ar accident, but ends up trapped with seven strangers on a remote Scottish Island.
But which of the seven is out to get her, and will she be able to stop them before it’s too late?
This is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s ‘And then there were none.’ Classic gothic horror and no-one able to leave the spooky windswept hotel.
The novel is fast-paced and gripping and the sleep motif compelling.
It’s definitely one for those prepared to sacrifice characterisation for plot. The characters aren’t wholly believable and maybe a little vanilla.
But it will keep you awake and guessing, and isn’t that what we all want from a thriller?
Recommended.

With a gripping ‘who done it’ theme, CL Taylor once again writes a compelling thriller.

Anna is working at a hotel on a remote Scottish island, having escaped the traumatic life she left behind in London. The guests start to arrive and the reader slowly learns their secrets and the reason they have booked in to stay at the Bay View hotel. The hotel becomes cut off from the main land and Anna is feeling threatened, but she doesn’t know which of the guests is plotting against her. A murder follows and it’s up to Anna to discover the identity of the murderer, and how it ties her into the plot and the life she left behind.

A truly great book, with an air of a modern day Agatha Christie. I really enjoyed being hooked into this tale.

Sleep by C.L. Taylor is an unputdownable psychological thriller reminiscent of, and just as intriguing as, an Agatha Christie whodunit. This is a novel that will deprive you of sleep, as you are guaranteed to stay up late into the night turning pages.

"If you're reading this, then I am no longer alive." These are the compelling first words of a story that hooks the reader immediately. Anna Willis is a marketing manager who is driving three colleagues home from a team-building weekend when her car is struck by an articulated lorry, killing two of her passengers and paralyzing the third. Following the tragedy, Anna is plagued by relentless guilt and insomnia, and decides to make a fresh start on the Isle of Rum in Scotland, taking a job at the Bay View Hotel. When seven guests arrive, strange and threatening events seem to target Anna, and she realizes that one of the holidaymakers is not who they claim to be. Has one member of the seemingly innocuous group been sent to exact revenge?

Set on a remote Scottish Island during a storm of almost biblical proportions, this is a story that had me racing through chapters long after my bedtime. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this ARC.

I am a massive fan of C. L. Taylor and this book is without a doubt the authors best one yet!

The story starts off with an OMFG start leaving you wanting more talk about unputdownable.
In this story we meet Anna all she wants is to be able to sleep….there I am wanting to stay up all night to finish this book( which is what I did) talk about about gripping.

when we follow Anna who starts a job at a hotel and seven strangers join her, what starts out to be a break to escape her past we are taking on a white knuckle ride when her retreat turns into a living nightmare.

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie. What a tagline. This is one of those story that the more you get to know the characters the more you don't know who to trust. The whole time I am there wanting to know what the opening of the story is about. Very, Very clever if I do say so myself.
C.L Taylor has totally smashed it Sleep will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat I couldn't read it fast enough. This book is sure to give you goosebumps. I loved the setting and the authors style of writing making me feel like I was in a creepy hotel.

This is a must read for psychological thriller fans which I highly recommend giving it all the stars

Sleep – Cally Taylor Knows how to twist the knife …

C.L. Taylor more commonly known as Cally to us peasants really knows how to write a psychological thriller and keeps the reader hooked throughout. Each book she has written has a wonderful twist within and like a good poker player she knows how to make it hard to try and guess what comes next. You think you have the protagonist to find you are wrong then decide on the next one to be shown you are wrong again, before the reveal and the I did not see that coming!

All Anna wants to do since the car crash is sleep, but with crushing insomnia and guilty, sleep does not come easily or when it does, last long enough. Unable to escape the guilt she feels she splits from her partner, quits her job and heads for the Isle of Rum up in Scotland as an assistant at a small hotel. She has only been there a couple of weeks then things start to change and not necessarily for the best

When seven new customers check-in they are seven customers with seven secrets, some darker than others. When someone seems to have chased to her from London and is threatening her life, Anna seems to be over paranoid to those observing. Anna cannot work out who she needs to trust and who will be the one who wants to see her dead. All she knows is that they all have a secret, but someone is lying and that is the one who will try and kill her.

When a storm rolls in across Rum and cuts them off from the rest of the island, things really start to go wrong for Anna. As the storm seems to last longer than expected, the guests and Anna’s relationship with them is tested to the full, especially as this seems to be the ideal hunting ground for her potential killer. Whether she lives to see the storm out is open to question or will the killer get to her first?

A really dark thriller. Set at the only hotel on a remote Scottish Island seven guests arrive. Anna is a new employee escaping from a trauma. It appears someone from the group is there for another reason than to hike, fish and relax and knows Anna's past. Lots of lovely characters with red herrings thrown in for all. A whoah twist and good closure. A gripping read.

4.5 stars - rounded up!
I have read a few books by this author and thoroughly enjoyed them so her bar was set quite high in anticipation for this, her latest. And she oh so very nearly hit it, hence the rounding up!
Anna feels responsible for a accident which has left her feeling guilty. She can't seem to shrug off the feeling which has left her with quite horrid night-terrors and the inability to sleep. Her relationship suffers and she does what quite a few would probably like to do in her situation and ups sticks and gets a job in the middle of nowhere, desperate to reinvent herself, to wipe her slate clean and, hopefully, be able to sleep. But, it would be a pretty boring book if she was able to do this, and so begins a really rather convoluted story of betrayal, guilt and Anna ends up fighting for her life!
This author has managed to pull the wool over my eyes before and, blow me down, she went and did it again! Leading me down paths and then tapping me on my shoulder and spinning me around as off we went in a completely different direction, And, you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed the ride!
Characterisation was, as always, cracking. She never ceases to amaze me with the way she manages to conjour up some really great characters to get to grips with. Obviously, true to the genre, they are all a bit dodgy, with secrets, lies and more than their fair share of duplicitous behaviour. But cutting through the innocuous and the misunderstood left me exhausted and so I just sat back, buckled up and went with the flow.
The plot was so well worked out and I had my work cut out as I tried to figure out which bits of information was important to keep aside for later. Again, I failed miserably. But it was such a delight to be confused as I have read a lot of books recently where I had it all pretty much figured out from the off. Well done Ms Taylor! There were just a few things that I smarted at a bit but then that's probably cos I read too many of this genre books.
All in all, a cracking read that gripped me from the off, held me captive throughout and left me satisfied at the end. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author, C L Taylor, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Sleep in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I absolutely loved reading this book. I was hooked from the start. I thought it was well thought out and written with plenty of twists and intrigue. I have preordered my copy already.
Definitely worth a read.

I am currently purchasing books for our secondary school library for our senior students. I am trying to provide a balance of genres and periods and really try and introduce them to a wide range of modern fiction. This book would definitely go down well with a hypercritical teenage audience as it has a bit of everything - great characterisation and a narrative style that draws you in and keeps you reading - even if it might terrify you at times! I think that school libraries are definitely changing and that the book we purchase should provide for all tastes and reflect the types of books that the students and staff go on to enjoy after leaving school. Sleep is the kind of book that you can curl up with and totally immerse yourself in and I think it will definitely go down well at my school. I think that it was the perfect blend of page-turning fiction with a really strong narrative voice - I think it would be a big hit with our seniors and will definitely recommend that we buy a copy as soon as we can.

Cally has a talent. A talent for inveigling you in within the first few pages and keeping you there with a little intrigue and a hint that there is just that something more. Anna was on a work trip with three other colleagues in her car when there was a serious accident. A lorry driver careered into their path and two of her passengers died. she was lucky to escape with her life. Despite it not being her fault she feels incredibly guilty and can’t get the tragedy out of her mind.One of the deceased parents blames her totally despite it having been to court and being found the lorry drivers fault. Her relationship with her boyfriend was on the brink of collapse anyway and when she starts to get strange messages she decides to up sticks from Reading and take a job in the Scottish highlands in a hotel. When the messages continue and they are totally cut off by a storm, Anna begins to wonder just who is after her. OMG. When you know that there is something, just something about to happen. That air of tension, and rather dark at times to keep you on your toes. I could have devoured this in one sitting had real life not got in the way. Cally is one of my go- to authors and this book strengthens this even more. Wow! on the edge of my seat just doesn't cover it.
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I really loved this book, this is the 3rd C.L Taylor I’ve read and wasn’t disappointed.
It was eerie and you could envisage the location perfectly. Fast paced and an easy read.

I thought this writer couldnt beat the title 'The Accident', which was fantastic, but this is certainly of equal merit, if not more!