Sleeping Cruelty

by Lynda La Plante

Politics, scandal and an island paradise. Fabulously wealthy entrepreneur Sir William Benedict has always dreamed of being accepted amongst society's elite, despite his working class roots.When fast-rising Tory MP Andrew Maynard enters his life, William suddenly finds that he has gained the social status that he has always craved. But when a political scandal erupts around him, William is shunned by the socialites he once called friends, and his reputation is left in tatters. Now the worm is ready to turn.With the help of the wild and enigmatic Justin Chalmers and his exquisite yet reclusive sister Laura, William's island paradise will become the scene.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Novels

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Lynda La Plante, CBE (born Lynda Titchmarsh) is a British author, screenwriter, and erstwhile actress (her performances in Rentaghost and other programmes were under her stage name of Lynda Marchal), best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series.

Her first TV series as a scriptwriter was the six part robbery series Widows, in 1983, in which the widows of four armed robbers carry out a heist planned by their deceased husbands.

In 1991 ITV released Prime Suspect which has now run to seven series and stars Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. (In the United States Prime Suspect airs on PBS as part of the anthology program Mystery!) In 1993 La Plante won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work on the series. In 1992 she wrote at TV movie called Seekers, starring Brenda Fricker and Josette Simon, produced by Sarah Lawson.

She formed her own television production company, La Plante Productions, in 1994 and as La Plante Productions she wrote and produced the sequel to Widows, the equally gutsy She's Out (ITV, 1995). The name "La Plante" comes from her marriage to writer Richard La Plante, author of the book Mantis and Hog Fever. La Plante divorced Lynda in the early 1990s.

Her output continued with The Governor (ITV 1995-96), a series focusing on the female governor of a high security prison, and was followed by a string of ratings pulling miniseries: the psycho killer nightmare events of Trial & Retribution (ITV 1997-), the widows' revenge of the murders of their husbands & children Bella Mafia (1997) (starring Vanessa Redgrave), the undercover police unit operations of Supply and Demand (ITV 1998), videogame/internet murder mystery Killer Net (Channel 4 1998) and the female criminal profiler cases of Mind Games (ITV 2001).

Two additions to the Trial and Retribution miniseries were broadcast during 2006.

Reviews

[Huw Rhys · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like Lynda La Plante's TV drama's, and so the expectation of a novel which had the semblance of a credible plot, characters who were at least 2 dimensional and endless pages without cliches, childlike grammar and propositions, and a narrative which occasionally flowed and made some sort of sense wasn't too much to expect.

I was desperately disappointed on all fronts. She seemed to change her mind about where her story was going every couple of pages, possibly because she realized like the rest of us that she didn't really have a story to tell us. She basically throws a handful of rich people together, puts them through a series of inconsistent and credibility extending scenarios and for good measure mixes in some very bad sex scenes - though she did warn us in the preamble that she'd left out the steamiest one, as it wasn't what her readers expected from her. Fair enough - but we don't expect drivel like this from you either Lynda.

This was so bad, it kept me reading simply because I wondered what literary atrocity she could come up with next - in this, at least, she didn't disappoint. This started as a terrible book, and got worse with every page. A real classic - for all the wrong reasons.

[Book Hunt With Us · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still trying to come to terms with the roller coaster ride of how this book first got me interested, shocked me, and then finally moved me to tears.😱😮

The plot revolves around Sir William Benedict and how he always desires for a greater social status in spite of being a wealthy entrepreneur with all the money in the world that one could ever dream of, alongside an island in the Caribbean. But it's only after meeting Andrew Maynard, a politician, does he get the fame and the status he had always craved for. However, his happiness doesn't last long as a political scandal causes his reputation to go down the drain and William’s island becomes the backdrop for his revenge when he decides to get help from Justin Chalmers.

Who is Justin Chalmers?
What are his true intentions? What are his reasons for helping William? These questions haunted me throughout the book and when I finally figured it all, I was stunned by the dark turn the story took.

I would definitely rate this one a 4.5/5. It was a true thriller that lived up to the expectations from the description on its cover- “Two siblings. One deadly secret. One twisted plot for revenge.”

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[Keith Weller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book so gripping all Lynda’s are good but this one was different hope for some more in this style

[Martin Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is quite readable tosh. The whole concept is so far from anything that could be believable that it should probably be described as fantasy. Even the geography is fantastical - the British Virgin Islands' mail boat apparently goes via Mustique in the Grenadines! So lazy research, lazy characterisation seemingly based on the belief that all rich people are either stupid inheritors of wealth or self-obsessed Midas types, and a couple of siblings damaged by abuse. Readable rubbish - I thought after seeing some of the TV dramas she scripted that her books would be tightly plotted and believable; I was wrong.

[R.Cartwright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good

I am a huge fan of Lynda but I am afraid I didn't enjoy this book as her detective novels. The story to me is not what I was expecting. In places I struggled with the story and a couple of times I almost gave up. Not up to her normal standard and I wonder if she wrote it

[Cliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This, I confess, is the first book by Lynda la Plante that I have read, but her reputation precedes her and I had high expectations of this book. However, I was somewhat disappointed. It is undeniable that the book is well plotted, but I have reservations about that plotting and about the actual writing. The latter I can only describe as vaguely naive and the dialogue is not that good. One point I noticed was that the author avoids 'product placement' except that some of the characters at one time or another wear shoes defined as Gucci loafers As to the plotting, the story concerns an industrialist, Sir William Benedict, whose world is almost destroyed by the press when a young protege MP is found dead. We are told that Sir William has supports the Tory Party and has bankrolled the young MP. I found it a little surprising that the party would have allowed the press to become so vicious over such a donor when the peccadilloes appear to be relatively minor. I was a little unsure about how he made his millions, so much that his purse appears bottomless. We know he makes toys as part of the plot revolves around a patent dispute over such, but I would not have thought that would have made him as rich as Croesus. The other main protagonists are a brother and sister duo, Justin and Laura. We suspect from the prologue to the book that they have killed their parents. What happens to them as a result is confusing to say the least. They appear to have been dealt with under the French legal system as it appears (although not said specifically) that the crimes were committed in France. Sometime later it seems that they return to the UK were they are dealt with again for the crimes. Why this should be the case is never satisfactorily explained. The main thread of the narrative concerns both Sir William's desire and that of Justin and Laura to get even with those who they feel have wronged them and a plot is hatched whereby this will happen at a private island owned by Sir William in the Carribean. It is an interesting idea, but one that was explored years ago by Agatha Christie in Then There Were None.

[maggie bullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intrigue murder sex violence drug abuse and blackmail, all woven into a mix of the rich business world with very disturbing early element of child killers.

Intriguing book, so different from her usual style, politics, snobbery,greed and love passion and murder , makes you wonder where the story is going right from the beginning, which is slightly creepy and weird.As the book unfolds the life of William becomes struck by scandal and he no longer is accepted in social settings in society, he goes to gain revenge on all the people who made his life a misery.Mix in with his feelings for Justin and his sister, he embarks on having his private island into a fabulous private resort. The intrigue continues, the sex violence and drug abuse and blackmail starts with devastating results.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book and a great Prologue, but the first 100 or so pages, a little hard to read. It picks up thereafter and it is not for the faint of heart. It involves a very delicate situation (with kids) and they are quite disturbing in adulthood. I wasn't sure how I felt about William, not likeable then likeable then not... As for Justin and Laura, do you sympathize with them or detest them? Very difficult characters that provoke so many emotions.

The end is just and understandable yet sad, or is it? A very thought provoking book with a lot of destructive acts of revenge.

[Hannah Wallis-Golden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huge fan of Lynda La Plante’s work, particularly the Anna Travis series and Widows. However, this earlier work certainly is not of the same calibre. In the end, it was a good story and evoked emotion but it took over 60% of the book to get there. I’m unsure it needed the level of crudeness/vulgarity.

[Grace Tierney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite of LaPlante's books. I struggled to empathise with the main characters and hadn't a clue who to root for. Plot was suitably twisty and well paced but I didn't enjoy spending so much time with corrupt characters all out to destroy others.

[Lisa Keeble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this after having worked my way through Prime Suspect and La Plante's other crime novels and it was a surprise but a pleasant one. This is a twisted, psychological tale that meanders along making you wonder which turn it will take next - thoroughly enjoyable!

[Sara F · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want a thrilling easy read, it his is it. I must warn you, some of the details are a bit nauseating and uncomfortable. I found the books central characters all hateful and I couldn’t sympathize with any of them.

[Philip John Blakeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Paradise Isn't Always What it Seems

Not your typical Linda LaPlante novel, sleeping cruelty takes you on an uncomfortable ride to Paradise but stuck with it the journey is so worthwhile.

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

As others have said, not what I expect from LLP at all and not what I'd ever choose to read. I hate to DNF so I did, but it was an audiobook so I finished it while doing other things and in the end at 1.7 speed. My bad, should have read the blurb and reviews properly :)

[Sandy J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have I just read about Epstein’s Island? Did Lynda La Plante plant the idea in Geoffrey’s head, or was his island well known in the year 2000, when written.
This is a great story which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Gem · Rating 1 out of 5]

If only it were possible to rate this tripe lower. Into the donation box it goes!

[Stephanie Noke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as I have come to expect of Lynda La Plante

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange read to be honest. It’s rather a dark tale , due to the siblings Justin and laura being hell bent on revenge .
I found the characters hard to like , though the siblings were intriguing .

[KH Khaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story. Lots of scheming and planning. But in the end don't think I really like the story

[The Villan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t enjoy plot only read halfway

[Mark Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual book for La Plante. Wasn't sure where it was going. Not 100% sure of the point of either.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turner with twists along the way. A good read although slightly disappointing ending

[Karen Darkings · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant listen, a different theme for Lynda and well worth a read or listen.

[Bec K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bizarre story! Not like the authors detective novels which I rate highly.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. Expected so much more from a lynda la plante novel

[Nadine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what to make of this one - glorifies wealth and the indulgent self-centred attitudes that go with it combined with a lot of hyperbole

[Charlotte Nicklin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too boring abandoned after 40 mins.. normally love la plante so surprised

[Mariann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry for the bad rating but I found this book so boring that I gave up halfway through which is something I don't normally do.

[lauryn.hrbl · Rating 3 out of 5]

sympa, ça me faisait peur premier degré j’étais pas sereine pour aller boire pendant la nuit j’allumais toutes les lumières

[Courtney Boniface · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected after having read some of her detective novels