As the only survivor of a terrible accident, Anna is having a hard time coping. Even sleep is beyond her reach. Hoping a change of scenery will help her, she takes a job at a hotel on an island in the middle of nowhere off the coast of Scotland. She’s soon tasked with looking after seven guests, all of whom are hiding something and one of whom is a killer. With shades of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, this is a creepy claustrophobic read that had me chewing on my nails

I have to give this top marks because reading Sleep genuinely meant that I had none over the night I read it. Well perhaps a little bit after I finished it bleary eyed at around 3am.

I'm still very fond of the psychological thriller, despite having read so many, both excellent ones and also some truly terrible ones - but this author never fails to entertain me, whether it's by writing those characters I love to hate, or as in this case with a twisty page turner that doesnt loosen it's grip once you start.

The theme of guilt is central to "Sleep" as is the underlying thread about how we deal with loss. Anna, our main protagonist, is drowning in both in the aftermath of a terrible accident. Trying to find a way to recover, she immerses herself in a new job - but someone has followed and the remote location is about to be cut off from civilisation by a raging storm...

I loved it. I'm a huge fan of claustrophobic settings, a locked room mystery feel where there are only so many suspects. It keeps things predictably unpredictable, this is beautifully plotted so you may guess but you can't know until the final reveal...making the read of it both edgy and intriguing. 

The very definition of a page turner "Sleep" has a great cast of characters, a fascinating group dynamic, a couple of game changing moments and a tense, clever finale.

I actually think this is my favourite yet. Despite the lack of sleep...

Highly Recommended for fans of this genre. Top notch.

Oh my goodness, I could not put this down. I loved it, the plot twists and turns against the stormy backdrop of Rum. Dark and Moody this had the hairs on the back of my neck stood up with each twist of the knife. Mental health, guilt, relationships their all covered. A proper whodunnit will have you guessing all the way to the end. Brilliant!

CL Taylor is one of my favourite writers so I nearly bit the hand off of Netgalley when they offered me 'Sleep' to review! Anna is involved in an accident in London and feels as though the families of the victims hold her responsible. Unable to sleep or get on with her life, she starts to think somebody is out to get her so moves to the Isle of Rum, a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. I read this book in one sitting last night as I quite literally could not put it down. Sleep has believable characters, the story is gripping and it is so well written. I'm just sad it had to end!

I was delighted when Elke Desanghere from Avon Books UK pre-approved me to read this book. I have loved C. L. Taylor's books, and her stories generally twist my head in.

Sleep by C. L. Taylor started when the main character Anna loses sleep due to her guilt after a road traffic accident which kills two of her colleagues and paralyses the third. The same guilt forces her to take a job in a hotel in the isolated island of Rum, Scotland. 7 guests arrive, and one of them wants to kill her.

As promised by the blurb, the book did make me lose sleep over the weekend. Every moment that I had free was spent with my nose stuck to kindle. This story had my complete attention as the main arc was the murder mystery, or I would say, an attempt to murder. The prose and Taylor's writing had me reading every sentence, suspecting everyone, and trying to piece down the clues. And believe me, Taylor being a master storyteller, there were hidden red herrings, I just had to keep looking for it.

The book had me playing detective in the best way possible. I liked how the main character, Anna, was developed in the entire book. Her guilt could have led to giving up, but when push came to shove, Anna did find her courage and allowed her survival instincts to guide her to the killer's identity. A raging storm and a flooded river forced all the characters to remain in the hotel, till the killer got the opportunity to strike again. And Anna being clever, left a final note for the cops with all her investigative findings...

The story did come with its niggles, I guessed the killer's identity earlier on in the book, reasons for the kill took my breath away, they were twisted!! As compared to her previous book, Fear, this did not have the same pitch and the tension. The story arc was quite similar to Agatha Christie's And There Were None or more recently to Shari Lapena's The Unwanted Guest.

In spite of my niggles, this book kept me rooted to it. All in all, an enjoyable read during the weekend. And it was worth losing my sleep over!!