Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for an egalley of this book.

I don't think Sarah Pinborough's books are for me. This one was good up until the end.

Emma is nearing her 40th birthday and she's suffering from insomnia. Her mom went "crazy" just around her 40th birthday and Emma is fearing the same thing will happen to her. Every night, she has a routine that she does in the middle of the night but she also finds herself muttering a sequence of numbers or signing a song she learned from her mom. Emma's family - her husband and kids Chloe and Will and her sister Phoebe - are all afraid of her.

When a side character tells Emma what happened to her, I wondered if that was the same scenario that happened to Emma but I was way off. The twist at the end just turned me off. ( )

As per usual. It is pure fire with a dynamite ending. ( )

An insanely addictive thriller that actually causes insomnia!

I lost an entire nights sleep reading this book but I literally couldn’t put it down and make myself stop reading it is such a gripping, addictive narrative. The writing is flawless as is the characters and a strong female protagonist who instantly pulls you into her world.

Set in the days leading up to Emma’s 40th birthday it all comes to a mind bending, explosive conclusion.

As a child, Emma’s mother spiralled into madness just before her 40th birthday and on the day of her birthday her mother snapped and the madness fully consumed her. Ever since Emma has been living in fear of history repeating itself and that she will end up just like her mother.

As the big 4 0 draws ever closer, insomnia kicks in leading Emma down a dark, lonely road and with it, her behaviour begins to change. How long was it before her mothers 40th did she stop sleeping? Is this how her mother felt? Is she fated to end as her mother did?

What is actually happening to Emma, is it as her mother warned, the second child’s curse of insanity or is everything that’s happening down to paranoia brought on through lack of sleep? How long can a person go without sleep before they start to lose their mind?

This book is fast paced that gets its hooks into you and won’t let you sleep until you reach the implosive end. A truly must read for fans of thrillers and psychological suspense.

Reading the acknowledgements at the end of the book it mentions that this is going to become a tv series so that is something I will definitely be keeping an eye out for. If they stay true to the book then tv series will be a huge binge worthy one to watch!

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2022/03/07/insomnia-by-sarah-pinborough... ( )

Emma Averell birthday is in just 12-days and it's the big one... 40! Lately she has been dealing with the worst case of insomnia imaginable. It’s so bad that she has begun to hallucinate that someone is in her house, and as a mother she needs to protect her two children. It's 24-hours a day, sleeping or awake and seems to bleed into every part of her life. It's also impacting her marriage to her deadbeat husband, Robert, and her job. While at work, Emma receives a call from her older sister, Phoebe, with whom she is not close. Phoebe is only calling to let her know their mother is very sick and in the hospital. Emma reluctantly goes to meet Phoebe and sits through the expected guilt trip that Phoebe lays on her. All Emma can recall is that her mother is crazy, and everyone says Emma was just like her. 40 years old... this was about the time that her mother had lost her mind. To make the day even better(?) was that Phoebe blames Emma for their mother's dying while they were out of her room. Her deadbeat husband Robert is now barely speaking to her which I saw as a winner for her side. Now Emma has crazy nightmares when she does sleep, and the Insomnia is getting worse if that was even possible and Emma is woried that something is going to happen to her son, Will. Everything will come to a head on Emma’s birthday, leading to explosive revelations. This is the type of book that very fittingly will cause many sleepless nights and continues to prove that this author is a fantastic complex writer that is so very capable of producing nightmare novels that you won't be able to stop reading until the last page and then want much more. ( )

It’s no secret that your 40th birthday tends to be synonymous with the point you are officially OLD! Emma, has feared her fortieth birthday because her mother went mad that day and attempted to kill her sister. The insomnia kicks in a couple weeks before her birthday and nothing she takes helps her sleep. She is following in her moms footsteps. She is losing time and the police are now questioning her about murder and other malicious behaviors toward her children. She needs to figure out if she is the danger but she also feels there is an outside threat involved.

A lethal combination turning 40 and not being able to sleep.

This was a slow to mid paced thriller for me. I enjoyed the plot of the story. However, I don’t think it was the most original shocking twisted ending like her other book, Behind Her Eyes.

Thank you NetGalley and WilliamMorrow for my gifted copy ( )