I felt so stressed out the whole time I was reading this, which was probably the point. There are so many domestic thrillers where the main character is questioning her sanity, but Emma has a good reason to fear- Her mother had a mental breakdown on the day of her 40th birthday and now Emma is about to turn 40 herself. It doesn't help that her mother always told her she was destined to lose her mind because the second-born children in her family always do. Is she just being paranoid or is everyone in her life beginning to turn on her? The ending was actually surprising and interesting, but it seemed like it came out of nowhere and ended too quickly. I wish that part had been more detailed.

This book received a lot of praise, and I can see why! Sarah Pinborough did such a great job with the characters, and I was immediately sucked in. I thought I had it all figured out, and the final twist at the end bumped this up to a five-star thriller for me!

“𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮. 𝙒𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚. 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨. 𝙋𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚. 𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙥.”

First of all, I just have to say that has to be one of my favorite quotes. Now onto the book… this book is told in 1st person from the POV of Emma starting 12 days before her birthday when her insomnia begins. It is then a countdown until her 40th birthday.

I buddy read this book with my friend and I’m so happy I did. I could not put this book down. The chapters are short, addicting and leave you wanting more. I had no idea who or what to believe or what was actually even happening. It was a really good book with fantastic twists. Highly recommend. Pinborough once again did not disappoint and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me with a copy to read in exchange for an honest review!

Emma Averell is approaching her 40th birthday, the same age that her mother became a monster in Emma's mind. She is so concerned about her approaching birthday that she can't sleep. When Emma's older sister, Phoebe, turns up after being away, things start happening which make Emma question her sanity.
When Phoebe and Emma were young, they were put into foster care because Emma's mother harmed one of the children. Now, years later, Emma wonders if she is turning into her mother.
This is a scary story of how childhood trauma can continue to haunt us and distort our sense of reality. Sarah Pinborough always writes tense psychological thrillers. This one did not disappoint.
Thanks to William Morrow and Scene of the Crime for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Wowza!!!!!!!!!! This one is an insane doozy of a story but ohhhhh so good!!!!!!! It kept me up late at night trying to finish it and I thought I had it figured out early but boy was I fooled!!!!!

I don’t know if it’s my mood or this isn’t the book for me. I am a mood reader and I’m struggling with this one. Don’t let this deter you because I have seen several people give it great reviews. I put this to the side and can hopefully pick it up at a later date. I don’t feel right giving a star rating to a book I haven’t finished but since it won’t let me go on without a star rating, I put in a rating. Do with it what you will.

What a ride! After reading Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes, I couldn't wait to get my hands on another of her books! While I liked this story, it wasn't the same thrill as BHE. I really enjoyed how several threads came together throughout the book. It wasn't until I was almost finished that I figured out the twist. I liked it and would recommend it, but it didn't live up to her other book.

Insomnia is an excellent creeptastic rollercoaster of a ride.
This book is so unpredictable and well written.
When you think you know what is going on, there comes another twist.

The characters were unreliable, complex, and a bit messed up in the best possible way.

This is my second book by this author and it will not be my last.

I have been a fan of Sarah Pinborough’s for a while. Although this book wasn’t my personal favorite of hers, I think is a textbook thriller, highly suitable to book clubs. I would have liked to read more about the second child curse and the time shifts described towards the end of the novel rather than read so much of the is she, isn’t she madness storyline.

No Behind Her Eyes, but I did enjoy it enough to get through all 69 chapters.

Who’s crazy? Am I crazy? Are you crazy? Are we all crazy?
This one has everyone being questioned but it is obvious that Emma has issues. She is turning 40 soon and concerned she will go crazy like her mom did when she turned 40. Her life begins to fall apart with her being unable to sleep and then her mothers death seems to trigger everything around her to be questioned. It’s a story with an unreliable narrator and many annoying characters. It’s nice and twisty but a little repetitive at times

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley & Wm. Morrow for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have enjoyed previous Sarah Pinborough books; they have a great underlying current of the supernatural that makes them a little different from your average thrillers. This one is less supernatural, but relatively effective.

Our heroine, Emma, is fast approaching her 40th birthday, and her sleep has been suffering. You see, when she was very small, her mother lost her mind in the runup to her own 40th and tried to suffocate Emma's older sister, Emma intervened, but her mother had spent her young life telling Emma she had "bad blood," so Emma has worried ever since that she would follow in Mum's footsteps. No matter what, she simply cannot sleep, even with prescription drugs. She's also losing time and apparently forgetting plenty - her brain fog is intense and her sanity stretches thinner and thinner the longer she goes without sleep. Add to that a surly stay-at-home-Dad husband, and her sister popping up to guilt Emma into visiting her mother (who's been in a sanatorium for 30+ years) in the hospital after Mum smashed her head into a mirror ... before you know it, Emma's marriage is falling apart, her kids are frightened of her, her job is in serious jeopardy and she's a murder suspect!

This is a classic unreliable narrator/gaslighter extraordinaire sort of story. There's a lot going on, more than enough to push the plot forward, so it's a little irritating that Pinborough spends SO MUCH time inside Emma's head, having her turn her set of problems over in her mind endlessly, which is surely realistic but not much fun for the reader (lots of repetition). It's not a bad story, but Emma's childhood is so relentlessly depressing that I found myself feeling like I was reading a Nicci French standalone. Emma is not a super relatable character, which makes it a little hard to really care about her plight, and some of the stuff she does is downright outlandish.

I met the denouement with a bit of disbelief. Serious mental contortions are required to stitch the ending together, and this is where things go off in a sci-fi bent. Maybe this wrap up works for you, but for me it was the cherry on top of an inferior work for this author. She has done much better. While it's entertaining, it's just a little too much piled on top of a lot.

This creepy, atmospheric novel is about a woman haunted by her mother's descent into mental illness and her own worrying behavior as she approaches the age her mother was when things went terribly wrong. It is frustratingly repetitive at times, the plot feeling more circular than linear. However, this contributes to the claustrophobic atmosphere, where the reader, like the protagonist, cannot sort through what is real, what is remembered, and what are the tortured hallucinations of a sleepless brain.

Many thanks to HarperCollins Scene of the Crime Early Reads and NetGalley for the ARC.

Insomnia is another mind-twisting thriller by Sarah Pinborough. Emma is about to turn 40. She's also stopped sleeping as her birthday creeps closer. This is very similar to what happened to her mother as her own 40th birthday approached and she slowly lost her mind. Emma starts to wonder if she has a family curse. Meanwhile, things are happening involving her sister and her husband that leave her questioning her sanity. Fast-paced plot with twists galore. Read and enjoy!

Insomnia was a bit different for me ... I wasn't sure where Sarah Pinborough was going with the story. I usually read more straightforward mystery so this had an element of sci-fi /supernatural that I wasn't expecting. Sarah did a great job of misdirection and I was glad to see the novel conclude as it did. It was an enjoyable read!!


I reviewed on Goodreads but didn't know how to link!

Thank you @williammorrowbooks and @netgalley for the advanced copy of Sarah Pinborough’s newest book!
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Summary: IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, MADNESS LIES . . .

Emma can’t sleep.

CHECK THE WINDOWS.

It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer.

LOCK THE DOORS.

Her mother stopped sleeping just before her own fortieth birthday.

She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it.

LOOK IN ON THE CHILDREN.

Is that what’s happening to Emma?

WHY CAN’T SHE SLEEP?
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Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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My thoughts: this was such a fun read, one of my new favorites of hers! It made me scared to go to sleep for fear of having insomnia. She did a great job of describing someone who has insomnia and making them quite unreliable. I did figure out the twist but I really loved this one and the story was just insane! This was a one day finish for me and highly enjoyable check it out !
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Happy Mother’s Day to all the human, dog, and plant moms out there. Thinking of anyone who has a hard time celebrating days like today 💕
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Emma Averell has worked hard to leave her childhood in the past. But as she nears 40, she cannot help but remember her own mother. When she turned 40, there was a terrible incident, and Emma and her older sister went into foster care. Emma has longed for stability ever since, and she's found it with her husband and two children. But now, she worries she's slowly going mad, just like her mother did at the same age. As she finds herself increasingly unable to sleep, wandering her home at night and losing time in the day, she fears her mother was right--madness is in her blood.

This book totally stressed me out with Emma's inability to sleep! It's very immersive, and you completely feel Emma's descent into sleeplessness and madness. INSOMNIA is a captivating and fast read. It certainly has its repetitive moments--there's a lot of scenes with Emma wandering her home, awake and pondering her life choices. At times, it's a bit much and it's painful to read about her "madness." But there's also an intriguing story, as Emma thinks back to her childhood, her mother, and what truly happened when she was young. I figured out a part of the plot fairly early on, but it didn't diminish my interest. As with most Pinborough books, there's a weird twist thrown in at the end--I wasn't sure this one was necessary and it sort of ruined some of the story for me. But overall, this is a quick and intriguing thriller.

An intense complicated story but one I truly enjoyed. A great read when you are not sure which way the narrator will go. The story took quite a few turns but ones that enjoyed. I recommend this one!

Emma is afraid to turn 40, which is just around the corner. When Emma's mom turned 40 she went a bit mad and tried killing her older sister. Emma refuses to be like her mom. The closer she gets to 40 the more things seem to be going wrong. Emma can't sleep, her son is acting different, and so much more. Is it the sleep deprivation that's causing her problems? Or is she really going crazy?

I wanted to love this book. It sounded so good, but it fell a little flat to me. The book was a bit slow. I also guessed part of the twist early on. I just didn't get hooked into the book. It wasn't a page turner for me. I thought the writing was great. The author is amazing. It just wasn't the book for me. I think I'd rate this book a 2.5.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the book in exchange for my honest review.

This book gave me so much anxiety yet I couldn't put it down. I typically read every day at lunch and this has been the book for that time. When I closed the book to go back to work, I realized my heart was a bit racey and I felt jittery. It wasn't a relaxing read but it definitely kept my attention.

I think I was expecting more from the book. Behind Her Eyes is the only book of hers I have read and was expecting this book to knock it out of the ballpark just as much, however it didn't.

It started out a bit on the slower side, which I don't mind. That usually builds your excitement. The family story goes that approaching 40 you will go crazy. Emma seems to believe it's true and starts stressing on it, leading her to her insomnia. She's laying there awake thinking about things as in are the doors locked, are the windows closed, how are the kids? She will then eventually fall asleep, but waking up to discover something odd.

The craziness of the family itself and the weird plot twists just didn't keep me loving the the story. I did read it in a couple days hoping to find something that would blow my socks but nothing did. However I will say the visit to the home facility, the sister showing up out of the blue, the husband being whoever he was trying to be and the kids, definitely kept me wondering and turning the pages!

Thank William-Marrow for allowing me to read this through Netgalley.