Insomnia: A chilling psychological thriller of 2022 from the queen of twists and the No.1 Sunday Times Bestselling author of BEHIND HER EYES, now a Netflix series!

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It’s twelve days until Emma Averell’s fortieth birthday which is much more significant to her than most people as it links to her childhood and what happens as her mother approaches forty. Emma is still carrying the trauma of it as it haunts and overhangs her life. We’re on a countdown to her birthday and that’s a rollercoaster ride as we hurtle towards it with a number of serious incidents accumulating and careening Emma to the edge of a mentally destructive precipice. A cruel bout of insomnia exacerbates her state, is she going mad, losing her mind …. Or??? Pinborough is most likely one of my favorite psychological thriller writers out there, and Behind Her Eyes is probably one of my top five favorite thrillers. That being said, I always look forward to one of Pinboroughs releases, finding myself getting antsier as publication day approaches. Insomnia, unfortunately, was just okay for me. I hate that it was just a little bit better than mediocre, but I can't deny the ending was a disappointment for me. Emma Averell loves her life—her high-powered legal career, her two beautiful children, and her wonderful stay-at-home husband—but it wasn’t always so perfect. When she was just five years old, Emma and her older sister went into foster care because of a horrific incident with their mother. Her sister can remember a time when their mother was loving and “normal,” but Emma can only remember her as one thing—a monster. And that monster emerged right around their mother’s fortieth birthday, the same age Emma is approaching now. At 40, her mother went mad and ended up in a psychiatric facility. Emma is just like her mother because she is also the second child. Is she doomed to the same terrible fate?

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough | Waterstones

In this mind-bending thriller from the bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, Emma Averell worries that her sudden insomnia is a sign that she’s slowly going insane—like the mother she’s worked so hard to leave in her past, soon to be a series on Paramount+ In this twisty, mind-bending thriller from the bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, Emma Averell worries that her crippling insomnia is a sign that she’s slowly going insane—like the mother she’s worked so hard to leave in her past. That ending! The author - even for very "open-minded/willing to suspend her disbelief" me - strayed so far off the path of credulity that I literally dropped the book with disappointment. (Spoiler alert: There was a major gaff in the final chapter: a lawyer, particularly a FAMILY LAW LAWYER, cannot "switch sides" and represent the spouse (i.e., the respondent) of a former client. The solicitor knows too much about her former client and such an action would be a TOTAL breach of the solicitor/client confidentiality rules. This is intro Legal Ethics 101 folks!!! Even a new, fresh out of school law clerk should have known this one and turned the client away at the door before she ever made it into Emma's office!!!I have been intending on reading a Sarah Pinborough book for some time but have never gotten around to it, so this was my first. I have no idea about her other books, but this one was a winner! The story line seemed to be going in one direction, but, as usual, in an effort to come up with a spectacular twist, all credibility went out the window towards the end. Snakes eating their own tails, indeed! And to top it off, at the very end, a massive breach of the solicitor/client confidentiality rules - this just blew this wild, meandering story off the plausibility grid for me. This book was a mixed bag for me because there was a lot to like here, but one or two big things I didn’t like. I’ll approach each in turn. Emma Averell just can't fall asleep. Emma went through a traumatic event when she was only 5 years old at the hands of her mentally ill mother, on her mother’s 40th birthday. The week before the incident, Emma’s mother also suffered from Insomnia. Emma turns 40 in one week and is terrified that she is going to follow in her mother's madness and a terrible history will repeat itself.

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough | Goodreads

Even though two of her books are problematic AF towards the gay community, I still was interested in reading Sarah Pinborough's upcoming psychological thriller, Insomnia. As usual, Pinborough takes her mystery/thrillers to the next level with nods to the supernatural, but this time it's really more of a dash and it works perfectly. Insomnia is Sarah Pinborough’s best thriller since Behind Her Eyes. Emma is a terrific unreliable narrator and had me guessing until the very end. While I did guess the Who, I did not figure out the Why. Some readers may feel that the book is overly repetitive, but there are frequent hints at new clues so I never lost interest. And, it is super creepy!The cover definitely gave off a far more sinister vibe than was ever experienced underneath it, but there was a subtle eerie undertone that dogged all that occurred. This never became a truly horrifying novel but remained an entirely thrilling and intriguing one, throughout. OVERALL: Pinborough remains a cut above other suspense authors, and I will always read anything she puts out, no matter what the topic, because of her writing skill and her awesome plots and ideas. The execution of these ideas varies for me from book to book. This one did not end up being one of my favorites and the execution was not on the level of Behind Her Eyes for me (a book I loved until the very end - that divisive last twist!), but I am still glad I gave it a try. Emma is a solicitor in Leeds who specializes in high profile divorces. She’s worked hard and has built her reputation up to the point that she is about to be made a partner at her firm — all right before her 40th birthday. The only problem is that the milestone is even more anxiety-ridden for Emma than it is for most women, because she's been keeping a big secret from her husband and kids - Emma’s mother suffered a psychotic breakdown when she turned 40 and tried to smother Emma’s older sister, Phoebe, with a pillow. Emma has told Robert and the kids that her mother died years ago. When Phoebe, who has been estranged from Emma, turns up at Emma’s house right before her birthday and tells Emma that their mother, who has been in a sanitarium since her breakdown, is dying, Emma knows she cannot keep her secret much longer. She has already been experiencing sleepless nights, and Phoebe tells Emma that she has the same “bad blood” as their mother. Even more chilling is Robert’s accusation that she is terrorizing their young son by standing beside his bed at night with a pillow in her hands. Emma has no memory of this behavior, but it’s hard to think straight when she’s functioning on so little sleep. Is she really a monster or is someone just going to great lengths to make her think so?