Goodreads

Release date: April 9, 2024

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Synopsis:

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. Already feeling insecure after seeing the “beautiful people,” the seemingly endless number of young models and musicians lounging along the Mediterranean, 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.

Everyone seems to want to talk about the sleepwalkers, save for Hamza, a young Turkish man Evelyn had seen with some “beautiful people,” as well as the “dapper little man”—the strange yet fashionable owner of the island’s lone antiques and gift shop she sees everywhere. 

But what at first seemed eccentric, decorative, or simply ridiculous, becomes a living nightmare. Evelyn and Richard are separated the night of the storm and forced to face dark truths, but it’s their confessions around the origins of their relationship and the years leading up to their marriage that might save them.

Exhilarating, suspenseful, and also very funny, The Sleepwalkers asks urgent questions about relationships, sexuality, and the darkest elements of contemporary society—where our most terrible secrets are hidden in plain sight.

Review:

You ever finish a book and wonder wtf you just read? And not in a good way? That’s me with this one. As soon as I started it I knew this would either be a love or hate it situation for me but I was interested enough that I wanted to see it all the way through and hoped it would be worth it and it just wasn’t for me at all. It’s very unique and told in letters but the first one didn’t end until forty three percent and good lord that just seemed excessive. The beginning tells you there’s ruined documents involved but as you read sentences are cut off or the voice changes abruptly and I know that was a specific choice but it wasn’t a good choice. It made it difficult to piece the story together and I think I’m a smart reader but this was confusing. The ending was such a letdown and left way too many questions, a decent premise but the execution was awful for me.

Overall rating: 2/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.