Book Review: Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

“In the dead of night, madness lies…”

Set to be released on 31st March, Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough follows Emma Averell who worries that her crippling insomnia is a sign that she’s slowly going insane, just like the mother she’s worked so hard to leave in her past.

Emma loves her life — her high-powered legal career, her two beautiful children, and her wonderful stay-at-home husband. But it wasn’t always so perfect. When she was just five years old, Emma and her older sister went into foster care because of a horrific incident with their mother. Her sister can remember a time when their mother was loving and “normal,” but Emma can only remember her as one thing – a monster. And that monster emerged right around their mother’s fortieth birthday, the same age Emma is approaching now.

Emma desperately wants to keep her successful life separate from her past, so she has always hidden her childhood trauma. But then she’s unable to sleep, and now losing time during the day, also one of the first symptoms her mother showed. Is the madness in her blood, just as her mother predicted? Could she end up hurting her family in her foggy, frenetic state? Or is she truly beginning to lose her mind?

Rating:

Thank you to NetGalley for a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Another clever, complex and twisty psychological thriller from the author of Behind Her Eyes, you’ll probably have high expectations for this one and be eager for another mind-bending thriller that will leave you shocked. And for me, Insomnia definitely didn’t disappoint.

Pinborough’s writing is so transfixing as you rapidly fall through this chilling and ethereal story about the loss of self-control. As you get a really powerful perception of Emma’s insomnia and paranoia, it feels like you’re reading through a fuzz, suspicious of what’s going on and feeling the presence of a sinister figure watching you from the darkness.

Although you are, admittedly, waiting for the expected twist to come, the journey there has you absolutely gripped as you become desperate for Emma to keep it together and get her family onside. I had many theories, but no idea of what was going on and I loved every minute of it.

I was slightly worried that I wouldn’t completely understand the answers, but Pinborough brilliantly explains everything in the final few chapters, giving readers a clear understanding of how everything was possible (or as possible as it can be) while still leaving you in a complete sense of bamboozled awe.

If you like authors who take risks and thrillers with original twists with a nod to the supernatural, you definitely need to read this one this year.