I love psychological thrillers and the premise in Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough was intriguing.  The protagonist, Emma, is experiencing insomnia in the weeks leading up to her 40th birthday and it’s causing a multitude of issues in her work and personal lives.  The situation is further complicated by the fact that her mother experienced similar issues at her 40th birthday which led to a traumatic situation for Emma and her sister, leaving them in foster care and their mother in long-term psychiatric care.  Emma spends the duration of the book trying to figure out if she is following in her mother’s path or if someone is intentionally harming her.  

 

As far as psychological tension goes, this book did a good job creating the mental puzzle that keeps a reader searching for clues.  The pace is fast and there are thrilling points, though it is not scary (in my opinion).  As far as a satisfying ending, I felt resolution with a realistic plot twist and a touch of supernatural.  It wasn’t shocking and there were a few loose ends I thought needed to be addressed, but overall if you like a fast-paced mystery that you can crunch through in a day or two, this will do it. 

 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that the language around mental health is… outdated and cringey.  Primarily using words like insane and crazy to describe a person experiencing mental distress and a few therapy scenes that felt off.  I read the acknowledgements and didn’t see any reference to a mental health professional who consulted on the book and perhaps it’s just not listed, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if it was a miss. 

 

Content warnings:  Mental illness, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Car accident 

My relationship with Sarah Pinborough's books has always been one of extreme love or hate, with 13 Minutes and Cross Her Heart in the love group and Behind Her Eyes firmly exiled to the hate category. Yes, I'm one of the ones who just couldn't get on with THAT ending. However, reading the blurb of Insomnia I was really intrigued and had to give it a try with much abated breath.

I chose to listen to the audiobook and from the first few minutes the narrator, Sarah Durham, immediately set the scene with her pace, intensity and almost disquieting narration.

The storyline line builds with an eerie yet frantic intensity that throws you firmly into a state of unease and panic that matches the terror and torture of Emma's long sleepless nights.

Pinborough firmly entangles the reader in a snare-like maze of twists and dead ends which add to the encroaching sense of restlessness. At each point you begin to feel there are finally some answers and that normality is returning and then there's yet another unexpected slap in the face. Who exactly are we supposed to believe?

I absolutely loved how Sarah looked at intergenerational trauma and at whether certain aspects of mental illness can be passed down from parent to child in such an alternative way. The plotting also has glimmers of the nature/nurture debate and questions if some things are just self-fulfilling prophecies which we have no control over.

A very eerie, meaty and unsettling thriller which put me immediately in a state of unease, performed by a narrator who really enhanced the experience. 

Sarah Pinborough does it again !! Ever since I read Behind Her Eyes last year, I have been obsessively waiting for this book !! It is definitely one of my most anticipated books of 2022 and it did not disappoint.

"My insomnia is making me question everything, even my own guilt or innocence."

Emma has the perfect life- a successful law career, a great husband, 2 beautiful children, all of which she has worked really hard for. But she is approaching her 40th birthday, the same age her mother "went mad" and her whole like flipped upside down. Her mother always told her she had bad blood, and she would end up mad just like her, so this birthday has had her on edge..experiencing all the same symptoms her mother showed right before- insomnia, paranoia, periods of memory loss, obsessive tendencies. If the fear itself isn't enough, the insomnia is now effecting her life- her sister shows back up randomly (a reminder of her past), her son is acting withdrawn and scared, her daughter is having "dating" problems, her husband doesn't believe or support her and she is exhausted. Is the madness in her blood, just as her mother predicted? Could she end up hurting her family in her foggy, frenetic state? Is she truly beginning to lose her mind, or is something sabotaging her life?

I loved this book !! This book is told from the POV of Emma, on a countdown to her 40th birthday. The book did start out a little slow, but  we get closer and closer to the big day, the story gets crazier and crazier. Pinborough does an amazing job making her characters seem as crazy as possible, but also making you want to root for them the whole time. She plants little seeds throughout the book to make you think you have it all figured out and then the WTF moment happens that you weren't expecting. The way she mixes paranormal ideas with real life and the end results leave me speechless. I love her books and she will continue to be an author I will read no matter what!!

Thank you to Netgalley UK, HarperCollins UK, and Sarah Pinborough for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.