I was browsing in the airport bookshop on my way to a Greek island and picked up The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas. Reading the blurb, I saw that not only was it set on a Greek island but it was described as a Gothic thriller. 100% sold. Location and theme could not be more perfect for me.
Just what happened to the sleepwalkers…
Recently married Eve and Richard are on their honeymoon on an idyllic (also fictional, it turns out) Greek island. They stay at the Villa Rosa, owned by Isabella who is charming to Richard, not so much to Eve.
Isabella definitely has the air of a woman with a lot of secrets and Villa Rosa comes with its own myth. The year before, a couple had mysteriously walked into the sea and drowned. These elements combined mean that this isn’t quite the honeymoon Eve and Richard thought it would be…
While delving into the Villa’s past, they are forced to confront cracks in their own relationship and it all very much spirals from there.
The Sleepwalkers is beautifully written and really conjured up the heady (a literal storm was brewing in the plot, along with the metaphorical one), warm feeling of Greece. I know I was there when reading it so that definitely helped but I was totally pulled into the story.
Let this atmospheric tale sweep you away
The story is excellent at building up suspense and tension in the present day and past, showcasing the fractures in Eve and Richard’s relationship and layering in the myth of ‘the sleepwalkers’.
I really liked how the story thread parallels were developed and how the more Gothic-thriller elements came through in the second half of the read.
I went into The Sleepwalkers with no expectations and was totally swept up in its moody, mysterious tone. As the secrets were revealed, I found that it wasn’t quite as pacy as I thought it was going to be, but I loved the writing style and the sophisticated curve-ball it threw by not delivering the ending you were maybe expecting.
- Get your copy of The Sleepwalkers here;
- Paperback published by Simon & Schuster July 2025;
- 289 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 