The Sleeper – Gillian White

Psychological Thriller
5*’s

If ever there was an antidote to a Merry Christmas, this book is it! Set during a wintry Christmas, in the middle of a storm the electricity goes off while Violet Moon is visiting her son and daughter-in-law at the farm she owned and ran with her now dead husband William.  Away from her cosy house and her séances she holds Violet Moon is dreading Christmas on the farm which once meant so much to her…

This is a fantastic study of human life, but don’t expect to find fluffy nice characters within the pages of this book. The Sleeper has a collection of people trapped in lives they don’t want to be in, those looking for others to provide their happiness, those who want to turn back time, and too many who think they can orchestrate a different future. Jealousy, suspicion and dastardly deeds are the presents for Christmas this year.

At the same time at The Happy Haven Hotel in Torquay one of the elderly residents is missing. No family is known of and no clue to where she may have gone to, her roommate is concerned and the police are called…

With the roots to this unhappy Christmas originating in some part in the past the reader is let in on events involving Violet and the loss of her mother over fifty years previously. The narrative to this book is unusual using a narrator viewing events as a whole inviting the reader to question each person’s actions, thoughts and adding pertinent information to enrich those tales being told in the present.

I really enjoyed this most claustrophobic of novels, the isolated farmhouse with its aga, candles and a pervading darkness hiding more than anyone would have expected.

This book, reminiscent of those written by Barbara Vine, was first published in the 1990’s. Open Road Media has re-published this book, and others by Gillian White, for the kindle. Excellent news for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of this talented writer before, or those of us who missed some titles the first time around.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.
The Sleeper: A Novel

This is my third read in the COYER challenge

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Related articles

• TBR Thursday 9… (fictionfanblog.wordpress.com)
• The Witch’s Cradle, by Gillian White, Reviewed. (stuartaken.blogspot.com)