The Sleepless by Liam Bell

Grafton is a single dad who works in local radio, but he’s always dreamt of being a ‘real’ journalist. When he gets a whiff of a story – a Scottish commune whose residents believe that sleep is a social construct – he decides to investigate… something tells him ‘the Sleepless’ might finally provide answers about his wife, Liz, who abandoned him and their son Isaac for a similar cult in India. But as Grafton is drawn deeper into the world of the Sleepless, Liz reconnects with Isaac on their own journey to the commune. As more extreme and dangerous measures are enforced to maintain the community’s sleeplessness, Grafton finds himself racing to rescue not only himself, but also his son...

"The Sleepless is a dazzlingly smart and compelling thriller, which will grip you from its unforgettable opening scene and will linger with you long after you have finished it. Liam Bell is a writer of rare and distinctive talent, and this is a novel not to be missed. These are characters and situations – vividly rendered, unsettlingly plausible even at their most terrifying – which will haunt you." - Ellery Lloyd, author of People Like Her and Reese's Book Club pick The Club

"The Sleepless is a dazzlingly smart and compelling thriller, which will grip you from its unforgettable opening scene and will linger with you long after you have finished it. Liam Bell is a writer of rare and distinctive talent, and this is a novel not to be missed. These are characters and situations – vividly rendered, unsettlingly plausible even at their most terrifying – which will haunt you, a novel which will keep you up all night."

-Ellery Lloyd, author of People Like Her and Reese's Book Club pick The Club

A page-turning thriller with a folk horror atmosphere, The Sleepless will appeal to readers of Emma Cline’s The Girls and Fred D’Aguiar’s Children of Paradise.

• A cracker of a thriller with a razor-sharp focus, a deliciously intriguing premise, and prose that will keep you turning those pages long after you said you’d go to sleep.” * - Russel D McLean