A review by snugglesandpages
Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

π™™π™šπ™–π™™ 𝙀𝙛 π™£π™žπ™œπ™π™©, π™’π™–π™™π™£π™šπ™¨π™¨ π™‘π™žπ™šπ™¨β€¦

It is not very often that I will ignore all my adult responsibilities to devour a book in a single day, but that is exactly what Insomnia made me do. πŸ‘

Insomnia is extremely intense, eerily suspenseful and an absolute mind f*ck! Which is just the way I like my thrillers. πŸ–€

The story takes place in the twelve days leading up to Emma's 40th Birthday, the day Emma is convinced she will completely lose her mind, just as her mother did. When Emma's sister arrives back in town unannounced, she persuades her to visit their dying mother, if only to gain closure on their traumatic childhood.

Unfolding at a rapid pace, Emma's entire world begins to fall apart at the seams. She can't sleep, she's becoming highly paranoid and is losing pockets of time. To add to the mayhem, her 5yr old son is drawing disturbing pictures of someone smothering him with a pillow 😱 and her husband is acting highly suspicious. You can't trust anyone, not even Emma.

I thought the chapter title countdown to Emmas 40th was a brilliant touch, acting as a sort of metaphorical time bomb πŸ’£ and ramping up the intensity with each passing day.

I honestly thought I had the ending figured out. I had only ever watched the TV series based on one of Sarah's earlier books, Behind Her Eyes, so I was somewhat prepared for the inexplicable, but still, the ending blew my mind 🀯. Needless to say, the next day I picked up another of Sarah's books and I am so eager to read it! *also, there is a connection between Behind her Eyes and Insomnia you may pick up on in the epilogue.

Ahh, seriously! 😱
There is just so many aspects I want to mention but I don't want to spoil the experience for anyone else.

If you love unconventional thrillers with unreliable narrators and chiller vibes, you MUST read Insomnia. It will keep you reading all through the night.