Review: The Sleep Room by F. R. Tallis

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17654679Title: The Sleep Room

Author: F. R. Tallis

Genre:  Fiction/Horror

Publisher:  Pegasus Books

Publication Date:  October 1, 2013

Description: When promising young psychiatrist James Richardson is offered the job opportunity of a lifetime by the charismatic Dr. Hugh Maitland, he is thrilled. Setting off to take up his post at Wyldehope Hall in deepest Suffolk, Richardson doesn’t look back. One of his tasks is to manage Maitland’s most controversial project–a pioneering therapy in which extremely disturbed patients are kept asleep for months. If this radical and potentially dangerous procedure is successful, it could mean professional glory for both doctors.

As Richardson settles into his new life, he begins to sense something uncanny about the sleeping patients–six women, forsaken by society. Why is Maitland unwilling to discuss their past lives? Why is the trainee nurse so on edge when she spends nights alone with them? And what can it mean when all the sleepers start dreaming at the same time? In this atmospheric reinvention of the ghost story, Richardson finds himself questioning everything he knows about the human mind, as he attempts to uncover the shocking secrets of The Sleep Room.

Review:

I received an ARC from the publisher for an honest review.

The Sleep Room is supposed to be a ghost story and, although there are some elements of one, it seems more like an historical novel about a psychiatrist. The story is based in the 1950’s and I found it interesting that it is written like many novels from around that time period. Overall, I like F.R. Tallis’s writing but I did do a lot of skipping in this book. For example, the letters from other doctors referring sleep room patients to Maitland were lengthy and not necessary. 

The end of The Sleep Room had an interesting twist but it was a little confusing. It left me with several questions rather than what could have been an “aha” moment.

If you’re looking for a good horror novel, I’d pass on this one, but if you’re looking for an interesting read about psychiatry with a dash of romance, you might enjoy it. Available at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.