Patricia Highsmith meets White Lotus in this surprising and suspenseful modern gothic story following a couple running from both secretive pasts and very present dangers while honeymooning on a Greek island.
“Fantastically gripping…this is fiction roaring on all cylinders.” —The Guardian
“A work of peculiar gonzo genius…Thomas takes a glamorous late-capitalist setting, with rosé and catamarans…and warps it into a story that is surprising, humane and political to its bones.” —The New York Times
Still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, Evelyn and Richard arrive on a tiny Greek island for their honeymoon. It’s the end of the season and a storm is imminent. Determined to make the best of it, they check into the sun-soaked rooms of Villa Rosa. Already feeling insecure after seeing the “beautiful people,” the seemingly endless number of young models and musicians lounging along the Mediterranean, Evelyn is wary of the hotel’s owner, Isabella, who seems to only have eyes for Richard.
Isabella ostensibly disapproves of every request Evelyn makes, seemingly annoyed at the fact that they are there at all. Isabella is also preoccupied with her chance to enthrall the only other guests—an American producer named Marcus and his partner Debbie—with the story of “the sleepwalkers,” a couple who had stayed at the hotel recently and drowned.
Everyone seems to want to talk about the sleepwalkers, save for Hamza, a young Turkish man Evelyn had seen with some of the “beautiful people,” as well as the “dapper little man”—the strange yet fashionable owner of the island’s lone antiques and gift shop she sees everywhere.
But what at first seemed eccentric, decorative, or simply ridiculous, becomes a living nightmare. Evelyn and Richard are separated the night of the storm and forced to face dark truths, but it’s their confessions around the origins of their relationship and the years leading up to their marriage that might save them.
“Vibey, dark, and weird” (Allie Rowbottom, author of Aesthetica), and also very funny, The Sleepwalkers asks urgent questions about relationships, sexuality, and the darkest elements of contemporary society—where our most terrible secrets are hidden in plain sight.
Genre: Mystery
“Fantastically gripping…this is fiction roaring on all cylinders.” —The Guardian
“A work of peculiar gonzo genius…Thomas takes a glamorous late-capitalist setting, with rosé and catamarans…and warps it into a story that is surprising, humane and political to its bones.” —The New York Times
Still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, Evelyn and Richard arrive on a tiny Greek island for their honeymoon. It’s the end of the season and a storm is imminent. Determined to make the best of it, they check into the sun-soaked rooms of Villa Rosa. Already feeling insecure after seeing the “beautiful people,” the seemingly endless number of young models and musicians lounging along the Mediterranean, Evelyn is wary of the hotel’s owner, Isabella, who seems to only have eyes for Richard.
Isabella ostensibly disapproves of every request Evelyn makes, seemingly annoyed at the fact that they are there at all. Isabella is also preoccupied with her chance to enthrall the only other guests—an American producer named Marcus and his partner Debbie—with the story of “the sleepwalkers,” a couple who had stayed at the hotel recently and drowned.
Everyone seems to want to talk about the sleepwalkers, save for Hamza, a young Turkish man Evelyn had seen with some of the “beautiful people,” as well as the “dapper little man”—the strange yet fashionable owner of the island’s lone antiques and gift shop she sees everywhere.
But what at first seemed eccentric, decorative, or simply ridiculous, becomes a living nightmare. Evelyn and Richard are separated the night of the storm and forced to face dark truths, but it’s their confessions around the origins of their relationship and the years leading up to their marriage that might save them.
“Vibey, dark, and weird” (Allie Rowbottom, author of Aesthetica), and also very funny, The Sleepwalkers asks urgent questions about relationships, sexuality, and the darkest elements of contemporary society—where our most terrible secrets are hidden in plain sight.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Brilliant and utterly surprising, The Sleepwalkers kept me up late, ensnared by these pitch-perfect voices and desperate to know what was going to happen next, but also, what exactly happened in the past. A gut-wrenching mystery about how far we will go to keep our secrets, and how secrets can reverberate outward in shocking and devastating ways. Lush and deeply human, stylish and sexy and important, The Sleepwalkers will take your breath away." - Chelsea Bieker
"A fabulously sly and slippery tale of a honeymoon that goes from bad to worse to even worse yet. Vivid, scalpel-sharp, and impossible to put down." - Kelly Link
"The Sleepwalkers is never-endingly surprising and full of keen observations on relationships, politics, and art. Thomas makes real life so fraught with meaning, it feels hauntingly supernatural. A twisty Gothic tale of vertiginous depths and haunting power." - Sandra Newman
"Vibey, dark, and weird, The Sleepwalkers is like a poetic, sinister The White Lotus with even more plot twists. I loved it." - Allie Rowbottom
"A fabulously sly and slippery tale of a honeymoon that goes from bad to worse to even worse yet. Vivid, scalpel-sharp, and impossible to put down." - Kelly Link
"The Sleepwalkers is never-endingly surprising and full of keen observations on relationships, politics, and art. Thomas makes real life so fraught with meaning, it feels hauntingly supernatural. A twisty Gothic tale of vertiginous depths and haunting power." - Sandra Newman
"Vibey, dark, and weird, The Sleepwalkers is like a poetic, sinister The White Lotus with even more plot twists. I loved it." - Allie Rowbottom
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Used availability for Scarlett Thomas's The Sleepwalkers