4 stars - smart, insightful and intriguing

"The Sleepless" by Victor Manibo turned out to be not quite what I expected. From the blurb I was poised to read a Noir murder mystery set in a near-future, vaguely dystopic world.
And while this book is all that, it is also quite a bit more. There is also some focus on insightful social commentary and sharp philosophical ruminations.

The plot centers around Jamie Vega, an up and coming journalist whose boss dies under rather strange circumstances just around the time that his company is about to be taken over. Unfortunately, Jamie (who is one of the eponymous Sleepless) has some weird lapses in his memory, which include the evening of the murder. And so he quickly finds himself a suspect and in need of uncovering what is going on.

The premise that pushes this mystery into sci-fi-territory is the fact that due to a pandemic a large percentage of society has become sleepless. It has no negative effects on health, people just stop sleeping. The possible implications on a society of such an event are huge and this is where "The Sleepless" really shines.
What would you do with that much more time at your disposal? Would you pursue hobbies? Or would you rather work more to earn more or gain an advantage on your colleagues who do still need their sleep. Who would you hire as an employer, someone who works 20 h a day or rather only 10? What about arising social stigma?
Manibo does get to the conclusion that in a world ruled by capitalism, eventually all we do with more time is to work more and be a more efficient cog in the machine. And I do agree with him there and found his realization of this theme very effective.

The mystery in this book does develop in a satisfying manner, and of course we learn eventually that there is more to the story than we first thought. The ensuing revelations and twists keep you turning the pages and the insightful commentary on the world all of this takes place in provides a bit of additional substance, which I did appreciate.

However, I did end up thinking that this book was a tiny bit too long, and would have profited from tightening things up somewhat.

The ARC I read was still in quite some need of editing, mostly because there was a great lot of jumping around between tenses. The novel is written in present tense, but I had the strong impression, that Victor Manibo had it first written in past tense and than had to change it all - but forgot quite many instances which are still left in past tense. This did interrupt the flow but I do expect this to be fixed in the published copy.

I have received an advance review copy via NetGalley and voluntarily provide my honest opinion. Thank you very much!

A thrilling book about a world not too incredibly different than ours, but some slight technological increases (for better or worse). When some people don't need to sleep, they have a lot more time to get into trouble. Sci-fi murder mystery which will keep you on your toes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books, Erewhon for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a gripping sci fi thriller that explores a future where certain people have lost the need to sleep. I found the explanations surrounding the sleeplessness to be believable and thought it was great.

I thought the author painted a realistic picture of how Sleepless people might be treated in society. He describes the potential advantages for productivity but also depicts the fear and prejudice that would likely emerge.

On top of an intriguing idea, this science fiction novel also offered a really engaging plot. There was a fantastic mystery at the center of the story, which created some good suspense. I found myself dying to get back to the book because I truly wanted to know what would happen next. I thought the characters were all nuanced and complex in ways that made them relatable.

Needless to say, I was very impressed by this new release and would highly recommend it to readers looking for an engaging, smart sci-fi thriller.

This was a decent read. I liked the concept but felt it could've been 50-75 pages shorter. It takes a bit to build up, and it felt a bit disjointed at times. I also feel like we could've gone more into the sickness and its implications. I didn't realize how murder-focused the book would be.

I liked it but just didn't love! Enjoyed the bisexual rep and setting, but wanted more.

*I voluntatily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
This was an okay book. The plot was good. It was intriguing but I felt that the book was too long and because of it it got to a certain point where it was just stretching unnecessarily. The story was so unique I felt that if it had been a little bit shorter it would have been a perfect five for me. But if you do want to read this one and you are ready to read a 1100 pages book, then I would say go for it. You will surely like it.

The Sleepless is the debut novel of Filipino author Victor Manibo, and the latest novel from excellent small publisher Erewhon Books. The novel is a science fiction noir mystery, featuring a world in the 2040s in which people have come down with a "plague" that makes them "Sleepless" - unable to sleep and no longer needing it seemingly to function. The protagonist of the novel, Jamie Vega, is a Sleepless journalist at a prominent journalism company facing a controversial corporate takeover, who gets caught up in conspiracies once his boss dies in a way that Jamie refuses to accept is actually suicide.

The result is a story that's really interesting, dealing with the capitalist implications of a world where people could suddenly function for all 24 hours of the day, how that could be exploited and how that could be devastating for the world, all the while dealing with a pretty classic style noir plot. The story has some issues with info-dumping, as we're entirely in the first person perspective of its hero from the beginning, and certain twists and new developments occur probably too easily, but it works really well to demonstrate the interesting ideas of its premise - one that has implications for our own world and how things are with capitalism, the environment, discrimination and more.


------------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
In the 2030s, a new strange pandemic hit the world - turning people into "Sleepless", people who weren't able to...and did not sleep to function. Spreading by means that could not be figured out, the Sleepless plague spread to 25% of the world's population and caused massive changes in society - with sleepless being feared and hated by some, envied by others, causing many Sleepless to hide their new status. But when it became clear that the Sleepless seemed otherwise no different from regular humans, the discrimination and jealousy seemed to largely die down, especially when the number of people suddenly turning Sleepless declined precipitously.

Jamie Vega is one of those new Sleepless, and he has been using that status in many ways - to learn new things for one, but mostly to avoid dreaming the nightmares that have haunted him since the tragedy of his past. Jamie's a journalist for the country's most prominent journalism corporation, working directly under Simon, one of the two founders, and has been working to dig up extremely incriminating dirt on a rising politician. But just when Jamie is about to bring it to Simon one morning, he finds Simon dead in his office, in what seems like a suicide....but Jamie can't quite believe it isn't foul play.

Indeed motives for Simon's death abound - the story on the politician is suddenly spiked, a buyout of the journalism corporation that Simon wanted to stop suddenly seems possible to go forward, and Simon seemed to be working on something mysterious with an ex-colleague of his, among other things. But as Jamie digs into the mystery, he begins to realize that there is some connection between Simon's death and the Sleepless....and that Jamie himself is the last person to have spoken to Simon, in a conversation he absolutely does not remember having.

Suddenly Jamie is confronting mysterious memory lapses and conspiracies that suggest that something untoward is happening among Sleepless groups, and that Simon's death was only the tip of the iceberg. And Jamie doesn't know who he can trust, with one wrong move possibly dooming the entire world to disaster....

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In many ways, the Sleepless is a pretty standard noir, for better or for worse. The story takes place entirely from Jamie's first person point of view, with him narrating events both in the present and in flashbacks and infodumps about the history of this world. There's a death that Jamie winds up investigating that is more than it seems, with Jamie discovering conspiracies involving corporations with mysterious shell corporations, researchers who disappear, and violent extremists with their own secret backing. There's also a bunch of cyberpunk elements thrown in such as VR, questionable designer drugs, and typical anti-capitalist themes. It's done decently well as a noir, although Jamie's flashbacks and info dumping about this world often feels a bit much, especially as the book goes on.

Still that basic noir setup works to fit in themes and ideas that challenge today's capitalist theme of society. What would society do with a condition that gives people 6-8 more hours of the day to spend awake? Well, for many people that would be extra work to get extra money, which would certainly benefit many greedy corporate types who could then exploit the additional labor. What would that do to those who still have to sleep and have to compete with those who don't - and if thus given the option wouldn't they then also take the chance to become Sleepless? What would be the effects on the environment of everyone suddenly being productive for an additional 6-8 hours? And if being sleepless had some side effects, how would those dependent upon a new Sleepless work force react to them?

The Sleepless doesn't delve into all these questions deeply necessarily, but it brings them up in interesting ways, and Jamie works as an excellent character to dive into them - a man who became Sleepless largely for personal innocuous reasons in trying to escape trauma while dreaming...but who finds that trauma still in front of him nevertheless. Jamie also is dealing with the remains of what Simon did to him - in another anti-capitalist theme - in how Simon drove him to work harder and harder to get the story while also refusing to let him throw things away by publishing such work prematurely and causing problems for him as a result. This drive instilled in him by Simon drives Jamie throughout the story (as well as Jamie's idealism about the world and refusal to accept things he can't understand), and makes the otherwise standard noir elements and the themes discussed above, and a few I'm sure I missed, really work well.

The result in The Sleepless is an excellent debut genre novel from Manibo, and one that is at times really really interesting, even as the story's form is pretty standard. Well well worth your time.

The Sleepless by Victor Manibo is a sci-fi murder mystery. Jamie is a hyperinsomniac who is investigating the murder of his boss. This new reality of a dystopian sleepless world is very interesting. Imagine what you could do if you didn’t have to sleep? This really makes you think of what could be coming in our future. Set in 2030's after a pandemic that caused a quarter of the world to become sleepless. A bit slow at first but it led into lots of twists and turn to keep you reading. I received this as an ARC from NetGalley & Erewhon Books, Erewhon for my honest review. Thank you for allowing me to read it.
#TheSleepless #NetGalley.

Fascinating hook, and I always love these kinds of dystopian thrillers., and even more so when there is a queer urban Asian American protagonist.

I love the concept of the sleepless and slightly-futuristic New York pandemic and evil capitalist interests taking advantage of a divided political landscape (scapegoating the sleepless). I also loved the setting of being in the city that is getting back to normal after a pandemic.

While I will definitely look for more by Victor Manibo in the future, I think this book suffers from debut author flaws, like trying to do too much in one book, promising too much in the strong early scenes that weren’t resolved in a completely satisfying ending. But great start and will definitely keep an eye out for Victor Manibo’s future works.

Self-delusion and self-centredness are big parts of main character Jamie Vega, as he deals with the fallout from the apparent suicide of his mercurial boss and mentor Simon Parrish. As well, an increasingly porous memory of events leading immediately up to Simon’s death, as well as those from six months ago (when he became Sleepless) to the present. All this is to say, though we begin believing and trusting Jamie’s thoughts and perceptions at the book’s outset, it becomes increasingly clear he’s an unreliable narrator of events.

Jamie is also dealing with anger issues, lingering grief from the suicide some years earlier of a cousin closer to him than his own brother, and a break-up. Jamie is one of the Sleepless, people who became sleepless after a pandemic. Unfortunately, no specific cause was found for the condition, but a quarter of the world suffers from it. And, there was significant bigotry levelled at the Sleepless, but as it's ten years after the outbreak, hyperinsomnia is normalized, and there are countless businesses that cater to the lifestyles of those who need to occupy 24 hours, everyday.

After investigative reporter Jamie discovers Simon dead, this sets off a series of incidents, and sends Jamie into a spiral. Jamie is convinced the death is a suicide, and runs around, digging into the news company's past, the machinations behind the potential buyout of the news corporation by another company headed by an uber-wealthy Sleepless, various Sleepless advocacy and militant groups, and, as Jamie's memory begins failing, into deleterious effects of hyperinsomnia.

I liked this book and how well Victor Manibo wove together a murder mystery with corporate politics and in-fighting, health concerns, corporate ethics, the effect of the Sleepless on the environment, and grief. The resolution to all this works well, and though this isn't a propulsive thriller, I liked the pacing and the way Manibo built the tension after each new discovery Jamie makes. The ending is a little bit open, but it was still a satisfying end to this entertaining book.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Erewhon Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Me ha fascinado esta novela de ciencia ficción de futuro cercano, una mezcla apasionante de thriller, investigación periodística y especulación científica que se disfruta de principio a fin y que viene a hacer mucho ruido en el panorama de género.


El protagonista de la novela es Jamie Vega, un periodista con una característica especial, es un insomne. Esta hiperinsomnia es una enfermedad que se fue extendiendo por el mundo de la que se conoce poco, una pandemia que hace pocos años se estabilizó y ya no se sigue expandiendo. Las características de la enfermedad es que los afectados no pueden dormir, pero tampoco lo necesitan, por que ni sus cuerpos ni sus mentes requieren este reposo para recuperarse. Lo que en un principio provocó el rechazo del resto de la sociedad, ahora es buscado como una ventaja competitiva, ya que permite trabajar más, ganar más dinero y en definitiva, aprovechar mejor el tiempo.

La novela explora las implicaciones que tendría este cambio tan sustancial en la sociedad humana, pero a la vez enlaza esta especulación con la investigación de un suicidio o asesinato de gran repercusión mediática, con lo que consigue mantener en todo momento un ritmo muy alto.

También me parece todo un acierto que la narración esté en su mayoría situada en Nueva York, que se transforma, literalmente, en la ciudad que nunca duerme. Las posibilidades son infinitas y solo vemos la punta del iceberg, pero si las personas dispusieran de 8 horas más diarias para sus aficiones, su trabajo o lo que sea, la economía daría un vuelco, sin lugar a dudas.

Hay que tener en cuenta que Manibo no descuida en ningún momento la parte de thriller de la novela y algunas de estas escenas resultan ser cuando menos rocambolescas. Tampoco se puede negar que los malos son malísimos, un poquito más de escala de grises no hubiera estado de más para terminar de redondear una novela que a mí al menos me ha encantado, y que vuelve a poner a Erewhon Books como una de esas editoriales de las que no perderse ni un solo lanzamiento.

Murder mysteries aren't usually a genre that sees much daylight for me, but the QTPOC representation and ostensible sci-fi bent notched it right up there. While the prolix narration style felt slightly reminiscent of Andy Weir and like a diary at times, the plot was a fun enough jog to be able to ignore all the extra mental monologue and just enjoy the story at a good clip. The whodunnit reveal isn't super shocking and felt like a bit of a letdown personally, but probably fit better overall into the journalistic detective work of the main character. Overall, the book was probably not my style, but I'm definitely looking forward to future works by Manibo!

This is an intriguing thought experiment that turns more complicated than it needs to be.

In the 2040s, a worldwide plague of insomnia has made around two billion people permanently Sleepless. After a confusing period of panic and uncertainty, the economy has adjusted: those who are Sleepless rent smaller apartments with no bedroom, work three or four shifts without resting, or use the extra hours to learn new hobbies. No one is sure how the plague started (some speculate that artificial coffee may be the culprit), but the rate of contagion seems to have plateaued, and for the moment, things seem manageable. Some people sleep, and some don't. Some businesses are open for extra hours, and some cities spend more on lighting.

And that would be the end of it, were it not for the extremist clandestine militias that claim Sleeplessness is a superior stage of human evolution, and the other extremist clandestine militias that want to limit the civil rights of the Sleepless, and the shady corporations that want to create a tireless workforce, and the secret assassins that have been kidnapping top neurology researchers, and the biohacker labs trying to induce artificial Sleeplessness, and the other biohacker labs trying to cure Sleeplessness, and the tech bro billionaires trying to benefit from the controversy either way, and the news broadcasters struggling to maintain some independence in the middle of so many unpredictable changing winds.

This plot is dense, folks. Try not to doze off.

Our protagonist, investigative journalist Jamie Vega, has become Sleepless on purpose, to avoid the nightmares he's been having since a close friend died. But when he finds his boss dead at the office, just before they were supposed to publish an exposé on a corrupt politician, all his suppressed emotions resurface, and he's quickly embroiled in a web of conspiracies and betrayals and double agendas that converge on him as the prime target of multiple factions in a secret war with global stakes.

The novel opens as your standard detective mystery, with consecutive scenes of interrogating and revisiting previous locations to gather clues, but as our protagonist gets closer to the truth, the action escalates drastically. The final third of the book breezes by like a breakneck spy thriller that unfortunately hits the brakes too abruptly for an extended discussion scene where all the secrets are painstakingly explained to the reader. There is more action after this, but the momentum has been ruined, and then the denouement is a bit too long. But this clunky pacing is a necessary evil: there's just too much information that the reader needs to receive in order to fully comprehend the mammoth conspiracy that the author has concocted, so the bulk of the book is spent in page after page of backstory or dialogue.

The page count devoted to explaining the intricate machinations of our antagonists detracts from what would have been really interesting in this novel, which is to address the human-level implications of its premise. We get only scattered descriptions of what normal life looks like when people no longer need to sleep. There's some mention of the ethical risks of 24/7 work and the environmental threat of 24/7 consumption, but the narrative is focused mostly on our protagonist's chase against time to solve the mystery of who killed his boss, and we don't get enough opportunities to experience his world with him.

This is a regrettable combination of setting and theme: we take it for granted that sleep is an essential part of human nature, and the consequences of such a radical alteration of our biology could have been explored in much more compelling ways than in a corporate/political crime thriller. When the villain's full plan is revealed, it feels like the plot has lost sight of its theme and has turned into a typical Big Bad Company story. The central mystery turns out to hinge on the outcome of a corporate board vote, which is a massively unsatisfying reward for all the adrenaline we've spent in getting there.

To its credit, The Sleepless introduces a unique concept that on its own merits makes the reading worthwhile. But the way its premise is developed takes after too many familiar detective tropes, as if the writer is having more fun with the police procedural structure than with the psychological repercussions that a story like this demands. This is undeniably a fun adventure, but it shouldn't have needed to be one. The vertiginous experience of Sleeplessness itself would have made for a powerful hook; the hidden mics and poison bottles feel rather like an unwelcome distraction.


The Math

Baseline Assessment: 7/10.

Bonuses: +1 for achieving the difficult writing feat of describing the sensation of anomalous forgetfulness from a first-person perspective.

Penalties: −2 for endless scenes of exposition.

Nerd Coefficient: 6/10.

DNF @ 48&
It pains me to say that writing style The Sleepless did not work for me. I loved the concept and underlying messages on capitalism but found the narrative dragging and circuitous. It took what felt like 48 hours to read 48% (it was really 4.5), and I knew that I'd be back in a slump if I kept reading. Many thanks to my pal Amanda for cheering me on and for ultimately telling me what happens (and WOW!).

"'It's the choice between more or less time, and the answer is pretty obvious.'"

Thank you Kate for the recommendation, I'm so sad this one didn't work for me! This is a smart book with an important message, and I hope you give it a try if it sounds interesting to you!

eARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion nor the contents of my review. Quotations are from an unfinished proof and subject to change upon final publication.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Sci-fi meets mystery/thriller in this queer debut that follows Jaime, a journalist who is part of a future where a quarter of the world has lost the ability to sleep.
This book kept me up at night too, wanting to read just another chapter. So many moments or small sentences kept me thinking into the next day. From grief to technology to capitalism, this story covered it all through the eyes of a queer, Filipino MC and asked how a world would benefit (and hurt) if some of us could gain more time with a little less sleep.

I can't stop thinking about the commentary on capitalism. I found myself yearning to be sleepless and at a crossroads trying to figure out if it would be worth it. I truly could not decide the entire time until the end and I'm absolutely blown away with emotions. I find myself thinking about this book every day when I'm sitting at work just wishing I had more time. Wishing I could pick up more hobbies or help more people. If I just didn't need to sleep, it would solve all my problems. But we need to be thinking about working less, not sleeping less.

The Sleepless initially seemed like a sci-fi novel dealing with the fallout of a pandemic, mirrored on our recent pandemic if people had given in to their worst impulses. Then it seemed to be about politics, fluid sexuality and light erotica, relationships, a rampant drug culture, horrific loss, and a murder mystery where our unreliable narrator hopes it’s not him and that one of the gang who has a motive will go down for it.

It takes at least a third of the book for the plot to build momentum. Then at the halfway point things pick up. The jumps between the topics make the plot feel disjointed and the genre-bending theme holds the book together more than anything else. There is crossover, but it feels like a shift each time.

Definitely an interesting sci-fi-lite read. I enjoyed seeing where the author took it.

Thanks to Erewhon and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

E-ARC provided by Erewhon Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

4.5 stars. While a bit slow to start, The Sleepless is a promising debut that is one part speculative thriller and one part a searing examination of science, technology, and capitalism through the eyes of a queer Filipino protagonist.

Unique and absorbing science fiction thriller.

When the global pandemic struck in 2033, the panic and confusion it created started a massive world shift. The condition did not actively kill -- it produced sleeplessness. Since no one understood where it came from or the vector or the mode of transmission, those affected were hauled to quarantine as scientists scrambled for answers. Things settled down in the ensuing decade, but Jamie Vega is a bit envious of those who are now sleepless. They have a lot more time in their lives to work, to pursue all sorts of hobbies or talents. The lure of becoming sleepless makes Jamie do something really daring.

Jamie is now finally sleepless and working as a journalist for a huge media company in the midst of a corporate takeover. He's living his best life and doing hard core investigative journalism when he finds his mentor, Simon Parrish, dead in the office right before a big board vote. Not believing in the line that this was a suicide, Jamie gets caught up in something that changes everything he believed about hyperinsomnia and has to face the consequences of how what he did was more than dangerous.

This was so much fun and I really enjoyed it. The character of Jamie is well-developed and certainly an unusual protagonist. I do not understand the emphasis in advertising the book about it being queer genre as that is such a small part of the narrative that it was inconsequential to any part of the story and certainly should need keep anyone from picking up this book to read. The science fiction part, the condition of hyperinsomnia or sleeplessness, was quite an interesting theme to explore with how all of those with it must consume so many resources and how they count time. It gave me lots to ponder and the plot, though a bit typical with good vs evil and someone being tasked to save the world, was entertaining. I liked the author's writing style and the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Publishing for the e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Sleepless is a tale about a world plunged into chaos when a new pandemic causes a large portion of earth's population to develop hyperinsomnia.

Victor Manibo pens what I see as a very believable work of speculative fiction. Though the world is different than our present day, nothing in the setting of The Sleepless is wildly out of the realm of possibility (besides perhaps the sleeplessness itself). Things like technology, extremist ideologies, corrupt politicians, human responses to disasters, and the predatory nature of capitalism are all rooted in our reality today, making the underlying plot resonate much more deeply.

The plot does start a bit slowly, but I think that the exploration of the world and exposition through the protagonist's eyes adds color and thematic weight to the story as it progresses. It also forces greater connection to Jamie Vega as he struggles with the weight of reality as the book progresses.

If your wheelhouse is near future sci-fi, speculative fiction, journalism, or anything to do with gene editing technology, this one is worth picking up.

Crossposted to Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4885823177

(Content warnings: Suicide, death, drug use, violence, grief)

I love a sci-fi book that takes a simple "what if?" scenario and then just RUNS with it like this. The Sleepless is a fun blend of near-future sci-fi, thriller, and mystery that reminded me a bit of Michael Crichton's technothrillers (but, yknow, more diverse and with less focus on the science and more on the characters).

The story's compelling and immersive from the beginning and only gets more exciting as the pace slowly picks up. It keeps you guessing till the end, and all the threads pull together into a satisfying conclusion (though I did feel like everything following the climax was a bit too drawn out, making the ending less punchy than it could've been). Jamie's a great, well-rounded protagonist - messy, unreliable, driven; I'm not sure if I'd call him likeable, but he's interesting as hell and and I love how his tireless persistence in finding the truth drives the story. Love the worldbuilding, too - not just all the Sleepless stuff, but also the technology like drones or VR, even details like the outrageous price of coffee - the 2040s world of The Sleepless feels like such a seamless, believable extension of our times. I found the exploration of the consequences of Sleeplessness under capitalism - how some people found it desirable not to have more time to learn or pursue hobbies or anything like that, but to *work* - particularly interesting (and painfully realistic).

Also, I wasn't expecting so much casual queer rep, so that was a pleasant surprise, and I really liked Jamie and Veronica's friendship - it's rare to see close, 100% platonic friendships between men and women in fiction like that.

Overall, if you enjoy multilayered, slowly unfolding thriller mysteries with a sci-fi flair, I definitely recommend this book :)

(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)