Scan barcode
A review by suspensethrill
None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney
5.0
You know that feeling when you just read the best book of the year, and you're not seeing it hyped anywhere, even though everyone should be reading it?
Yeah, me too.
Friends, picture it. It's a crisp fall day, the children have been driving me crazy as lovely Mr. Humphrey has been traveling for work for approximately 958,000 days. We decide to take a stroll to our local Barnes and Noble, because our favorite bookseller Ree is working, and she's really nice to my kids when I can't be nice anymore. I'm browsing the YA table, and notice this striking cover, realizing I've never even heard of this book. I quickly log onto Goodreads and see that my bud Laura has already read this and gave it 5 glowing stars, which is good enough for me after reading the synopsis. Ree checks me out and confirms that she too has bought this book, so we make a pact to not let this become another TBR sleeper casualty.
Fast forward to-actually I started this the same day I bought it I think LOL-and I'm loving it so much that I start gushing to Coffee Jenn and may have forced her to purchase this book as well. Later that night, I post on social media how much I'm loving this book, which surprises Ree because she 100% assumed we would indeed be letting this book die in our sleeper TBR pile. She gets a moderate to severe case of FOMO, and jumps in too. Long story short, Jenn is almost finished, but the general consensus is that all three of us are internally screaming because WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS BOOK?!!
Ok, so I'm moving on to the actual review, but first, why did I include all of the above? Simply to remind my fellow readers of a few things. 1) I may have a comfortable amount of followers here, but I by no means only get book recommendations from other large accounts or the bestseller lists. I have close relationships with readers who have followings of all sizes, and I trust those readers more than the general hype train. 2) I know we like to think that big accounts pimping out the most popular 10 books of the month is the only way to promote a book, but I promise word of mouth is JUST as important. In the past 24 hours, just because I decided to take a chance on a book that I wasn't seeing plastered on every corner of the internet, around 30 people have messaged me to tell me they're buying this book. If those 30 people love it and gush as well, they might inspire 30 more people, and so on. Moving on...
I know the synopsis is pushing this as [b:The Silence of the Lambs|23807|The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)|Thomas Harris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565096163l/23807._SY75_.jpg|22533] meets [b:Sadie|34810320|Sadie|Courtney Summers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556559178l/34810320._SY75_.jpg|56026767], but I honestly didn't catch the similarities to the latter at all. As my friend Laura stated in her review HERE, a much more accurate comparison would be SOTL meets the show Mindhunter. Just as a heads up, there are a few scenes that feel VERY similar to Clarice Starling's journey with Hannibal Lector, but I didn't feel it detracted from the story one bit; if anything it allowed a sense of nostalgia upon remembering my fond feelings of that story. Bonus, this one doesn't include heaps of misogynistic banter and homophobic/transphobic content.
The story is set in the early 1980's in Northern Virginia during Regan's presidency. Both Ree and I agreed that the accuracy and atmospheric consistency here is incredible, considering we both live in this area, and noting that the author is Australian yet managed to create a realistic backdrop is not lost on me. She even mentions an intersection close to my home, and one of the murder sites is located down the street from a house that my husband and I looked at purchasing.
Yeah, me too.
Friends, picture it. It's a crisp fall day, the children have been driving me crazy as lovely Mr. Humphrey has been traveling for work for approximately 958,000 days. We decide to take a stroll to our local Barnes and Noble, because our favorite bookseller Ree is working, and she's really nice to my kids when I can't be nice anymore. I'm browsing the YA table, and notice this striking cover, realizing I've never even heard of this book. I quickly log onto Goodreads and see that my bud Laura has already read this and gave it 5 glowing stars, which is good enough for me after reading the synopsis. Ree checks me out and confirms that she too has bought this book, so we make a pact to not let this become another TBR sleeper casualty.
Fast forward to-actually I started this the same day I bought it I think LOL-and I'm loving it so much that I start gushing to Coffee Jenn and may have forced her to purchase this book as well. Later that night, I post on social media how much I'm loving this book, which surprises Ree because she 100% assumed we would indeed be letting this book die in our sleeper TBR pile. She gets a moderate to severe case of FOMO, and jumps in too. Long story short, Jenn is almost finished, but the general consensus is that all three of us are internally screaming because WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS BOOK?!!
Ok, so I'm moving on to the actual review, but first, why did I include all of the above? Simply to remind my fellow readers of a few things. 1) I may have a comfortable amount of followers here, but I by no means only get book recommendations from other large accounts or the bestseller lists. I have close relationships with readers who have followings of all sizes, and I trust those readers more than the general hype train. 2) I know we like to think that big accounts pimping out the most popular 10 books of the month is the only way to promote a book, but I promise word of mouth is JUST as important. In the past 24 hours, just because I decided to take a chance on a book that I wasn't seeing plastered on every corner of the internet, around 30 people have messaged me to tell me they're buying this book. If those 30 people love it and gush as well, they might inspire 30 more people, and so on. Moving on...
I know the synopsis is pushing this as [b:The Silence of the Lambs|23807|The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)|Thomas Harris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565096163l/23807._SY75_.jpg|22533] meets [b:Sadie|34810320|Sadie|Courtney Summers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556559178l/34810320._SY75_.jpg|56026767], but I honestly didn't catch the similarities to the latter at all. As my friend Laura stated in her review HERE, a much more accurate comparison would be SOTL meets the show Mindhunter. Just as a heads up, there are a few scenes that feel VERY similar to Clarice Starling's journey with Hannibal Lector, but I didn't feel it detracted from the story one bit; if anything it allowed a sense of nostalgia upon remembering my fond feelings of that story. Bonus, this one doesn't include heaps of misogynistic banter and homophobic/transphobic content.
The story is set in the early 1980's in Northern Virginia during Regan's presidency. Both Ree and I agreed that the accuracy and atmospheric consistency here is incredible, considering we both live in this area, and noting that the author is Australian yet managed to create a realistic backdrop is not lost on me. She even mentions an intersection close to my home, and one of the murder sites is located down the street from a house that my husband and I looked at purchasing.