I have always enjoyed C.L. Taylor's writing but I think Sleep is probably my favourite of her books so far. It's fair to say that this is not actually a sleep inducing story. In fact, I found myself staying awake that bit longer to read it.

The story begins with Anna Willis and her colleagues undertaking some training. On the way back there is a nasty accident and it obviously has a terrible effect on Anna. She finds herself struggling to sleep and struggling to adjust back to her life. To get away from it all she ends up taking a job on the Scottish island of Rum, working as a hotel receptionist/cleaner. A walking tour brings 7 guests to the island and what seemed like an idyllic escape becomes a nightmare for Anna as somebody seems to be determined to facilitate her death.

There are almost two separate stories here. I feel that Anna's time on Rum is quite separate to the events that went before and yet they are perfectly intertwined and kept me wondering how the past was connected to the present. I absolutely loved the setting. This is not a locked room mystery but a locked island mystery as a storm means that the guests, Anna and her boss, David, are trapped together with no way across the river and no means of communication. I have a bit of a thing about islands in fiction anyway, so that aspect worked really well for me.

Knowing that Anna was sleep deprived really made me wonder if she could be trusted. Was she unreliable or was someone really out to get her. And I obviously suspected all of the guests, just as Taylor wanted me to. The denouement, when it came, was unexpected and very clever.

I thought Sleep was a very absorbing story and a very twisty one. It's extremely atmospheric with the weather and the claustrophobia of the island being central to the plot. It's really a fabulous psychological thriller.

Anna was involved in a fatal road accident, she was the driver and ever since then she is struggling to sleep. She has nightmares, and is struggling to get back to any kind of normal. She decides that she needs a fresh start and takes a job at a hotel on a remote Scottish Island. The novel then becomes something of a locked room mystery as seven guests check in and they are all at the mercy of the weather and somewhat trapped there. Anna is convinced that one of guests wants to harm her but she doesn’t know which one!

The seven guests that arrive on the island soon after Anna began working at the hotel all have their own secrets and all appear shifty at one time or another. I had my suspicions early on but I was completely wrong (which I loved, it’s great to be surprised in a thriller). I really enjoyed seeing the back stories of the characters unfold alongside the tension and drama of the storyline ramp up. It’s definitely a book that has you on the edge of your seat!

Anna is a sympathetic character, it’s hard not to feel for her after everything that she’s been through. I didn’t feel that she was always a reliable narrator though as there is that fine line between paranoia and someone actually being out to get you and I wasn’t sure of her thought processes. I was always on her side though and was hoping she’d come through this and find happiness again.

This novel keeps coming back tot he issue of guilt. Anna is burdened with guilt even though the accident wasn’t her fault, she knows she should have been more aware and it’s haunting her. Then there are the people who feel like they’re doing the right thing but they’re not and should feel guilty. And then there are the people who have done us a perceived wrong and we think they should be consumed with guilt but they appear not all that affected. I think most people fall on a scale of guilt for things they’ve done – whether it’s things they meant to do or not. Sleep really makes you think about guilt and it’s handled so brilliantly!

I loved that this novel had layers to it and every time I found out a new bit of information I was re-thinking what I’d previously thought. There is one central story that the novel focuses on but you get to see how that leads to other things happening, there are consequences that are unexpected when people are trapped together and they all have their burdens. The end of this novel was gobsmacking and left me reeling but it was the perfect ending.

Sleep is absolutely brilliant, I just couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. I’ve loved all of C. L. Taylor’s books so far but I have to say that this is her best one yet, I highly recommend it! It’s tense, gripping and so hard to put down!

We’ve all had those moments in life that we wish we could do over, none so much as Anna. She’s never going to forget that tragic night. But you can’t run and you can’t hide from your problems.

As Anna tries to escape her past, her present starts to mess with her. But who and why is playing this game with Anna’s fragile mind? I for one feared for her sanity as well as her safety! Anna’s story is one of guilt and sorrow but with someone there fanning the flames of this internal turmoil, Anna gradually spins down into the depths. Can she save herself or will she #daretosleep?

The backdrop of the remote hotel slowly becoming more isolated from the rest of the island by a horrific storm brought extra tension to what was already a dark psychological thriller from Ms Taylor. This natural phenomenon brought its own level of fear to the story as Anna’s tormentor closed in on their prey. It gave the whole story a sense of gloom and despair as the chapters progressed. I couldn’t picture one iota of sunlight once the storm hit.

Having read a number of Ms Taylor’s previous psychological thrillers, I have got to admit, this is quite possibly her darkest one by far. She’s expertly crafted a game of cat and mouse in a claustrophobic remote location which kept me guessing even past the grand reveal.

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty. To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare. Each of the guests have a secret, but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they're on the island. There's a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they've set their sights on Anna.

There have been a lot of books in the last couple of years with this kind of premise, the remote location, trapped guests and deadly secrets, so I was a little anxious about starting it and whether Taylor could ensure 'Sleep' still felt unique. I need not have worried, of course Taylor has made this unique! I adored how Taylor has two big events with the first setting up the latter part of the plot, it meant that the reader is instantly thrown into action, I was immediately hooked into the book and was more than happy to go along for the ride.

Following Anna made for a tremendously exciting read, she was a flawed yet sympathetic character and I enjoyed getting to know her and living the fear through her eyes. The setting of a hotel in Rum was equally perfect, we have the desperate, bleak beauty and the terror that comes from knowing you are trapped with someone who is a killer. Ooh it sent shivers through me and chilled me to my core. Taylor has a lot of red herrings in this which only heightened my enjoyment, and my nerves, as I desperately tried to unravel where the next danger was coming from.

'Sleep' is an absorbing, engrossing read that I was completely absorbed into and could not put down. I loved following the danger in such a remote location, it makes for very claustrophobic reading. The characters are perfectly flawed and equally sympathetic and they make this read all the more human. Taylor has written an addictive thriller that will remain with you long after the final page.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advance copy.

“If you’re reading this I am no longer alive. Someone has been stalking me for the last three months and, if I am dead, it wasn’t an accident.”

I mean if that isn’t enough to get you hooked into a thriller, then what is?? C. L. Taylor continues her excellent run of form to produce a claustrophic and tense story filled with secrets and revenge.

In Sleep, our main character Anna is left reeling from a car accident and retreats to a secluded Scottish island to try and get some peace and – finally – a respite from her continuing insomnia. Unfortunately for her, one of the guests at the hotel in which she works wants her to sleep…forever. As a storm cuts the hotel off from escape and help, Anna realises that her problems are just beginning.

C. L. Taylor’s writing is so atmospheric and she manages to build a really heightened sense of claustrophobia as Anna discovers the many secrets her guests are hiding and suspects each in their turn of wishing her harm. The suspicion of each guest is very cleverly done and any one of them could be the evildoer. I like to pride myself on being a step ahead of the game when it comes to suspects, but C. L. Taylor is several steps ahead of all of us all the time – very sneaky!

As the book is divided into narration from several viewpoints, it’s easy to make your way through several chapters very quickly, without really realising it, but each adds more layers to the mystery and secrets are revealed at an excellent pace, leading to many ‘just one more chapter’ moments.

This is only the second of C. L. Taylor’s books that I’ve read, but she is definitely an author I will be catching up with…

I look forward to this authors books so much each time they come out as I just know she's not going to disappoint her fans..
I found "Sleep" to be quite a disturbing read, chilling in places with such an eerie feel to it. Perhaps that was something to do with the majority of the novel been set on a remote Scottish Island maybe.
We meet Anna who was behind the wheel of a car that killed two of her work colleagues and caused life changing injuries to another.
Anna wasn't to blame but that doesn't stop her in any way blaming herself.
So when she realises her relationship with her boyfriend Alex isn't going anywhere, she takes herself off to the island of Rum to work in a hotel. Strange idea but maybe a little distance between them is what is needed.
But who is watching her? Why does she feel someone wants her dead? Will it help her to run off to a remote island where a storm is brewing just around the corner?
A great storyline, it had me guessing throughout. So much so that I found I couldn't quite leave the book down at times.
I remember reading one part and thinking "Don't go out, do not go outside".
I had goosebumps....
Worth a read most definitely....

Sleep is my first experience of CL Taylor's writing, and what exquisite writing it is. Set on the Scottish Island of Rum, the Bay View Hotel might be isolated, but the surroundings are beautiful and I was drawn into the environment immediately.

From the prologue, there are questions that need to be answered and I loved the way that Taylor grabbed my interest and did not let it go. She has created a brilliant group of characters, who all come with their own issues (and interesting themes to explore) She provides little clues throughout the novel that kept my brain ticking. The chapters in the novel were narrated by different characters and this maintained the tension and allowed me to think about what was happening.

I found the ending really chilling and I will be thinking about it for some time to come.

Having read the synopsis of Sleep, I was instantly gripped and couldn't wait to read more. The book begins with Anna being part of a tragic car accident which resulted in  some of her colleagues losing their lives, and others critically injured. Anna finally lets the guilt get the better of her and she moves to a remote Scottish island where she takes a job as a hotel receptionist. However Anna can not escape her past and as we meet the hotel guests, and deaths start to occur, it seems someone wants Anna to pay for her mistakes and one of the hotel guests wants her dead.

I really enjoyed getting to know each of the hotel guests and trying to piece together the clues to figure out who was behind all of the drama. I love books that start by introducing you to a handful of characters and then begin leaking their personality bit by bit (including all their hidden secrets and flaws). I think it's a great way to build character development and create a plot that keeps you on your toes.

I loved Anna throughout the book, and had my theories about how it would end, but was constantly propelled from one direction to another.

Sleep is full to the brim with questions and accusations. I love the who, what, where and when aspects, and Cally really knows how to execute it in the best possible way to keep the reader obsessed from start to finish.

 Whether you have read anything by Cally before, or are new to her work, I cant recommend Sleep enough. The suspense and mystery is incredible and when all those publishers and bloggers keep telling you that you wont sleep until you have turned the very last page, I can assure you they are not lying. I think any fan of Cally or psychological thrillers will devour this book and want to read it all over again.

I really enjoyed all of the characters in this book. I was on the edge of my seat. I though I had guessed the baddy but changed my mind twice but great ending especially as I guessed wrong. Will definitely be reading more books by the author.

Sleep is an accomplished psychological thriller. Anna takes a job on a remote Scottish island after a traumatic car crash leaves one of her colleagues dead and another disabled only to find that danger has followed her. This was a very good read with a subtle twist at the end.

I’m not surprised that I have seen many comparisons to Agatha Christie for Sleep as it really did bring to mind her novels especially Ten Little Indians and The Mousetrap where a group of strangers are brought together and then trapped together with killer on the loose. And it’s also rather ironic that the book is called Sleep because it’s actually a sleep-stealer! I picked it up one evening to read and didn’t put it down until the wee small hours of the morning as I just had to finish it but was then unable to sleep due to the plot still whizzing round in my head!

Anna has had a terrible experience and wants to escape from the world and everything that reminds her of what happened. She can’t sleep and then when she does the most horrible nightmares haunt her. Taking a new job on the island of Rum, she becomes an assistant to David who manages a hotel on the island. But when guests checked in to enjoy the local walks and scenery and a storm arrives to cut them all off from the mainland and the rest of the island, a death occurs. Is there a murderer amongst the new guests? If so, who is it and is it anything to do with what happened to Anna? She certainly thinks so as she starts to document the days they are stranded, naming the guests incase something happens to her. And I had absolutely no idea who was tormenting her or why?! Yes, I had a few good guesses (all wrong!) but ultimately the twists and turns totally fooled me.

I loved the darkly, claustrophobic atmosphere here, with so many characters in such a restricted setting and Cally Taylor really brought them all vividly to life. Sleep is an addictive read, genuinely chilling with a breathtaking denouement. It had my pulse racing as the final few scenes played out and everything came together with a brilliantly crafted conclusion.

Highly recommended by me!

Back of the book :

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep.
But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.

Each of the guests have a secret, but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they're on the island. There's a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they've set their sights on Anna.

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.


What I think :

Anna was on her way home from a weekend away for a work thing, when she had a really serious car accident. She and another work colleague barely survived. Her other two work colleagues died. Anna was driving.
Since that day she's barely slept, she feels so guilty about the accident, she's been having awful nightmares. She also thinks that someone is following her.

When Anna and her boyfriend Alex split up a few weeks after the accident, Anna decides she needs to try and move on. She gets a job in a hotel on the remote island of Rum in the wilds of Scotland, where the population is just 31.

She's still not sleeping but she's getting by, she gets on ok with the hotels owner David and she seems to be settling in.

When seven guests arrive at the hotel, A family of three, two single women and two single men, they are not what they seem, they all have something to hide.
But what .... ?

Then the storm arrives and they're all stranded on the island.
Weird things start to happen and Anna's new life starts to go wrong, very wrong ...
I
I have always loved Cally's books, so when I was asked to join the blog tour, I did a happy dance !
I couldn't wait to get started, the proof copy must have sat on my TBR pile for a good 2 months, waiting ... Let me tell you, it was well worth the wait !! When a book starts with a letter from the main character saying " If you're reading this then I'm dead" you just know that the book is going to be brilliant.
I couldn't put this book down, with such an excellent story line and excellent characters, it had me sucked in right from that first chapter. I needed to keep on reading to see what was going to happen and how it was all going to end.
Very dark and atmospheric and just a little spooky too with the ever present storm raging in the background, I think this may just be Cally's best yet !
It's peppered with loads of twists and turns and a few gasp out loud moments it really is a rollercoaster of a ride. And that ending, it tips everything on its head so you just won't see what coming !!

Loved it 10/10.

Published by Avon Books on 04/04/19

This book hooked me at the beginning with the note "If you are reading this I am no longer alive" and then kept up the suspense until the final page, building the suspense as you go along.
Anna is recovering from an horrific accident in which there had been fatalities and she blames herself so she leaves everything familiar and travels to an island just off the coast of Scotland and takes up a job in the only hotel there but trying to keep a secret is impossible and when the hotel guests find themselves stranded it seems they all have some secret or another they are trying to hide. Anna realises her stalker might be among them and the tension rises as we get to see some of the secrets the guests are hiding.
I loved the book and really didn't suss out who the 'stalker' was and why they felt compelled to confront Anna. I didn't guess the outcome but will you? take a chance and read this book whether you do work it out or not it is an incredible journey.

After an accident that changes her life, Anna escapes to an island in Scotland called Rum, to work in a wee hotel. Unable to sleep and sure someone had been stalking her a physically demanding job away from home is just what she needs. But someone is stalking Anna and no matter where Anna goes she will be followed....

The opening chapter grabs you from the very beginning, Anna the main character has written a letter "If you're reading this then I am no longer alive." Ooft what an opening, we see Anna in the lead up to the accident and the immediate after. Once she gets to Rum we have seven new guests, people as always have secrets but on the island we have a killer and Anna isn't safe!

So the opening chapter packs a punch and then starts to build up a picture of Anna and the eerie creepy atmosphere starts. Anna has to deal with guilt, lack of sleep, overhaul of life as she knew it and once you hit the hotel you know something is coming but what and who? We visit the family of those involved in the incident that changed everything for Anna and I was like an episode of murder she wrote, that's the killer, no that one, no that one.

I do enjoy a book that keeps you guessing and gives you plenty of suspects. Taylor has a knack for sucking the reader in and building up the fear and suspense, keeping a beady eye to have your AH HA moment, I suck and never work out the bad guy though. I really enjoy this authors writing and think with so many books out it is hard to offer something new, fresh and a page turner, I think Taylor nails it, 4/5 for me this time.

This was so much fun to get stuck into! I hadn’t read any of the Authors work previously, but had heard so much about them that I couldn’t resist reading this. I am so incredibly glad that I did, because it was gorgeously entertaining!

From the opening scenes I was hooked. This isn’t a story that gradually draws you into the Characters emotions, instead you are thrown in with a CRASH, thrown into the story in a way that is masterfully and full of emotions. Despite the fast start, it was easy to get to know everyone, in fact I found that it made engaging with the main character that bit easier.

I’ll be honest here, I was worried that I had such high expectations that I would end up feeling disappointed, but actually I loved every page. Cally has such an easy flowing writing style that it didn’t matter what sort of mood I was in, I found I could sink into the story happily every day. Very easy to read, Characters that are different as are the situations we are given.

I didn’t have a clue who had “done it” until the revelation, and that surprised me immensely! I loved the fact that each time I thought I had it sussed, something would happen to completely throw me off, make me question what I thought and wind up thinking it was somebody else.


If you’re after something to sink into, that’s easy to read but rich with emotion and imagery, surprising twists and turns from start to end. Then you really NEED to read this ASAP! I will certainly be reading more of the authors work, and since reading this have grabbed a few in anticipation of more fast paced brilliance!

Sleep has all the ingredients I love in a psychological thriller: it is creepy, twisty, atmospheric, and above all, addictive. I loved how it started with a letter from the main character saying that if someone was reading it, it meant she was dead. My curiosity was certainly picked from page one and it only grew as the story unfolded.

In this book, CL Taylor takes us to a remote island in Scotland, where our main character, Anna, has escaped to to forget about a traumatic accident. But soon after her arrival, 7 guests come to stay at the hotel she is working in and things start going wrong, very wrong, in all possible ways.

I loved getting to know all the characters and trying to figure out who is lying and who is keeping secrets. I found this cast of characters fascinating and they made this story even more interesting.

As the story got darker and darker, I had my heart in my mouth. The suspense was superbly written and the ending took me completely by surprise. This well-crafted and absorbing book is probably my new favorite by the author. I cannot recommend it enough.

You won't want to sleep once you've started this story. After a car accident, Anna just wants to hide away from life, so takes up a job in the middle of nowhere on a remote Scottish island. Then people start dying and Anna's head is getting messed with.
This was a marvelously claustrophobic mystery that certainly kept me hooked and guessing.

Firstly, I have to say that C L Taylor is permanently on my reading list as she has the natural ability to keep the reader in suspense and Sleep did not disappoint at all. The scenario around which the plot is based is not unique, but that makes little difference to the quality of her writing which kept me hooked from page one through to the ending. The characters are sufficiently developed to engross you into the story and my only disappointment now that I have finished the book is that I have to wait for the next one to be released.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What first attracted me to C L Taylor’s psychological thriller, Sleep, was that is was set on the remote Scottish island of Rum. In honesty, the novel could have been set on any remote Scottish island, as most of the action takes place in an isolated hotel - in the style of an Agatha Christie type who-dunnit. It begins with the hooky opening, ‘If you are reading this, then I am no longer alive’. An incident in Anna Willis’s past fills her with guilt, forcing her to flee the city and work as a hotel receptionist on a sparsely inhabited island of the Inner Hebrides. Seven guests are staying when a storm howls in, cutting communication and causing a river to rise, blocking the single exit route. Stuffed with mystery and lies, the issues troubling the guests at times felt a touch contrived, but the pace of the plot, along with the claustrophobic atmosphere, kept the story zipping along. Sleep is an unsettling page-turner with twists a-plenty set on a Scottish island not often visited in fiction. Would love C L Taylor’s characters to spend time in Scotland again soon.

I'm a huge fan of CL Taylor and have read and loved all of her previous books and this is another absolute humdinger of a read. I loved the setting and tense atmosphere and it kept me guessing the whole way through and had my heart in my mouth numerous times during the book and I read it right through the night I just couldn't put it down and you won't be able to either....highly recommend!!!!

Thank you very much to NetGalley Bookouture and C.L. Taylor for the arc of Sleep my review is honest and unbiased in any way.