This is a truly scary book. It describes in detail how horrifying insomnia can be to a person and their family. Emma who is a highly successful divorce lawyer is having increasingly frequent episodes of sleeplessness and is also terrified that she is losing her mind. The plot takes us through her memories of an unhappy and abusive childhood and how she now believes that she will follow in her mother’s footsteps and harm her children.

At times, it’s a bit confusing and I sometimes couldn’t really credit aspects of the storyline. It certainly kept up the tension and I never wanted to give up. It’s probably not the author’s best but I found it to be an easy and enjoyable read.

4.5 stars.

This had a fantastic cover and a great storyline. It started off slowly but very quickly picked up pace and I soon found myself thinking about what was going to happen when I wasn’t reading it! I found the writing to be very good and the characters all developed well and had some part to play. With the way it was written, my doubts were cast on everyone at some point, my mind changing just as quickly as I could read. I just didn’t know where the story was going and then, just like that it was solved and ended. It ended well but I think the ending lacked a punch for me this time. I enjoyed reading the epilogue and finding out what happened after.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Read this….it’s psychological and the story line keeps you guessing as to what is happening in the main character’s life. Stick with it.

What am I capable of? Do I really know? Am I the thing I dread?

Despite a difficult childhood, Emma has made a success of her life; she's a successful family lawyer, married with two children. She's haunted, though, as her fortieth birthday approaches, by the memory of her mother's descent at the same age into a madness from which she never recovered, and a fear that the same fate will befall her. As sleep evades Emma, the nights become a frightening experience, and strange things begin to happen by day, too. Is she really going mad? The people around her - her sister, her husband - certainly seem to think so...

This was an incredibly engrossing read which keeps the reader constantly on the back foot as to what is happening. We see everything from Emma's perspective and while I wouldn't say she was an unreliable narrator as such, she herself has no idea what's going on either inside or outside her own head. Who can she trust? Is Emma really going mad, or is she being very effectively gaslighted by someone?

The only slight reservation I have is that the motivations of one character, when revealed, do seem a bit thin. Overall, though, a brilliant, sinister and compelling read.

Sarah Pinborough is a very interesting author. This is my 4th outing with her and each time I know it isn't your usual thriller book with an unconventional twist, and I always think I've prepared myself for it, but then I never have because each time they're so different that I wonder where it all comes from.

Emma is about to turn 40. She's haunted by the past and her mother's awful experience of turning 40 herself. Plagued by insomnia she starts to lose her grip on reality and on her life. Suddenly nothing is as tangible as she'd like it to be and she starts to question everything, most of all herself.

The book was interesting, I plodded through it a little, until the last 1/4 where I felt a complete compulsion to read it. Did I get who had done it, sure, it seemed obvious, did I guess why, absolutely not. I always like it when I'm not caught off guard and Sarah Pinborough defintely has the ability to do that. The character development is quite surface level, maybe I didn't feel as drawn to some of them as I should and disliked most of them more than I was supposed to. Overall an enjoyable read and I'm interested, as always, to see what comes next.

It’s Twelve days before Emma Averell 40th birthday. She has the perfect life. She is a successful Divorce Lawyer, and her husband stays at home to look after the kids. But it wasn’t always the case. Her childhood was traumatic, and her mother was at first ‘normal’ person but on her 40th birthday she became a monster, abusing the two girls, so, herself and her elder sister Phoebe ended up in care. She then adopted and was given a good childhood. But her sister Phoebe didn’t have the same life as she had.
So, when it gets nearer to her birthday she cannot sleep, because of the trauma of her childhood and her mother and wonders if she is going to end up like her. Also, she is having symptoms of missing gaps of her day and weird things start to happen She is also contacted by her sister Phoebe who tells her that her mother is dying in the secure unit and asking her to visit. When she does it brings back all the things, she is trying hard to forget. The day after she hears her mother is dead and she is accused of her murder. Did she kill her mother? Is she going mad like her?
Thank you, Harper Collins, for a copy of Insomnia. I confess this is the first book from the author I have read. This is a great page turner with full of mystery and suspense and I couldn’t get enough of it. It has a good storyline, but I didn’t really like the main character, Emma. I thought she was rude at first and I did get guess who the culprit was, but I am not giving it away. 4 stars from me.

Tense, twisty, cleverly written chiller that’s quite a bit different from anything I’ve read recently. Requested off the back of the hot Netflix show,

Though I distinctly disliked the main characters, , This fast paced thriller doesn’t disappoint and Sarah Pinborough Is on another winner with this one,

This book will give you insomnia because you will not want to put it down once you get started. Sarah is a master at what she does, and this is no exception. From beginning to end, this is engrossing!

A very tense and twisty read. Just before Emma's 40th birthday, she starts to suffer with insomnia. Her childhood was marked with trauma from her mother's issues with mental health, and now Emma starts to exhibit symptoms of paranoia...a very quick read with plenty of turns. Another book from Pinborough that doesn't fit neatly into any genre, Insomnia is engrossing. I started to feel ill and paranoid myself, just reading about Emma's experiences with sleep deprivation!

Any book that I read in less than 24 hours because I physically can’t put it down gets an automatic 5 stars from me!

I would describe this as a perfect psychological thriller - an unreliable narrator, tension so thick you can genuinely feel it oozing off the pages and a plot so intricate and wild that you are constantly questioning everything that is happening - yes please. I absolutely loved the connection between Emma, her son Will and her mother Patricia, although it felt quite confusing to begin with, at the end everything slots into place and you realise those small details scattered throughout are necessary.

A cleverly written and brilliant book that will appeal to thriller fans everywhere.

Thank you HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read this authors previous book Behind Her Eyes and loved it. So when I seen she was coming out with another book I was so excited. This book did not disappoint. I thought it was written so well and was mysterious in all the right ways. Absolutely loved this book.

I'd not read Sarah Pinborough before now, after hearing a lot of great things and thoroughly enjoying the television adaptation of Behind Her Eyes, I decided to request Insomnia from Netgalley and give it a whirl.

Man this book is creepy! Pinborough really knows how to crank up that tension in the dark silence of night. The writing flows easily as the plot gains speed almost immediately and doesn't slow to the final page.

Told from the perspective of unreliable narrator and main character Emma, Insomnia is a present time story of her inability to trust her own mind. A scary subject already without the addition of the increasingly catastrophic events that befall her family. Is Emma herself responsible? Is someone out to get her? Could both scenarios be true?

I liked Emma as a main character, although perhaps a little cliche; exhausted working mother fights for law partnership whilst stay at home husband bemoans his role. Emma suffers the stereotypical response, others find her cold and unfriendly but the husband does little to alleviate this image. I did not like Robert at all, quick to believe the worst of his wife and with little to no support offered, I found myself wanting him to get a little comeuppance.
There are several characters to suspect of foul play and Pinborough deftly switches focus throughout the book with each equally capable of being a perpetrator, including Emma.

If you've read (or watched!) a Pinborough story before then you'll know she adds an unusual angle not often seen in your standard thriller novel. I loved this aspect in both Insomnia and Behind Her Eyes. It gives the consumer that little extra surprise, an unpredictable element to make Pinborough plots truly unique to the genre.
Some may not like these tables turned but for me this boosted a great book into five star territory. You'll have to read Insomnia to find out what I'm being so cryptic about!

Absolutely amazing. Compelling, creepy and thrilling, it will definitely keep you up all night1 (reading). It's another fabulous read from Sarah Pinborough, that you will not want to put down.

Emma has it all, a high flying job as a lawyer, a husband she loves and two beautiful children. As her fortieth birthday approaches she is reminded of her a past. A past she doesn’t readily share. She’s even kept some of it from her husband Robert. Running up to the day of the birthday she has dreaded since she was five, things start to change. Her sleep becomes disturbed and things start to blur. Emma begins to feel unsure of herself and daytime hours become as paranoid and fuzzy as the nighttime’s when she can’t sleep.

As she tries to sort herself out she can’t help but wonder, is she really going mad like her mother did on her 40th birthday?

Having read behind her eyes I was so looking forward to this book and it did not disappoint. From the very start I was hooked. Pulled into Emma’s story and her emotional battles with turning 40 due to past events. Everything about this book is amazing. It is fast paced with plenty to keep you pulled in with unexpected twists. Essentially, I loved it.

This latest psychological thriller is packed full of twists, intrigue and darkness. I really like this authors writing style and could easily see it being adapted for television. I was fortunate to meet Sarah at a book bloggers event a few years back and found her honest, down to earth and very witty. Now onto the book..
As a fellow insomniac I was drawn to this story but fortunately I do not suffer to the extreme effects that the main character Emma, she takes sleep deprivation to another level. Her insomnia begins as Emma approaches her 40th birthday as she is tormented by memories of her mother who suffered with mental health issues. Emma is so traumatised that she begins to act completely irrationally which in turn has huge impacts on her work and family life.
This book is certainly a page turner and a great read.
My thanks to Net Galley and HarperCollins for the digital ARC.

'Insomnia' is the latest thriller from Sarah Pinborough and takes place as the count down to Emma Averell’s fortieth birthday, beginning days beforehand. Emma is suffering from insomnia (hence the title) and has a tendency to wake up around 1am. She fears that she will suffer a breakdown as her mother did upon her 40th birthday and this fear is leading to her sleep problems and increasingly impacting her thoughts thoughtout the day,
Emma finds herself unable to sleep, fearing an intruder in the house and is loosing track of time during the day. In the leadup to her birthday, there are a serious of unusual events, each giving Emma cause to think that she is indeed suffering from a mental health problem, similar to her mother and she believes that she will be spending the years ahead in a hospital.
I cannot say anything else without risk of giving away the carefully plotted and executed storyline. Sufficient to say that there are some sucker punches to come towards the end of the story and it is worth a read.

Thanks to the publishers and Net Galley for my free e-copy

This is a real suspenseful psychological thriller that had me turning the pages well into the early hours to finish.

The book follows Emma - a busy working mum of two, with a stay at home husband Robert.
We find out early on that something happened to her with her mum when she was younger and now her sister has turned up again and things start turning weird and she starts to question her safety and sanity.

I liked this book as even though it is from Emma's POV you never quite know if she is a reliable narrator, I kept changing my mind constantly throughout the book, although I did find myself really hoping it wasn't her...

I will be recommending this book to others.

We follow Emma Averell’s paranoia and insomnia as the days lead up to her 40th birthday. The same age her mother, Patricia, went insane and when Emma and her sister, Phoebe, were placed in foster care. Emma hasn’t quite forgiven Patricia and now she’s losing her grip on reality. Thank you to William Morrow for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

A gripping psychological thriller that had me hooked!
I've been reading for the last couple of days and It's been a while since a book had me so tightly in it's clutches.

It, in some ways, follows an expected and well trodden path of a thriller, but only to begin with. Once I thought I had a handle on what was going on and who might be responsible, things shifted. I loved the sense of unease and the suspense throughout, but Sarah Pinborough is the queen of the curve ball and the reality of the big picture of this book is surprising.

I felt quite moved at the end, when all is known. Or as known as it could possibly be.

Thank you to NetGalley and to HarperCollins for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

I’ve really enjoyed Sarah Pinborough’s previous books, however this is definitely her best one yet.
It’s an ambitious plot with intriguing characters.
There are plenty of twists and turns throughout.
It’s definitely a big fat 5 star read and one that I’d strongly recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️