Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance of release.
Firstly, I did not realize that this book was originally a podcast? How wild to listen to this story in that format!
Secondly, I immensely enjoyed this story! From the very beginning I was drawn in to finding out who all the main characters were, and how they were all connected. My anxiety over everyone not realizing that they were about to breathe their last breath and others who were fighting to stay awake kept ratcheting up and up! OMG and the epilogue! I want to read more!

I've been enjoying sci-fi books so much more than I ever used to. That said, while I enjoyed the concept of this book, I struggled to read it, and ended up dnfing because the book couldn't hold my attention

This was a very interesting horror/sci-fi book about people who die after they fall asleep. It was a very solid read for the first 75% and then it went a little too out there for me. But I did really like what the ending was hinting at.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced copy!

Wow! This book was fabulous and right up my alley! Scary, horrifying, and just a darn great story to boot! It was on keel with books by the great Stephen King. Then I found out about the podcast and then I found out about the tv series????? When when when! Please tell me there is going to be a sequel...I wait with baited breath and NO sleep! Thank you for the ARC St. Martins press and NetGalley. I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Either I never knew or had forgotten that The Edge of Sleep is based on a well-known podcast, so that information did not color my reading experience at all. It is, however, the first novel I’ve read that was based upon that particular medium. I requested a copy of the eGalley because I was intrigued by the premise: if you fall sleep, you die. That simple. And I was instantly curious how that would play out, as everyone needs to sleep, eventually, or it does not end well. The story had a bit of a rough start, with way too many “homeys” laced in the dialogue between Dave and Matteo. A few go a long way. After that, I thought the novel gained momentum, as the two discover endless bodies of those who had the expected misfortune of simply falling asleep. The authors lighten the mood quite a bit with more humor than I would have expected given the circumstances. But I began to wonder at the repeated scenes of random people drifting off to dreamland for the final time. It’s hard to wring much suspense out of people falling asleep, especially if they are not the main characters in the tale. Of course, by the time the characters we truly care about are fighting off exhaustion, the situation comes off as appropriately dire. The clock is literally ticking on how long they can go without eventually succumbing to sleep. This is when the story is most effective.

Our heroes seem ill-equipped to handle the problems with which they are faced, to somehow solve or even truly investigate the phenomenon of global apocalypse of death by sleep pandemic. (And for a global pandemic type of story, the cast is surprising small, which might be a result of its podcast origins, I’m guessing.) While Dave, a night watchman by trade, has had a lifelong history of nightmares and night terrors, which has put him at odds with sleep in general, it hardly seems a likely resume to get him out of trouble in the long term or help in resolving the story. Matteo has a military background as a drone pilot, the consequences of which still haunt him and cause ongoing nightmares as well. Linda, a nurse who joins the crew after they visit her desolate ER, has access to meds and advice on how to keep them going without sleep for as long as possible.

Overall, this novel is difficult to review in that it withholds its answers (some of them, anyway) until the last few pages, and at that point, the story takes a couple unexpected turns (twists) which don’t completely pay off, so the reader is left hanging (kept awake!) for a presumed sequel which, without going into any spoilers, projects as a big genre shift in the storytelling. So, I’m of two minds with this book. I love suspense, and there’s plenty to be had here—even if most of it involves who will fall asleep versus who can stay awake the longest—but I would have preferred a wider net and more closure to wrap up this first volume.

I don’t even know if I have the words for this book. I thought it was going to be a thriller, but it was more science fiction.
I went into this book not knowing what to expect. The premise was interesting. I liked the beginning and how the story unraveled.
About 1/3 if the way through, I lost interest. There were too many characters introduced and the story got muddled. I did enjoy the last 50 pages. The ending was left up in the air, so so could see a sequel happening.

If you like “Twilight Zonesque” stories, you will enjoy this book!
Intentionally disjointed? Lots of scene shifts. Lots of characters; some are meshed with our main characters nicely, while others are little snippets of who they are. One of those snippets was so jarringly heart-rending that I cried. My gosh it was only one small paragraph too! An amazing amount of symbolism of which I am sure I caught only a portion.
Dave Torres is a night watchman which is fitting as he fears his dreams therefore he fears sleep. His coworker is Matteo Leon who has a charm all his own especially with all his malapropisms. As they are getting off work, they notice how quiet everything is. The streets are empty. No traffic. No people. What is happening? Dave tries desperately to contact his ex-girlfriend, Katie. Thus begins Dave’s pilgrimage to the truth.
I remember years ago watching an “artsy” TV show that reminds me so much of this book. So “way out there” that I kept reading to see what happened next. Surprise ending in store. Definitely a unique book for readers who like off the wall stories. I volunteered to review an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

To be fair I have not listened to this podcast or seen the show. The story idea is good but the execution is bad. Lots of filler and fluff and little substance. The parts about random people falling asleep shouldn’t have been included in my opinion, made the story feel more scattered. I have no idea what happened in the ending. The whole thing was unclear.

This book is super strange and very different from my usual reads, but I really enjoyed it! One night, people all over the world go to sleep and never wake up. It’s up to Dave and Matteo to figure this out before they fall asleep!

I thought the characters were well-written, the plot was CRAZY, and the writing itself was masterfully crafted.

The humor is a great combination with the overall terrifying storyline. I thought it all worked incredibly well together, because if it wasn’t humorous, I think it could have been too dark. It was a nice balance.

I thought all the random stories about some of the people who fell asleep was such a great addition to the book - and I also love how they were tied in again at the end.

I am rating this 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 simply because I think this may be the best book I’ve read this year. It loses a half star because the end opens up a whole new can of worms and there are SO many unanswered questions. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but I DO want to see at least one more book written in this universe. I need to know what all of it means and how it is solved/concluded!

From the beginning I thought the greatest strength of this book was the dialogue, which made perfect sense when I found out it was originally a podcast. There is some good humor in that dialogue as well. My main gripe was that the story jumped around too much--something that probably worked better in a podcast. The POVs switch up often, and by the 50% mark those different characters still hadn't met up. "What if the insomniacs were all who was left to deal with the apocalypse?" Is an interesting question, but in this case death really seems unavoidable for these characters. I DNF-ed a little over halfway but might come back at some point to see how it ends.

What did I just read!?!?!?!

Overnight falling asleep overtakes the world, causing immediate death. This story follows four characters who are struggling to NOT sleep, trying to save their family and friends and ultimately finding a dream city to survive.

A bit to dystopian for me. Rating 2.5

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the complimentary copy.

Thank you to St. Marten's Press for letting me read THE EDGE OF SLEEP early. This book is out now.

This genre is hit or miss with me and sadly, this was another miss. I just couldn't connect with any of these characters and didn't want to read about them. This book came across super rigid and without any sort of flow. I was just frustrated with this one.

3.5 ⭐️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩
𝐁𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐥, 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐉𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐲
𝒪𝓊𝓉 𝒩𝑜𝓌!

Don’t go to sleep! If you do you will die. If you enjoy podcasts and an edgy, fast-paced thriller, this one is for you, but you may have some crazy dreams! It definitely felt like a fever dream to me!


Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted book and thank you @macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook.

I tried twice to get into The Edge of Sleep. Unfortunately, it's just not for me. It's well written with good character development, but it's not a genre that I usually read and connect with. Thanks for the opportunity to review.

Imagine a pandemic that freddy Kruger started. Then add a twist that reminds you of the movie Inception, and that is this read. So if you are an anxious insomniac looking for a weird read, you have hit the jack pot my friend.

Thank you to the publisher for letting me read this on netgallery.

Gah, I don't even know where to begin with this book. I was intrigued by the synopsis.: a mass casualty event (apocalypse?) where everyone who falls asleep dies and a very few night owls are left to figure things out and survive before they fall asleep forever. I later found out this book is really a Podcast, turned TV show, turned novelization. More on that later.

Despite my initial enthusiasm, I quickly found myself annoyed in the beginning chapters. I really couldn't connect with a couple of "bros" with their dude bro-talk. The dialogue felt like I was reading a transcript of an FX made for TV movie. Now, strangely enough, I'm actually a fan of, for instance, the "Sharknado" movie franchise. There is just something hysterical about watching something so ridiculous taken so seriously by a bunch of mediocre (at best) actors. It's American entertainment at its finest. Buuuut, I really don't want to read about it. That's when I did a little Googling and found out about the Podcast and TV situation... aha, now it makes sense.

Besides all the bro-talk and random vignettes that didn't go anywhere, the thing that bothered me most about the book was the lack of even superficial research. As a pharmacist, I am extremely bothered by misapplication of drugs and medical information within storylines. Misinterpreting a Google search on a drug's pharmacology can fully kill the premise of a poisoning in a bestselling thriller. Seriously, the situation could have been completely avoided by treating your local burned-out pharmacist to a cup of coffee in 15 min. We are the most accessible health care providers, and we are known for giving out advice for free. Use us. This book was throwing out made-up names of sleep drugs and stimulants that don't even exist left and right. "Dude," no cancer patient is going to say nighty-nighty and take an overdose of IV codeine to end it all... it isn't even an available drug in the US. Santa Mira Medical Center is not going to have some rogue supply of it. Speaking of SMMC, there are going to be more than two awake staff members at the end of a shift from hell in which almost every patient is the hospital dies. The nurse practitioner is not going to have to break into the pharmacy to steal stimulants... There will be a whole horde of awake and irate nightshift pharmacy staff to defend their workspace. Never mind, that all those controlled substances aren't just going to be sitting on the shelves in bulk bottles ripe for the picking. And no ED nurse practitioner is going to perform an autopsy to she if she can figure out how a person died in their sleep. I doubt the ED attending would either. We all know our limits. SMH. Chapter after chapter the book just didn't feel poorly researched, it felt lazy. The things that I can just roll my eyes at and listen/watch on in a Podcast or TV show are just unforgivable in a book.

After finishing the book, I did listen to E1 of The Edge of Sleep Podcast on YouTube, and I must say that it checked the boxes for my listening entertainment. It just didn't translate well into book form for me. My advice if you love apocalyptic tales is to snuggle in with your audio and skip this exasperating book.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This book was pretty interesting as you watch the characters suffer from sleep deprivation while also trying to figure out what is going on. There is a suffocating feeling that time is running out (as they can only stay away for so long before they pass out anyway). Overall I enjoyed the horror elements and the spin on a living nightmare.

I think this is going to be very hit or miss for people.

The narration feels a bit jumbled in places. Because of that it can get a little confusing to keep things straight at times.

While i enjoyed that this story was expanded upon and changed in ways from the podcast, it felt like there was quite a lot of filler material. It wasn't necessarily bad, it just didn't feel like it added much significance to the story.

I think it is creepy and you definitely get the eerie Apocalypse vibes, but it most definitely isn't a scary book. The only thing scary about this book was that I read it before going to sleep myself which definitely upped the anxiety factor for me.

Overall, it's an enjoyable read, and if you think you would maybe like this, go ahead and pick it up because it just might be your jam.

This was such an interesting book!!! It took a great premise, the majority of people falling asleep one night and not waking up, and ran with it. I really enjoyed the characters this story followed and the more bleak and bittersweet tone throughout. The structure of cutting back and forth between the two main groups of characters, random vignettes of people who have died, and Dave’s past kept things really interesting as well. My only real gripes were the relationship between Dave and Katie (I just found it to be a bit annoying) and some of the pacing near the beginning of the book. Otherwise, I really enjoyed myself and would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a unique and wild ride!!

Hamlet's famous quote is....to sleep, perchance to dream. A feeling Dave Torres does not share. From youth, Dave's sleep has been filled with nightmares and wild, strange dreams. As a night watchman, he's awake while most of the world sleeps. Then, one day, as he is leaving work, he sees bodies, lots of them. Everyone who went to sleep the night before will never wake again. He is now living his worst nightmare. It is now up to Dave and a small group of VERY interested parties to figure out what happened and keep each other from going to sleep.
This is most definitely an original story line.....one that could keep you up at night. Jake Emanuel and Willie Block have taken a common fear, dying in your sleep, and turned it into an epidemic. The characters are in turn scared and brave, each contibuting an element to the story that makes it hard to chose a favorite, much less a most valuable player. When it looks as if the answers might be in Dave's dreams.......well, you'll have to read the book to find out their next move.