All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty… To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare. Each of the guests have a secret, but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they’re on the island. There’s a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they’ve set their sights on Anna. Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie. Someone’s going to sleep and never wake up…

My review:

It’s no secret that I love “locked-room” mysteries, especially if they are reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s novels. SLEEP was exactly my kind of book and I had a great time reading it. The blurb was enticing, and the book caught my attention from the very first chapter, where we are witnesses of Anna’s accident. What a great set up!

Months later, Anna is working at a remote hotel in a Scottish island and believes someone might want to kill her because of what she did. But the problem is… which one of the guests is the actual killer? They all have secrets, yet none of them seem to be capable of murder… but are they?

I’ve read a couple of books by C.L Taylor before, but this was clearly my favorite. It was atmospheric, engrossing, intriguing, and behind all the secrets and motives, there was a really creepy theme that I absolutely loved. There was also a small twist in the middle of the book which I really enjoyed.

The characters were pretty fascinating and that is quite hard to accomplish in a book with so many of them. I liked some more than others, of course, but what I really loved about their interactions was how close they all became by spending several days locked in that hotel.

I would recommend this book to fans of old style mysteries and Agatha Christie fans. Have you read it? 💙

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