Sleep No More (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Eve summer appeared on the first day of school..." (more)
Key Phrases: pumping unit, Eve Sumner, Land Cruiser, Mallory Candler (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Eve Sumner has an uncanny resemblance to a long-dead woman with whom John Waters was once obsessively in love. The successful Mississippi oilman's college affair with Mallory Candler ended long before she was killed, but the mysterious Eve knows things about that affair that only Mallory could have known. That's more than a coincidence, since Eve is actually Mallory's reincarnation—or, at least, she's the corporeal body into which Mallory's restless soul seems to have migrated. Long before the bizarre denouement of this supernatural thriller--a departure for Iles, whose previous thrillers have been much more straightforward--the reader's sympathies have been engaged by Waters, a decent man whose best friend may be his worst enemy and whose past may destroy his future. Iles has many gifts as a storyteller, including ingenious plotting and solid pacing, both of which are on display here, but this foray into the occult doesn't show them off to best advantage. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Going over old territory hot-and-bothered small-town Mississippi Iles tells the story of an obsessive love that seems literally to haunt John Waters. Waters has just encountered an enticing stranger who reveals something known only to his former flame, supposedly long dead. Dare we say that when the stranger is murdered, our protagonist finds himself in hot water?
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Signet; later printing edition (May 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451208765
• ISBN-13: 978-0451208767
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (144 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,708 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brutal editing may have kept me awake., April 19, 2005

By	Amanda Richards "Modest to the extreme" (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book took me much longer than 24 hours to read, and sent me into a dead sleep many times. The premise is an excellently creepy one, but the book suffers from the "when it's good, it's very, very, good" syndrome.

This is an erotically charged story of possession, murder and deception, in which oil man John Waters bites off much more than he can chew when he falls for the mysterious stranger who somehow knows all his darkest secrets.

Teetering helplessly on the brink of self destruction, he finds himself in a situation where he could lose his family, his best friend and his lifestyle, and he can't trust anybody, not even himself.

The fault with the book is that it rambles and rambles sometimes, covering "key" points over and over, overemphasizing things and explaining far too much. In a nutshell, the liposuction of about 100 pages would have kept the story taut and edge-of-the-seat gripping, despite the fact that all of the main characters are extremely unlikable.

Gripping sometimes, yes - but a bit of a drag in places.

Amanda Richards, April 19, 2005

(Note: For an excellent book dealing with similar subject matter, but in a sportier context, you may want to check out "Walk-On" by D. Mikels.)

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spooky, Strange, and Excellent Thriller, July 10, 2002

By	JC "JC" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleep No More (Hardcover)

Ever since I read The Quiet Game, I've thought that Greg Iles was entitled to much more recognition. He is better than most of the more popular bestselling writers that readers see today. His prose and storytelling are some of the absolute best that I've ever read. After reading the book description for Sleep No More, I was ambivalent about it. I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of reading a thriller involving the soul transfer and its accompanying metaphysics. However, after reading the novel, I can honestly say that I will read anything that Iles chooses to write about.

John Waters is a geologist searching for oil in Nanchez, Mississippi. His wife is suffering from depression resulting from the loss of two pregnancies and as a result, the couple's sex life is nearly non-existant. This makes Waters susceptable to the charms of a woman who, at first, reminds him of his former lover, Mallory, who died nine years earlier. He soon comes to realize that this woman is much more than she seems to be and his affair jeopardizes not only his marriage, but the lives of his wife and daughter.

As I said earlier, I was uncomfortable at first with the idea of the transference of the soul that is the epicenter of this book. However, these fears were quickly put to rest thanks to Iles ability to weave an intricate, effective story. By the time the book really gets moving, readers will find themselves ready to believe anything that Iles asks them to believe. His characters are well developed and readers will relate to them, especially Cole and Waters himself. If the reader allows some suspension of reality and allows Iles to take them along for the ride, I really can't think of a person who would not love this book for the excellent thriller that it is...

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keep An Open Mind, September 17, 2002

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Sleep No More (Hardcover)

You know you're in for something a little bit different when you get a note from the author at the start of the book asking you to open your memory and imagination. In the same note, Greg Iles claims that if nothing else, you won't be bored, and I think he got it exactly right.

John Waters is living a comfortable life in Natchez, Mississippi with his wife and 8-year-old daughter when he meets Eve Sumner. The chance meeting takes on greater significance when she mentions facts and little code words from his past that only he and his former girlfriend, Mallory Candler, knew. The disturbing aspect of this is that Mallory has been dead for over 10 years. The explanation provided by Eve steps us into the realms of the supernatural as she explains that she is actually the spirit of Mallory Candler living in the body of Eve Sumner.

Such is the skill of Greg Iles that he takes this implausible scenario and makes it sound believable. He does this simply through the rational reasoning of John Waters and his friend Penn Cage. It's actually thanks to their disbelief that the concept of soul transference becomes more real.

I enjoyed Sleep No More for a couple of reasons. The pace is frantic as Waters is kept off balance throughout. Facts and events keep coming at him quicker than he is prepared for. The second reason is the fact that it's quite reminiscent of some of Stephen King's books. Life starts off very normally, but soon the protagonist's world is thrown into total disarray by the seemingly impossible. You soon find yourself wistfully remembering when things weren't quite so exciting. But then, the way forward is always more interesting, and Iles wraps things up nicely, still leaving a few of the more curly questions open for possible further exploration.