The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas
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A newly married couple are honeymooning on a Greek island. They are staying at a hotel owned by a woman that seems both friendly and untrustworthy.
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This was somehow not what I was expecting at all. This book was written entirely in letters and scripts, which I didn’t realize going into it. It took awhile to get the hang of and somehow left me with even more questions.

There was obviously a lot of eerie stuff going on and it kept me reading, I needed to know what was going on!

Then the book took a weird turn I wasn’t expecting that really opened my eyes to our characters and that was very surprising. I’m still not sure if it felt necessary or was just for shock value.
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3⭐️⭐️⭐️ The moral of the story is this book was strange in a good way because it kept me reading all the way to the end, yet I’m not really sure I enjoyed it.

The Sleepwalkers had such an interesting premise, but I was unfortunately disappointed. I think one of the biggest distractions was the pacing of the book - the first chapter was almost half the book! The writing style was not for me, and I struggled to remain engaged. I will say the book did get a bit better and finally came together, but not enough for me to truly enjoy and appreciate this one.

The Sleepwalkers was a dark and harsh book with multiple POV set in Greece. I’m not sure what I was expecting going into this one but man, it was kind of crazy. I was initially thinking Evelyn was just kind of nutty but then things get weirder. I didn't know if I liked this book or didn't, even after I finished it. I mean, it kind of left the reader feeling a little filthy, like I could do with a shower so for that, I'd say the author is pretty good, no?! I still don't know exactly where I stand with this one so the rating is hovering between 2.5 and 3 stars.

I just couldn’t get into this one. The writing style wasn’t my favorite and nothing ever hooked me and pulled me into the story. I was expecting a thriller, but just wasn’t getting it with The Sleepwalkers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Shuster for an advanced copy of this book and the opportunity to read it!

This book was weird. When I finished it, I felt I had no idea what I had just read. Each character is written in the same voice, so it was sometimes difficult to differentiate between them when chapters changed. The premise was great, but even though it wrapped things up in the end, I still felt like it was an unfinished story.

I wanted to love this because I adored Oligarchy and have also enjoyed other Scarlett Thomas, but this is a difficult book to enjoy, despite its ambitious complexity of plot and smooth writing.

Much of the struggle of this book is that the story is just so utterly unpleasant to read. It’s nasty but not in a fun way, and is rooted completely in a really icky and uncomfortable series of sexual assaults that are difficult to read and also taint the entire narrative with, well, ickiness. It feels a bit like the book was going for gritty and actually landed on off-putting.

And that’s a shame, because some of the bones of the plot were good, and the titular mystery was one worth exploring more. Had that been the true focus of the book, the results would likely have been better than what we actually get, which is mostly the back and forth of a marriage in which a woman somewhat unwittingly ends up married to her rapist. Yuck.

This fact, the recounting of the events that led to it, and the constant awful interactions between husband and wife (and quite frankly, between the husband and literally anyone) are no doubt intended to be tense and unsettling, but mostly they just come off as clunky attempts to shock, and negative contributions toward both the enjoyability and the quality of the novel.

Thomas is a terrifically good writer, and that comes by though here as it does in other novels. But she’s at her best when she’s using her scathing wit to pillory problematic institutional norms, and this book strayed badly from that.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC and Simon Books for the physical copy of this title!**

This one sounded like the perfect vacation book for me. An island, some murder, and some shady characters at a hotel? Sign me up. Unfortunately, right out of the gate I couldn’t get into the writing and format. I struggled so much with this one, and what should have been a quick read just kept dragging on.

A very generous 3 stars for the setting and concept. I think fans of literary fiction will enjoy this one, just don’t go into it expecting an exciting thriller.

Y’all this book was a TRIP. I started this thinking it didn’t have any chapters….? It turns out the first chapter was just 110 pages...

Though not realizing that was my mistake. There was an evidence list at the beginning that served as a ~table of contents of sorts which I completely ignored. But after I figured it out and got in the groove, this was really interesting! It had some absolutely wild formatting but that just made it unique and fun!

This story is told through a combination of letters, notes, journal entries and an audio transcript. And, honestly, it is a WILD ride. I did guess several of the twists but that didn’t make this any less enjoyable.

However, there was one twist that I felt had a bit of a clumsy reveal but thankfully it was revisited at the end. And I did want just a tad more resolution for the whole thing, even though I did like the style choice for the ending.

But, I mean, I devoured this whole book in a day. It definitely kept me HOOKED. It also made me want to watch the White Lotus (which I haven’t yet) and eat all the Greek food. So the setting was spectacularly on point!

Overall I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend! If you’re looking for a good, quick thriller, please pick this one up! I cannot stress enough what a wild ride this is and what an excellent time I had read it!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending a finished copy my way and to NetGalley for the e-galley!

I picked this book up a few times over several months, but I could not quite grasp and stay engaged with the writing style that this story was told in. It was unclear who the speaker was to be in each part so it felt disjointed and confusing. Eventually I was able to get through this by grabbing the audiobook. While that did help with understanding, it still wasn’t enough for me to give a higher rating. For me, I would’ve enjoyed this more not as a reader reviewing parsed information (letters, etc.), but as dual POVs with a clearer transition.

Either I got a bad galley download or the author randomly stops the story, mid sentence, and then starts up in a completely different place.
The first couple of times, I figured it was on purpose, as the entire narrative is told in letters written to other characters; like, maybe the letter writer was interrupted…? But then it would happen at times that made no sense, including the very end of the book, so I don’t even know what to think.
Either way, there weren’t any characters that were super likable, and it was sometimes hard to follow (see above). All in all, it was okay.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for this #arc of #thesleepwalkers in exchange for an honest review.

This book was totally fine until like 50% and then it just went off the rails 😂. Some spoilers below.

This is a drama/thriller, heavy on the drama light on the thriller. It’s written in like, letters from the wife to the husband and vice versa, and in the beginning it’s got unreliable narrator vibes, the husband telling the wife she’s crazy for thinking the owner of their honeymoon hotel is up to something because she acts weird towards her and things start to go missing.

Then there’s all this crazy stuff revealed about the wife (she’s a MESS) and all this stuff revealed about the husband (ALSO A MESS) and all the crazy dynamics within the family with the in-laws (YIIIIIKES) and you sort of lose sight of the thriller hotel so when you get back to it it’s like wait what’s going on here again?

Then in the end, I don’t really feel like we got any sort of closure. Unless I totally missed something I have no idea what happened to a specific person and who exactly was responsible. It was all just messy.

SO, if you’re looking for something messy, you can pick this up. Note it’s way more drama than thriller, and the way it’s written is a little confusing sometimes. Also, the sleepwalkers are a thing, but you lose sight of that too amongst everything else.

Thank you @netgalley and @simonbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
So the summary of this book really made me want to like it. I just didn't really enjoy it though. I was not a big fan of the characters and I struggled to try and stay interested.
Just wasn't for me.

Eerie, unsettling, foreboding, suspenseful…this dark domestic thriller checked all the boxes for me! It features fear, secrets, relationship drama, narcissism, art imitating life, and other dark elements that I won’t mention as it will spoil the twists (and it is indeed very twisty!). There is a lot of foreshadowing, suspense, and intrigue from the very beginning. Something happened. But what? Something is <i>going to happen</i>. But what?

Reminiscent of Emma Cline’s The Guest,  Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter, and Rachel Koller Croft’s Stone Cold Fox, this novel features a semi-unreliable, rather unlikeable, potentially unhinged FMC. However, told in an engaging epistolary format consisting of letters (the first of which comprises 40% of the novel!), audio transcriptions, notes, and guestbook entries, we do get multiple POVs here. These documents are often incomplete, and as a result, we get an ending that is almost as mysterious as the rest of the book. I do believe this is intentional, and I’m a fan of the author’s choice here. I'm left with questions, but I like that - it's fun to chew on them and think about the story for days and weeks after reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel's experimentation (via such a unique format/voice/tone) and will definitely be recommending it. Big thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC!

What a funky book! I enjoyed this story, and it took some twisty turns I wasn't expecting. The book was made up of a series of letters, some of which were missing parts and some of which abruptly ended. They also weren't actually letters, so much as they were long essays that went on for huge swaths of the book. I think the pacing could have been better, perhaps with shorter, more digestible chapters. I sometimes got lost, especially when letters ended and a new one began. The comparison to The White Lotus is was got me to try this book, and that was somewhat accurate. The White Lotus made me think there would be some humor, of which there was not. But the creep factor was definitely there, and ultimately I am happy I read this one!

Scarlet Thomas’s, “The Sleepwalkers,” is aptly named because I felt as if I was in a befuddled daze the entire time that I was wading through the mire of this conundrum of an epistolary treatise about sexual trauma, grooming, misaligned love, trafficking, paranoia, and murder.

In this convoluted tale, newlyweds Evie and Richard are gifted a questionable honeymoon trip by his mother to a remote Greek isle across the sea from Turkey. It is hurricane season and most of the businesses are boarded-up and closed in preparation for the storms. Although Isabella’s inn is still open and ready to receive the couple.

Almost immediately, new bride Evie feels that Isabella is fawning over her husband while being subtly rude to her. Before long, Evie suspects that Isabella and Richard are playing her for the fool, and she’ll have none of it.

Determined to leave Richard on this horrendous honeymoon, Evie begins writing Richard a goodbye letter that is basically the entirety of this story and a regurgitation of their life and relationship ad nauseam.

There is actually a good story hidden in the murky depths of this novel. Sadly, it’s just so poorly conceived in structure that only with patience can one truly grasp what Thomas is attempting. I do look forward to reading her future work. This experiment just doesn’t thrill me.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, GoodReads Giveaways, Author Scarlett Thomas, and Publisher Simon & Schuster for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.

The comparison to Patricia Highsmith in the summary reeled me in, but the structure was too confusing. The story begins with a woman reading a letter she has written to her husband. Her casual references to people, places, and situations had me scrambling to put together and make sense of who the people were and what she was talking about.

This is an unusual book told in an untraditional way, and is about quirky characters experiencing mysterious things. I give the author credit for keeping everything held together just enough for the reader to continue to be curious while grasping at the threads of uncovering what it is that is happening. Hints are uncovered throughout but never really fully spelled out clearly. Definitely a unique book that keeps you guessing and wondering all the way to the end.

#thesleepwalkers #netgalley #bookreview

Evelyn and Richard arrive on a small Greek island for their honeymoon as a storm threatens their idyllic getaway. The storm is indicative of the trouble that is brewing within their marriage and within their hotel. Isabella, the woman who runs the hotel, is distant and focused on appeasing Richard's every whim when two Hollywood producers arrive to hear the story of The Sleepwalkers, a couple who disappeared the year before. The story is told through letters and various forms of communication from one character to another.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy the first chapter, which were letters from Evelyn to Richard detailing their courtship, wedding and her various transgressions against him. It detailed Isabella's weird treatment of her from the minute she arrived at the hotel. The chapter was well written and created tension right from the start. The second chapter was a letter from Richard to Evelyn, which had the reader questioning everything Evelyn had written, and exposed a very toxic relationship between the two.
In my opinion, it was at this point that the book was at its best.

What followed afterwards was a confusing compilation of other writings and some unbelievable twists and turns. I found it a confusing to understand the POV from one chapter to another, and to keep track of all of the people and how they were connected.

Overall, I think the story had great bones! It was a great idea, unique writing execution and fantastic writing style however there was just too much competing by the climax of the book and it left me wishing slight alterations had been made!

Still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, Evelyn and Richard arrive on a tiny Greek island for their honeymoon. It’s the end of the season and a storm is imminent. Determined to make the best of it, they check into the sun-soaked doors of the Villa Rosa. Evelyn is wary of the hotel’s owner, Isabella, who seems to only have eyes for Richard. Isabella ostensibly disapproves of every request Evelyn makes, seemingly annoyed at the fact that they are there at all. Isabella is also preoccupied with her chance to enthrall the only other guests—an American producer named Marcus and his partner Debbie—with the story of “the sleepwalkers,” a couple who had stayed at the hotel recently and drowned. But their honeymoon quickly becomes a living nightmare when Evelyn and Richard are separated the night of the storm and forced to face dark truths.

This was a very unique story, told entirely through letters, notes, audio transcripts, and other media. I loved the book's atmosphere and stormy Greek setting, which was much darker than the happy honeymoon vibe one might expect. The story begins with a list of "contents," rather than chapters, and explains that some of the letters have burn marks or rain damage. This explains why many of the letters are abruptly cut short. The beginning is a slow burn, with the first letter taking up nearly half the book, but it did pick up speed with many unexpected twists and turns.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schustwr for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Sleepwalkers
By Scarlett Thomas

This is a very strange book. Somehow it never came together for me. It is about a couple on a Greek island on their honeymoon. Right from the beginning, the sense that they really don't like each other very much is pervasive. As the book progresses, the mutual dislike becomes more and more obvious.

I really could not engage with these characters. Nothing in their relationship rang true and never caught my interest. I gave up after the first 100 pages.