It took me forever to get through this audiobook. I don't think it was a book that was great in audiobook format. I think I would have preferred it in print format. I kept getting irritated by that main characters inner thinking and his kin of redundant conclusion.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this audiobook! I was really interested in this book solely based off the description. I did end up liking this book but the plot was a little wonky but I did enjoy it! I would definitely read more by Victor!

A very average mystery set in the near-future with a great MC. Jamie is real, conflicted, messy.

Joel de la Fuente is an excellent narrator for the audiobook.

I wish I enjoyed this book more than I did. It took me a few tries to get into and then it was a rollercoaster. It had some high points and low points. I think the worldbuilding was very well done but the way there were whole passages of just explanations...it felt dragged out. I did enjoy the queer aspects of it and it seemed like a diverse read, but only way after the fact. I also wasn't a huge fan of the narrator. I liked him for the male voices, but the narrator didn't really do much to help distinguish the female characters so I often couldn't tell who was who. It was a bit flat

This book was darker than I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. Nothing sounds worse to me than not being able to sleep, and this book delved deeply into the paranoia and conspiracy in ways that seemed exacerbated by these worries. Unsettling! In a good way.

I’m not sure if fiction books about pandemics also qualify as dystopian but the certainly should. THE SLEEPLESS by Victor Manibo, and narrated by Joel de la Fuente, is about a worldwide pandemic that has the uninfected doing everything they can to BECOME infected too.

In the near future, a quarter of the population of Earth has become completely unable to sleep, with no obvious side effects. It’s unknown how it’s spread and those affected take all that extra time to their advantage. They work more shifts to earn extra money, they learn new skills, and catch up on everything they never seemed to have time for before.

Jamie has made himself become sleepless and he’s finding it’s not as glorious as it seemed. Capitalism is benefiting from the tireless workforce and since people are awake and more active constantly, goods and services are feeling the crunch. Jamie soon faces the most dangerous decision of all as he uncovers a terrifying truth about Sleeplessness that imperils him—and all of humanity.

I really enjoy a new type of pandemic story that I’ve not seen before. It’s just dystopian enough to show how it would impact daily life but nothing gruesome. 5 stars!!

Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read this for an honest review.

Dystopia is a tricky subject to deal with, especially as an audiobook. I was quite surprised by how involved I got in this book once it got going.
The narrator did a great job of bringing the conflicted central character to life. The time is 2043, and a pandemic has caused some of the population to become sleepless. Originally feared, the concept has been accepted, and the Sleepless have become a productive, if an over-consuming, section of society.
The idea here is that the sleepless do not require sleep, nor do they fall asleep. Their body does not show any additional wear and tear that should go with not getting enough rest. This basically means that they can work round the clock. This is a very important piece of conversation - what would one do if they had all the time in the world and no need to stop? I considered and discarded the idea of wanting more hours in a day. I have a list of hobbies and to-do lists a mile long, but at the end of the day, I look forward to crashing and waking up fresh to start again.
We spend some time finding out what the life of a sleepless person looks like, the prejudice that goes with it and the industries that have sprung up to entertain this crowd with unlimited time.
Then we descend to the actual plot of the book. Jamie (our central protagonist) finds his boss dead in his office. The latter had more enemies than friends, so Jamie sees more conspiracies around than he would otherwise have seen. We get a trickle of information at certain turns that made the whole thing a lot more complicated.
I may not have liked the ending as much as I wanted to, but given the situation, I can see how it works in the story.
There is a restless energy that worked well as an audiobook, and I am hesitant to confirm if I would have had the same experience if I had read the copy myself. There is a lot of information on regular day-to-day activities that may have seemed more mundane and lengthy when reading. In the audio version, however, there is a significant amount of frustration that is consistent throughout, making every small detail seem important. Some of the facts were later recalled as part of the twist.
I recommend this to fans of dystopias. Although the pandemic in this tale is not comparable to the one that we all went through, it does have some similarities.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Sadly, I can't give a proper feedback to this book because NetGalley app is so extremely buggy and it deleted my copy (and one another) for some unknown reason. I contacted the support 2-3 months ago, but they are still "solving" it.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Just a little slow and unbelievable at some points. A world where sleepless walk among us - not zombies just people who literally do not sleep. Had a strong start where a boss is murdered and I’m thinking this is going to be an insane who did it. Nope. Goes off in multiple tangents and way too long. Could have been way shorter and gotten the point across. Just couldn’t engage in it. Ending predictable and also way too drawn out. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Sleepless is a one-of-a-kind novel: part mystery and crime novel, part science fiction, part dystopian futurism, and at the same time grounded in a topic very timely and relatable: a pandemic. In addition to its multi-genre aspect, the novel explores important questions about how we spend our time, the meaning of life, and the meaningfulness of relationships. At its core, The Sleepless considers one of the future potential paths we are on as a civilization - towards ever-increasing technology incursion into our private spaces and thoughts and the fundamental changes that can occur.

About a decade prior to the novel’s start in the early 2040s, the world was gripped by a pandemic that caused sleeplessness. Those who caught the disease, origins unknown, literally no longer needed to sleep and were no worse for the wear. Through trickles of information, we learn about the society-level reactions to the pandemic: the fear, the quarantining, the other-ing of those who became sleepless, and then some level of acceptance. The main character, Jamie Vega, is sleepless, and about a decade into the pandemic, he is moving into an apartment building for others who are sleepless. This is reasonable - who wants late night noise from neighbors who don’t sleep? Many people no longer have bedrooms and have reused that space for other activities.

Early on, we learn that Jamie has been sleepless about a year and how he has spent his time, embarking on never-ending hobbies and putting in more hours at work. With twenty-four hours a day fully at his disposal, he can invest his time in much more productive ways than others who still need to sleep. This dichotomy also hints at the societal unrest that is always simmering below the surface. There are claims of favoritism - that those who are sleepless are receiving more promotions at work - because they can invest more time. They are also becoming richer, as the sleepless can work multiple jobs or shifts a day.

Jamie, for his part, works as a journalist in a cutthroat environment, where he is always trying to prove himself to his much-admired boss, Simon. Early in the novel, Simon turns up dead in the office. Jamie was the last to see him alive, and the first to find him dead, so it is no surprise when - after some twists and turns - Jamie ends up suspect #1. Much of the novel follows Jamie’s efforts to find out whodunnit to clear his own name. Their company was days away from a vote to be absorbed by a larger corporation with a larger-than-life owner, and this impending vote adds complexity to the motives that may have driven Simon to commit suicide or for someone to murder him.

Jamie is forced to confront his own demons, as Simon’s death and potential suicide brings the surface his own beloved cousin’s suicidal death years before. Manibo poignantly describes the leavenings of a suicide - the doubts and questions and haunting interactions left behind with family and friends.

While on the hunt for the truth, Jamie discovers gaps in his own memory and realizes he is experiencing the inability to form short-term memories, an emergent side effect of sleeplessness, at least for those who came by it unnaturally, through taking a pill. Who is behind the pill’s creation and what is their end game? Jamie follows the thread of that question while searching for the truth about Simon. Suddenly, the entire situation is more personal: not only does Jamie need to clear his name of murder, but he needs to discover how to recover his elusive memories.

What is a 24-hour a day filled life that is hyper-productive but not remembered?

In a world where everything is more and faster, where is the quiet meaning?

Manibo’s novel is fast-paced and engaging and imagines a near future that feels possible for all its improbability. He weaves many complicated strands together expertly and is clearly an emerging writer worth watching!

Engaging, interesting mystery. The idea that people could be sleepless is intriguing. I really liked the narrators voice and felt he was a good choice. Enjoyable story. Definitely recommend. Thank you NetGalley.

This was clever, and I enjoyed listening to it.


Review copy provided by publisher.

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Twenty-five percent of the world’s population is sleepless. No one knows what caused this epidemic, that began ten years prior. There seem to be no side effects to the condition, and the sleepless’ lives only change is more time to be productive, work more, learn new things, accomplish more. There’s an underside to the pandemic, and it’s that the world’s resources are running out at a faster pace than before. Because a quarter of the world population never sleeps.

Journalist Jamie, who’s been sleepless for a while, is the first person to find his boss dead at his desk. The evidence suggests suicide, but Jamie believes there’s more to it, and sets to uncover the truth about what happened to Simon.

This was a riveting tale where Jamie had to find out how Simon died, and whether someone was behind it. It was also a noir cyberpunk political thriller about a pandemic, drugs, and corruption. The world-building was really good, and action was interlaced with paragraphs of info dumping. I usually enjoy a well-built background and plenty of details, so this was a plus for me but it might not be for everyone. I found the plot interesting with a well-crafted intrigue, but the second half of the book felt a bit disjointed and my interest waned a bit. I wished the characters were more developed, perhaps that would have better held my interest. A couple of key characters were introduced in the second half but I was a bit lost about who they were and their relationship with Jamie. I think a bit more work on the characters would have prevented this.

There are well-known side effects of insomnia, which were not mentioned until halfway through the book, something I found strange, as Manibo must have done some research to write this book. It turned out, these side-effects I was missing, were a key part of the plot, so before things began to be revealed, I already know where the story was going. This didn’t deter me from enjoying a most entertaining and intriguing book, but it stroke me as odd that there weren’t more public studies about the condition when twenty-five percent of the world’s population was suffering from it.

Joel de la Fuente delivered a solid narration. With a pleasant tone and good rhythm, de la Fuente brought Jamie to life in this technothriller. The only two small setbacks were his female voices, which sounded similar to Jamie’s, making some dialogs confusing; and a lack of expression at certain times. I just would have expected a stronger reaction at some key moments.

All in all, it was an enjoyable audiobook that I’d recommend to anyone interested in a murder mystery in a highly technological society.

My thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this audiobook. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

I came across the audiobook for this through NetGalley and am so glad I listened to it. It was so realistic, scary, and amazing. I absolutely loved it. By the time I finished listening to t an interview with the author was released through Between the Lines podcast. Overall a great read that seems so realistic.

Interesting read, I noticed a lot of symbolism and parallels to today's society. Fascinating and food for thought.

I found the premise interesting, but couldn't find myself intrigued enough with the writing to stick with the story, unfortunately.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book

Manibo has a winner with this scf fi mystery thriller story zooms along, with many great world building details about how the sleepless individuals deal with life, society, work, and in reverse how they changed for good and ill these things. some dual timeline narrative tossed to add intrigue and cliffhangers. characters are memorial and relatable.

the narrator was lacking though, allowing certain more exciting passages to fall flat.

This was a gripping sci fi thriller that explores a future where certain people have lost the need to sleep. The book reminded me of Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress, but I found the explanations surrounding the sleeplessness to be more believable.

I thought the author painted a realistic picture of how Sleepless people might be treated in society. He describes the potential advantages for productivity but also depicts the fear and prejudice that would likely emerge.

On top of an intriguing idea, this science fiction novel also offered a really engaging plot. There was a fantastic mystery at the center of the story, which created some good suspense. I found myself always dying to get back to the book because I truly wanted to know what was going to happen next. I thought the characters were all nuanced and complex in ways that made them relatable.

Needless to say, I was very impressed by this new release and would highly recommend it to readers looking for an engaging, smart sci-fi thriller.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

The latest pandemic causes people to lose the ability to sleep as well as the biological need. The sleepless are stigmatized by some religious zealots and environmentalists but lauded by capitalist work culture. After all, if you don't need to sleep, you can work more hours. Recently sleepless, Jamie Vega is a queer, Filipino journalist. After discovering the corpse of his boss at work, days before the vote for a company takeover, Jamie starts doing his own investigating. The scene looks like suicide upon first glance but a deeper conspiracy looms at the forefront of Jamie's mind the more he uncovers.

While I enjoyed this book, I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would. I loved the speculative commentary on capitalism and technology. The dialogue and tech all felt very believable and relevant. However, this was a very slow start. Then, as the plot progressed and a lot more was happening, it still felt like it was edging along. I didn't really care about any of the characters, even Jamie, who I really wanted to be more invested in. All in all, it was a really cool concept but it left me a little disappointed. I listened to this as an audiobook and I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator, as well.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was very interesting to read. The whole idea of the sleepless is pretty fascinating. I thought it was well written overall, although the ending did feel a tiny bit crammed but not terribly so. The narrator was good as well.