Sleep No More [Mass Market Paperback]

Susan Crandall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

The night was always Abby Whitman's enemy. As a young girl she walked in her sleep, and one night, she started a fire that scarred her sister for life and left Abby with unbearable guilt . . . and a loneliness that echoes within her. Now Abby has begun blacking out again--with apparently fatal results. A car accident has killed the son of a prominent family. Even though the evidence seems to exonerate her, Abby is plagued by doubts--and soon by mysterious threats. Psychiatrist Dr. Jason Coble is intrigued by Abby and offers to help her explore the dark recesses of her mind. Through this terrifying journey, Jason's interest turns to passion, and he yearns to give her the love she craves. But first, Abby must trust him--and shed light on secrets that will rock this Southern town and reveal a danger that threatens them both.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Crandall (Seeing Red) delivers a rather pedestrian piece of romantic suspense. Smalltown Southerner Abby Whitman's childhood sleepwalking led to a fire that killed her sister and destroyed the old family home. When a mysterious car accident kills a senator's son, Abby worries that she ran him over in her sleep. Rather than seeking help, Abby makes the ridiculous decision to stay awake for as long as she can. Handsome psychiatrist Jason Coble tries to help her while battling problems of his own, including an alcoholic ex-wife and a teenage stepson who conveniently dislikes Abby and wants Jason to come home. As Jason and Abby get closer to the truth of the accident, affection supposedly grows between them, but flat characters and purple prose (What would it be like to orbit around him, she a moon to his planet?) do away with any shreds of passion or tension. (Jan.)
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About the Author

Susan Crandall makes her home in Noblesville, Indiana. This is her eighth novel.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Forever; Original edition (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044655684X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446556842
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Indiana native Susan Crandall's women's fiction and romantic suspense novels have garnered national awards, including the coveted RITA(c). With the exception of seven years in Chicago, she's spent her life in her Indiana hometown. When not reading, writing or watching movies, Susan spends time with her husband, children and plethora of pets.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sleep No More, January 22, 2010

By 

L. Slawson "Lorri Jeanne" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sleep No More (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book in one day, which was easy because it was interesting. Abby wakes up one morning to find she has started sleep walking again, which she hasn't done since childhood. She thinks it may have to do with her mothers death but is still concerned, especially since starting a fire when she was young while sleepwalking. One night while waiting for her take- out food, she starts talking with Jason Coble, the local psychiatrist. They seem to hit it off pretty well and eat and chat together. After leaving and hoping for another 'date', Abby wakes up in her van, her feet in water and covered with broken glass from her window. She has a bump on her head and can't remember where she is. She eventually gets out, worrying about gators and snakes, and makes it to land. Not long after getting out of the river, the police arrive and tell her she can hang up. She informs them she lost her phone in the water and they walk in the woods and find a mangled motorcycle and a boy, dead, with his cell phone on.


Abby is devastated because she knows she was 'sleep-driving' and now it appears she has killed someone because of it. With the help of Jason, the start to unravel what happened that night. Along the way, they deal with Abby's father showing signs of Alzheimers, Jason's alcoholic ex-wife, Bryce, his teenage step son acting weird, and someone threatening Abby, first by breaking into her house, then leaving a threatening message on her mirror, to finally causing an explosion. You will be surprised!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sleep No More, February 13, 2010

By 

Heather M "I'm not a fancy shmancy reviewer. ... (Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleep No More (Mass Market Paperback)

400 pages read in one day. I'll admit that I'm a fast reader, but I still had to stop to entertain children when they didn't want to lay in bed, make lunch, make supper, all that good stuff. This was just one of those fast paced, can't put it down type of books!

Right from the first page I kept turning. It started with the scene describing the fire that was started when she was sleeping and younger that horribly disfigured her little sister. It's a good backdrop for the issues that she now has, and poor Abby has issues. You would too if her experiences had been yours. She doesn't have dreams of anything more than what she has now in her future for fear of something else happening when she is sleep walking again. And it does, when she's sleep driving. There is an accident, she comes to in a marsh, and the senator's son is dad. She wasn't the only one in the marsh though. Someone had called 9-1-1 from the dead son's phone and it wasn't him. He died on impact.

I'm a sucker for a good romance and the one between her and Jason has such potential. You can taste it as you're flipping through the pages. You hate the thought of Abby throwing away this wonderful man because her fear of the past happening all over again is holding back from giving her all to this guy.

There are times that I guessed where Susan was going with the story, but that was ok. I was not 100% sure until she wanted me to be 100% sure.

I'm also a huge mystery/thriller reader and I think Susan did a great job with Sleep No More. The story is believable if you stretch your imagination just a bit.

One thing I missed in the book, and I'm hoping that I didn't just miss that part was a resolution to her dad's problems with dementia. Her dad was there in the story and he reminded me of my grandpa when he was going through the beginning stages of it. She went through the effort to start the process of helping him. I just wish that there had been more to him and what ended up being wrong.

I really enjoyed the book, if anything (and I'm just being picky here) I would have loved more. More to their relationship, more to Jason's relationship with his kids, more to Lucy's (his ex-wife) attitude at the end. More to Father Kevin (now there was a surprise twist I didn't see coming) and his niece Maggie. Just more. A couple hundred more pages more. (It really was such a good book I didn't want it to end.) I'm one of those people who loves more than your average details in my books, I want to know everything about the characters, descriptive settings for every scene, etc. (Most of the books I love, I have read reviews where people though there was too much description, yet I thought it was perfect.) Without my nitpicking though, it was an excellent book. I really enjoyed it. So much so that I plan on buying Susan Crandall's other books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleep No More is stellar, February 7, 2010

By 

Judy "book reader" (Cincinnati, ohio United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sleep No More (Mass Market Paperback)

Sleep No More by Susan Crandall is an intense thrill ride story. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Abby Whitman has lived all her life with her sleep walking being a danger to others. Her burned and scarred sister is living proof on how dangerous it can be to be near Abby. Abby thought she had it all under control until recently. Abby awakens late one night on a darken road seemingly driving while asleep. She is shocked that someone may have died because of her. As the evidence seems to clear her she starts to receive mysterious threats to her life. Abby turns to local psychiatrist Dr. Jason Cable for his help.

Dr. Jason Cable is intrigued by Abby. His initial contact is over her concerns for her elderly father but soon Jason realizes Abby needs his personal help for herself. Jason agrees to try to get to the cause of Abby's sleepwalking. As Jason spends more time with Abby he is drawn to the strong woman he has come to know.

Abby is afraid of the feelings Jason invokes in her. She had herself convinced that she would always be alone because of her illness. Jason has her starting to believe that they may have a chance at a happy life. But someone is out to make sure Abby doesn't have any more happy moments.

Sleep No More is Susan Crandalls best to date in my opinion. It covers the full range of human emotions. Abby's dealings with her father and sister are so true to life. Jason and Abby come together under unusual circumstances and learn to fight for a chance at happiness. I can't wait to read the next book from this author.