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The Sleep Room
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 . . .
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 . . .
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 309 reviews
July 30, 2020
Most of this book kept me interested and engaged. However, during the last quarter, the plot took a nosedive, and a four star book fell to a two. I was completely disappointed by the ending. Nope, nope, nope.
November 24, 2013
This book pushed all those buttons for me. Hints of Gothic and the paranormal, mysterious people in out of the way places caring for what appear to be "hopeless and helpless" psychiatric patients. And in the English countryside. What else could this reader want? Not much else actually.
The story is told by Dr James Richardson who answers an ad placed by a Dr Hugh Maitland to assist him at his psychiatric clinic located at Wyldehope Hall. Richardson is hired, accepts and begins an unusual job which includes watching over the residents of the Sleep Room, Maitland's pet project. To say much more is to rob other readers of the fun of the plot.
Though the story is set in the 1950s, and has some very 20th century aspects, the style often reads more like one written in the 19th century, given the mannered affect of Richardson's narration. This didn't bother me--it is after all a novel with heavy Gothic overtones. I would recommend that any reader who would have an issue with that stay clear of this novel. Otherwise, it is recommended.
An ecopy of this book was provided to me through NetGalley.
The story is told by Dr James Richardson who answers an ad placed by a Dr Hugh Maitland to assist him at his psychiatric clinic located at Wyldehope Hall. Richardson is hired, accepts and begins an unusual job which includes watching over the residents of the Sleep Room, Maitland's pet project. To say much more is to rob other readers of the fun of the plot.
Though the story is set in the 1950s, and has some very 20th century aspects, the style often reads more like one written in the 19th century, given the mannered affect of Richardson's narration. This didn't bother me--it is after all a novel with heavy Gothic overtones. I would recommend that any reader who would have an issue with that stay clear of this novel. Otherwise, it is recommended.
An ecopy of this book was provided to me through NetGalley.
September 29, 2013
"I did not recognize the sound at first. It arrived as nothing more than a subtle incursion: something seeping between the accumulated layers of silence.”
The Sleep Room is outstanding. Suspenseful, compelling, and atmospheric, this has to be the creepiest book I’ve read in a long time, but far more than that, this is also a very intelligent story which questions the validity of medicating mental problems, which is, as it turns out, a preferred method in this tale, over the snidely dismissed ‘talking cure’ of Freudian therapists.
It’s 1955, and the novel opens with James Richardson, a young psychiatrist working in London, interviewing for a job with Dr. Hugh Maitland. To Richardson, Maitland is a hero of sorts–an eminent psychiatrist regularly published and the head of “psychological medicine at Saint Thomas’s.” Richardson is particularly interested in sleep studies, so he leaps at Maitland’s offer of a job at Wyldehope, a remote hospital located in Suffolk for ‘special’ cases. This sounds like a dream job: 24 beds “two wards and a narcosis room,” supported by nine nurses, a caretaker and his wife. In addition, Maitland in vigorously opposed to Freudian methods:
Freudian techniques are hopelessly ineffective. All that talk. All those wasted hours. Three hundred milligrams of Chlormazine is worth months of analysis! Don’t you agree? Dreams, the unconscious, primitive urges! Psychiatry is a branch of medicine, not philosophy. Mental illness arises in the brain, a physical organ, and must be treated accordingly.
Maitland’s anti-Freudian stance matches Richardson’s beliefs, so he takes the job, agreeing with everything Maitland says, thinking that this will be the first step in a brilliant career. Apart from occasional relief from local doctors, Richardson will be the only doctor on staff–a situation Richardson initially questions, but then he’s reassured by Maitland, who’s a rather domineering character, and after all a senior doctor, that all of the treatments are handled expertly by the nurses, and that the work load will not be unmanageable. While the patients are divided into male and female wards, Maitland is obsessed with the patients in The Sleep Room:
I will always remember entering the sleep room for the very first time: descending the stairs that led to the basement, Maitland at my side, immaculately dressed, talking energetically, cutting the air with his hands, the door opening and stepping across the threshold that seemed not merely physical, but psychological. The nurse, seated at her station–a solitary desk lamp creating a well-defined pool of light in the darkness–the sound of the quivering EEG pens and, of course, the six occupied beds. All women–in white gowns–fast asleep: one of them with wires erupting from her scalp like a tribal headdress.
The six patients are undergoing Narcosis (deep sleep) treatment with the goal of keeping the patients asleep for about 21 hours a day. Each patient is woken up–but perhaps it’s more accurate to say each patient is ‘disturbed’ every 6 hours and taken to the toilet, washed, fed, and given more drugs. Enemas are administered in case of “falling bowel activity.” One of the arguments for Narcosis is that patients could be given more ECT (Electroshock) therapy when they are asleep, and Maitland’s patients receive weekly ECTs with the controls set “at their uppermost limits.” Maitland sees little difference between the patients, is disinterested in the details of how they became damaged people, and describes them collectively as schizophrenic.
“Of course,” Maitland continued, “the great advantage of administering ECT while patients are asleep, is that they experience no anxiety–which means one can prescribe longer and more intensive courses.”
Maitland returns to London leaving Richardson in charge. For the most part, the patient care–especially for those in the sleep room–is on auto pilot with Richardson monitoring the sleeping patients and their bodily functions. The patients who are not undergoing narcosis are also bombarded with medication, and any failure to “respond” leads to a doubling of medication, so even those not asleep are like zombies. Richardson is naturally curious about the patients and the circumstances that brought them to Wyldehope, but this is not a subject up for discussion, and ”case histories were entirely irrelevant.” It’s not so much that it’s a secret as much as it simply doesn’t matter, but then neither does a “cure” seem to be part of the agenda. In fact, as time goes on, Richardson, who is plagued by headaches and disturbing dreams, begins to suspect that Maitland’s goal is to see how long people can be kept in this vegetative state.
Richardson isn’t exactly comfortable with his duties, but his doubts and questions are answered or dismissed so smoothly by Maitland, that he bows to his authority and reputation. However, once Maitland is gone from Wyldehope, Richardson is left in charge, and some bizarre things begin to occur.Richardson’s discomfort grows even as he attempts to quell his growing alarm, and he is forced to acknowledge “the idea of the dead returning to annoy the living.” Yet as a doctor, he knows all too well that if he begins to acknowledge any supernatural presence he places his professional standing in jeopardy.
A psychiatrist cannot admit to seeing things that cannot be explained. As soon as he does so, he crosses the line that separates himself from his patients.
As events spiral out of control, Richardson wonders what happened to his predecessor. The atmosphere at Wyldehope, a rambling mansion, glows darkly with the sense of impending doom–especially so when Richardson, continually observing those in the Sleep Room, discovers that the sleepers are dreaming in synchronicity.
The Sleep Room is an entertaining, suspenseful page turner which questions the poisonous structure of professional hierarchy, the prevalent attitudes towards female sexuality, and the power of dreams. This well-crafted book, told through Richardson’s eyes, moves smoothly from skepticism and the solidity of scientific facts to sheer terror of the unknown and the unexplainable. There are some real names here, and the treatments, as outlandish and barbaric as they seem to the modern reader, were the MO of the day, and the character of Maitland appears to share some basic commonalities with Dr. William Sargent. We may finish the book and reassure ourselves that mental patients in the western world fare better these days, but an uneasy feeling remains that pills have become a replacement for therapy. Author F. R. Tallis, a psychologist, certainly seems to know how to push those reader buttons, and the narrative moves along very cleverly by feeding with hints such as “it is ironic–given what happened next” which left this reader eager to continue and very annoyed by any interruptions. Some of the issues raised by the plot are left unanswered, but it’s easy to connect the dots and come to one’s own conclusions. The final chapter overworked the book’s premise, but in spite of that minor flaw, this is a helluva creepy read.
Review copy
The Sleep Room is outstanding. Suspenseful, compelling, and atmospheric, this has to be the creepiest book I’ve read in a long time, but far more than that, this is also a very intelligent story which questions the validity of medicating mental problems, which is, as it turns out, a preferred method in this tale, over the snidely dismissed ‘talking cure’ of Freudian therapists.
It’s 1955, and the novel opens with James Richardson, a young psychiatrist working in London, interviewing for a job with Dr. Hugh Maitland. To Richardson, Maitland is a hero of sorts–an eminent psychiatrist regularly published and the head of “psychological medicine at Saint Thomas’s.” Richardson is particularly interested in sleep studies, so he leaps at Maitland’s offer of a job at Wyldehope, a remote hospital located in Suffolk for ‘special’ cases. This sounds like a dream job: 24 beds “two wards and a narcosis room,” supported by nine nurses, a caretaker and his wife. In addition, Maitland in vigorously opposed to Freudian methods:
Freudian techniques are hopelessly ineffective. All that talk. All those wasted hours. Three hundred milligrams of Chlormazine is worth months of analysis! Don’t you agree? Dreams, the unconscious, primitive urges! Psychiatry is a branch of medicine, not philosophy. Mental illness arises in the brain, a physical organ, and must be treated accordingly.
Maitland’s anti-Freudian stance matches Richardson’s beliefs, so he takes the job, agreeing with everything Maitland says, thinking that this will be the first step in a brilliant career. Apart from occasional relief from local doctors, Richardson will be the only doctor on staff–a situation Richardson initially questions, but then he’s reassured by Maitland, who’s a rather domineering character, and after all a senior doctor, that all of the treatments are handled expertly by the nurses, and that the work load will not be unmanageable. While the patients are divided into male and female wards, Maitland is obsessed with the patients in The Sleep Room:
I will always remember entering the sleep room for the very first time: descending the stairs that led to the basement, Maitland at my side, immaculately dressed, talking energetically, cutting the air with his hands, the door opening and stepping across the threshold that seemed not merely physical, but psychological. The nurse, seated at her station–a solitary desk lamp creating a well-defined pool of light in the darkness–the sound of the quivering EEG pens and, of course, the six occupied beds. All women–in white gowns–fast asleep: one of them with wires erupting from her scalp like a tribal headdress.
The six patients are undergoing Narcosis (deep sleep) treatment with the goal of keeping the patients asleep for about 21 hours a day. Each patient is woken up–but perhaps it’s more accurate to say each patient is ‘disturbed’ every 6 hours and taken to the toilet, washed, fed, and given more drugs. Enemas are administered in case of “falling bowel activity.” One of the arguments for Narcosis is that patients could be given more ECT (Electroshock) therapy when they are asleep, and Maitland’s patients receive weekly ECTs with the controls set “at their uppermost limits.” Maitland sees little difference between the patients, is disinterested in the details of how they became damaged people, and describes them collectively as schizophrenic.
“Of course,” Maitland continued, “the great advantage of administering ECT while patients are asleep, is that they experience no anxiety–which means one can prescribe longer and more intensive courses.”
Maitland returns to London leaving Richardson in charge. For the most part, the patient care–especially for those in the sleep room–is on auto pilot with Richardson monitoring the sleeping patients and their bodily functions. The patients who are not undergoing narcosis are also bombarded with medication, and any failure to “respond” leads to a doubling of medication, so even those not asleep are like zombies. Richardson is naturally curious about the patients and the circumstances that brought them to Wyldehope, but this is not a subject up for discussion, and ”case histories were entirely irrelevant.” It’s not so much that it’s a secret as much as it simply doesn’t matter, but then neither does a “cure” seem to be part of the agenda. In fact, as time goes on, Richardson, who is plagued by headaches and disturbing dreams, begins to suspect that Maitland’s goal is to see how long people can be kept in this vegetative state.
Richardson isn’t exactly comfortable with his duties, but his doubts and questions are answered or dismissed so smoothly by Maitland, that he bows to his authority and reputation. However, once Maitland is gone from Wyldehope, Richardson is left in charge, and some bizarre things begin to occur.Richardson’s discomfort grows even as he attempts to quell his growing alarm, and he is forced to acknowledge “the idea of the dead returning to annoy the living.” Yet as a doctor, he knows all too well that if he begins to acknowledge any supernatural presence he places his professional standing in jeopardy.
A psychiatrist cannot admit to seeing things that cannot be explained. As soon as he does so, he crosses the line that separates himself from his patients.
As events spiral out of control, Richardson wonders what happened to his predecessor. The atmosphere at Wyldehope, a rambling mansion, glows darkly with the sense of impending doom–especially so when Richardson, continually observing those in the Sleep Room, discovers that the sleepers are dreaming in synchronicity.
The Sleep Room is an entertaining, suspenseful page turner which questions the poisonous structure of professional hierarchy, the prevalent attitudes towards female sexuality, and the power of dreams. This well-crafted book, told through Richardson’s eyes, moves smoothly from skepticism and the solidity of scientific facts to sheer terror of the unknown and the unexplainable. There are some real names here, and the treatments, as outlandish and barbaric as they seem to the modern reader, were the MO of the day, and the character of Maitland appears to share some basic commonalities with Dr. William Sargent. We may finish the book and reassure ourselves that mental patients in the western world fare better these days, but an uneasy feeling remains that pills have become a replacement for therapy. Author F. R. Tallis, a psychologist, certainly seems to know how to push those reader buttons, and the narrative moves along very cleverly by feeding with hints such as “it is ironic–given what happened next” which left this reader eager to continue and very annoyed by any interruptions. Some of the issues raised by the plot are left unanswered, but it’s easy to connect the dots and come to one’s own conclusions. The final chapter overworked the book’s premise, but in spite of that minor flaw, this is a helluva creepy read.
Review copy
March 7, 2014
Much to enjoy and admire in THE SLEEP ROOM, that is, quite literally, a novel of psychological horror, as it is set in a psychiatric hospital. Echoes of McGrath's ASYLUM, with a twist of Aickman and M R James. Some masterly set-pieces and a fascinating study of a man of science confronted by the uncanny, old school. Highly recommended.
June 10, 2020
This book was such a disappointment! The premise sounds brilliant and could have been an amazing thriller... But it left me flat.
The protagonist is a clinical psychiatrist by profession but the narrative reads as a clinical report. You don't feel anything for him as a character whilst reading the book, you don't care if he lives it dies, is scared or not, whether he has a relationship with a nurse or not- he is just not likeable.
There is scope within the plot to really build up a sense of foreboding and suspense but Tallis doesn't take the opportunity at all.
For me, the most chilling part of the novel came on page 291 of 372! I had hoped that the book would take a scary turn at this point - but no. Unfortunately not.
It's a weak ghost story with a rather loosely tied plot. The ending left me disappointed and i felt like it had just been thrown in as an afterthought.
The protagonist is a clinical psychiatrist by profession but the narrative reads as a clinical report. You don't feel anything for him as a character whilst reading the book, you don't care if he lives it dies, is scared or not, whether he has a relationship with a nurse or not- he is just not likeable.
There is scope within the plot to really build up a sense of foreboding and suspense but Tallis doesn't take the opportunity at all.
For me, the most chilling part of the novel came on page 291 of 372! I had hoped that the book would take a scary turn at this point - but no. Unfortunately not.
It's a weak ghost story with a rather loosely tied plot. The ending left me disappointed and i felt like it had just been thrown in as an afterthought.
February 22, 2022
(Review originally published on my blog, December 2013)
A naive young doctor, James Richards, is offered an intriguing position as the head of a mental hospital in the Suffolk countryside. With no ties in London, and eager to impress his charismatic psychiatrist boss, he wastes no time in setting off for the isolated location of his new job. His duties include overseeing the 'sleep room', the site of a controversial and unusual form of therapy, in which six schizophrenic patients - all young women - are kept in a state of permanent sleep for months on end. At first, James is happy to be at Wyldehope Hall, particularly when he begins to develop a relationship with a beautiful nurse named Jane Turner. However, when inexplicable events begin to occur - mysterious sounds, shadowy figures, missing objects appearing where they shouldn't be, and a young trainee being so terrified of overseeing the sleep room that she takes to constantly clutching a prayer book - he is forced to conclude that there is something unnatural about the place. But do these incidents have a supernatural explanation, or is the truth something even more sinister?
I found The Sleep Room on NetGalley, where it was listed ahead of its US release on October the 1st. It wasn't until later that I discovered the book had already been published in the UK, back in July, and had passed me by - probably because the UK cover is absolutely bloody awful and I'd never have picked it up if I'd seen that first. This is an unusual case of the US cover being a much better design, and a much better fit for the book, than the UK version.
For the majority of this book, I found myself enjoying the story but thought there was nothing particularly groundbreaking about it, nothing I hadn't encountered before in other, similar historical ghost stories. For example, though I liked the characters of both James and Jane, I didn't really care about the details of their romance and spent a while wondering what this was supposed to be adding to the story. Then, however, it quite suddenly threw three surprises at me which changed my perception of it significantly. Firstly, there is a brilliantly executed, seriously effective scene which takes place during a power cut. It makes sense, which is quite a difficult thing to achieve when the characters involved are experiencing such confusion, but leaves the reader with a genuine sense of unease; after reading it, I found myself jumping at shadows more frequently than I'd like. (The fact that it was never properly explained just added to the creepiness!) Secondly, there is a moment of true, vivid horror which properly shocked me. And thirdly, the ending, which comes out of nowhere and is a complete, yet entirely plausible, surprise. I don't want to say anything about what happens, because to do so would spoil everything for any prospective readers... But I loved it.
Overall, this was a truly haunting ghost story topped off with a twist that exceeded my expectations, and I'm surprised, given my love of the genre, that I haven't heard of the author before. The earlier part of the book is fairly slow-moving, but stick with it and you will be rewarded. I will be keeping an eye out for other books by Tallis, even if the covers are terrible.
A naive young doctor, James Richards, is offered an intriguing position as the head of a mental hospital in the Suffolk countryside. With no ties in London, and eager to impress his charismatic psychiatrist boss, he wastes no time in setting off for the isolated location of his new job. His duties include overseeing the 'sleep room', the site of a controversial and unusual form of therapy, in which six schizophrenic patients - all young women - are kept in a state of permanent sleep for months on end. At first, James is happy to be at Wyldehope Hall, particularly when he begins to develop a relationship with a beautiful nurse named Jane Turner. However, when inexplicable events begin to occur - mysterious sounds, shadowy figures, missing objects appearing where they shouldn't be, and a young trainee being so terrified of overseeing the sleep room that she takes to constantly clutching a prayer book - he is forced to conclude that there is something unnatural about the place. But do these incidents have a supernatural explanation, or is the truth something even more sinister?
I found The Sleep Room on NetGalley, where it was listed ahead of its US release on October the 1st. It wasn't until later that I discovered the book had already been published in the UK, back in July, and had passed me by - probably because the UK cover is absolutely bloody awful and I'd never have picked it up if I'd seen that first. This is an unusual case of the US cover being a much better design, and a much better fit for the book, than the UK version.
For the majority of this book, I found myself enjoying the story but thought there was nothing particularly groundbreaking about it, nothing I hadn't encountered before in other, similar historical ghost stories. For example, though I liked the characters of both James and Jane, I didn't really care about the details of their romance and spent a while wondering what this was supposed to be adding to the story. Then, however, it quite suddenly threw three surprises at me which changed my perception of it significantly. Firstly, there is a brilliantly executed, seriously effective scene which takes place during a power cut. It makes sense, which is quite a difficult thing to achieve when the characters involved are experiencing such confusion, but leaves the reader with a genuine sense of unease; after reading it, I found myself jumping at shadows more frequently than I'd like. (The fact that it was never properly explained just added to the creepiness!) Secondly, there is a moment of true, vivid horror which properly shocked me. And thirdly, the ending, which comes out of nowhere and is a complete, yet entirely plausible, surprise. I don't want to say anything about what happens, because to do so would spoil everything for any prospective readers... But I loved it.
Overall, this was a truly haunting ghost story topped off with a twist that exceeded my expectations, and I'm surprised, given my love of the genre, that I haven't heard of the author before. The earlier part of the book is fairly slow-moving, but stick with it and you will be rewarded. I will be keeping an eye out for other books by Tallis, even if the covers are terrible.
Read
May 27, 20202.5 stars
In 1950's London, a young psychiatrist accepts a position running an experimental sleep clinic in the British countryside. He's responsible for the care of six deeply disturbed patients who are kept in an almost constant state of medically induced unconsciousness. Inexplicable happenings leave us wondering if we're witnessing the work of spirits, poltergeists, demons, insanity, a previously unknown scientific phenomena, or ... something else.
The story itself is interesting although the truly suspenseful moments are few and far between. There's a lot of filler, and while most of it comes into play eventually, the story could've been condensed.
What really deflated my enthusiasm for The Sleep Room is the writing style. It's prim, proper, dry, and academic from start to finish. I felt like I was reading something Victorian assigned in school. Turn of the Screw, maybe. If you love that type of narrative, you'll enjoy this book. It's not my cup of tea.
In 1950's London, a young psychiatrist accepts a position running an experimental sleep clinic in the British countryside. He's responsible for the care of six deeply disturbed patients who are kept in an almost constant state of medically induced unconsciousness. Inexplicable happenings leave us wondering if we're witnessing the work of spirits, poltergeists, demons, insanity, a previously unknown scientific phenomena, or ... something else.
The story itself is interesting although the truly suspenseful moments are few and far between. There's a lot of filler, and while most of it comes into play eventually, the story could've been condensed.
What really deflated my enthusiasm for The Sleep Room is the writing style. It's prim, proper, dry, and academic from start to finish. I felt like I was reading something Victorian assigned in school. Turn of the Screw, maybe. If you love that type of narrative, you'll enjoy this book. It's not my cup of tea.
October 15, 2013
This book had promise as a thrilling psychological thriller but never lived up to the hype. I was bored. Rather than actually getting to the action, the author was overly fond of setting up future events with lines such as, "It was an oversight that, in months to come, I would bitterly regret." I was constantly expecting something crazy and chilling to happen, and while there are some supernatural events in the book, it was never mysterious (to me) what was going on. It was too obvious. Also, the "twist" ending was, I hate to say it, really lame. The writing was decent, but the story failed to take off. I felt like there were a lot of things thrown in that didn't really contribute to the story and that were left unresolved at the end.
July 14, 2013
I don't know if this is just me? And because I'm a massive horror movie fan, and I have only just started reading scary type books, that I expected so much more from this kind of book. But I enjoyed it, never quite knowing where the story is leading you until the very end. That's how I like my endings. But I wasn't scared, just intrigued. The idea of the book was good! Worth a read! Definitely
June 6, 2022
3 stars
Billed as a thriller - nope! Started out okay, albeit slow - another nope! Drug on - nope! Enjoyed the read - nope! Stunned at the ending - here is a YES!
I really wanted to like this book - it had everything going for it. Experimental laboratory, young doctor, mentally ill women, paranormal indicators, English countryside. But it really was slow starting, confusing midstream, and the feeling that everything was not really fleshed out as well as it could have been.
I won't go into the plot of the story, that was just barely okay. What I will acknowledge is there were plenty of elements to the story that could have made it a really good novel, they just were not developed well enough. The only saving grace I found to this book was the ending. Many will not like it. However, I felt it was the better part of the book.
I would like to read something else by Tallis to be able to compare the two books. I can't say Tallis is a bad author - cause this book had some great ideas to expand upon. However I feel that this particular book just ran off the rails and out of steam.
Billed as a thriller - nope! Started out okay, albeit slow - another nope! Drug on - nope! Enjoyed the read - nope! Stunned at the ending - here is a YES!
I really wanted to like this book - it had everything going for it. Experimental laboratory, young doctor, mentally ill women, paranormal indicators, English countryside. But it really was slow starting, confusing midstream, and the feeling that everything was not really fleshed out as well as it could have been.
I won't go into the plot of the story, that was just barely okay. What I will acknowledge is there were plenty of elements to the story that could have made it a really good novel, they just were not developed well enough. The only saving grace I found to this book was the ending. Many will not like it. However, I felt it was the better part of the book.
I would like to read something else by Tallis to be able to compare the two books. I can't say Tallis is a bad author - cause this book had some great ideas to expand upon. However I feel that this particular book just ran off the rails and out of steam.
October 25, 2013
I love this author's Liebermann series, so when i saw this stand alone I was excited. An old house turned into a mental institution for those who cannot be helped by other means, a radical new psychiatrist who does not believe in Freud's talking cure, a new therapy involving prolonged sleep and a naive, somewhat new doctor who wants to learn and make a good impression. Of course things are not as simple as they first appear and there are things going on that have no reasonable explanation.
There was much in this novel that I found intriguing, mysteries that I wanted to find out the resolution to and characters that I found interesting. Who was good and who was not or does someone have a hidden agenda? The story was, however, very slowly paced, there seemed to be quite a bit of filler and I felt that it could have benefited by a tighter, shorter story. Even so, it is interesting reading about older therapies and to once again appreciate the time period in which I am living.
There was much in this novel that I found intriguing, mysteries that I wanted to find out the resolution to and characters that I found interesting. Who was good and who was not or does someone have a hidden agenda? The story was, however, very slowly paced, there seemed to be quite a bit of filler and I felt that it could have benefited by a tighter, shorter story. Even so, it is interesting reading about older therapies and to once again appreciate the time period in which I am living.
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March 18, 2017dnf
February 11, 2016
I’m going to be completely honest here and say I’m not quite sure what I think after reading this book. It’s my first dealing with the author and as it stands I cannot decide whether I want to read his other books or not. I was on edge as to whether to give this book a three or a four star review but in the end I went with the three – in all honesty though, if you could give half marks I would have handed it a three and a half.
I think what troubled me is that for quite a while it felt to me as though I was sitting inside one of my psychology lectures rather than reading a book for pleasure. Obviously it was needed – the references made may well have been lost upon those people who have never looked into psychology, and as the main character was working in the field of psychiatry it sort of comes with the domain – but at points I found myself unable to enjoy the book because of that. I know that the author was a clinical psychologist prior to being an author and at points I found myself thinking that I was reading his psychology work rather than his work as a horror writer.
That being said, when I wrapped my head around the style of writing and stopped putting up such a fight on that front I did come to enjoy the book. I found this book in the horror section and for me it didn’t really hold up to the horror that I was expecting. It was more of a psychological thriller with the odd spook here and there instead of a real bump in the night read. Still, once it manages to get its claws into you it does have a solid grip. I thought the ending was a bit of a cliché, yet it did fit in well – especially with how I never saw it coming despite the suggestions hinting at it earlier in the book.
Overall, I think I may have taken a more negative standpoint when reviewing this book than I intended and for that I apologise to anyone who I may have left with a wary view of picking up the book. It really is enjoyable if you approach with an open mind.
I think what troubled me is that for quite a while it felt to me as though I was sitting inside one of my psychology lectures rather than reading a book for pleasure. Obviously it was needed – the references made may well have been lost upon those people who have never looked into psychology, and as the main character was working in the field of psychiatry it sort of comes with the domain – but at points I found myself unable to enjoy the book because of that. I know that the author was a clinical psychologist prior to being an author and at points I found myself thinking that I was reading his psychology work rather than his work as a horror writer.
That being said, when I wrapped my head around the style of writing and stopped putting up such a fight on that front I did come to enjoy the book. I found this book in the horror section and for me it didn’t really hold up to the horror that I was expecting. It was more of a psychological thriller with the odd spook here and there instead of a real bump in the night read. Still, once it manages to get its claws into you it does have a solid grip. I thought the ending was a bit of a cliché, yet it did fit in well – especially with how I never saw it coming despite the suggestions hinting at it earlier in the book.
Overall, I think I may have taken a more negative standpoint when reviewing this book than I intended and for that I apologise to anyone who I may have left with a wary view of picking up the book. It really is enjoyable if you approach with an open mind.
April 17, 2015
This book was so slow at the beginning and then took a spooky turn and had me so excited to finish. The ending sucked and I didn't even get it all. I'm so sorry I wasted my time reading this!
June 10, 2016
This book was a bit of a slow one. The pretence was interesting and I was invested in the story at the beginning of the novel, but I soon lost interest in this Shutter Island copy.
“”A man dreams that he is a butterfly, and in the dream he has no knowledge of his life as a human being. When he wakes up, he asks himself two questions: Am I a man, who has just dreamed that he was a butterfly? Or am I really a butterfly, now dreaming that I am a man?”
James Richardson is offered the job of a lifetime; he is more than excited, especially because he will be working with one of the most famous psychiatrists, Maitland. One of his tasks is to monitor the sleep room – a room where the most ill of patients are put to sleep for long periods of time and given ECG once a week. Richardson begins to notice things are not quite right in the sleep room Soon Richardson is questioning everything he knows about the human mind. Are there really such things as ghosts?
To be perfectly honest the characters were so poorly written that I felt little or no warmth to any of them. They were dull and the main characters had such a small amount of backstory that they really did just feel fictional. None really jumped off the page and had me pining for them. I was let down with this aspect of the book.
The writing, however, really was not that bad. Okay so at times it was a little pretentious and, because the author himself is a psychiatrist, some of the words were medical jargon that I could often not get my thick head around. But it was easy to read and at times it was very easy to get carried away and read a whole chunk of this book in one sitting.
Oh god the plot and actions was SO SLOW. Nothing seemed to be happening for most of the first half of the book. It was like wading through a strong current, trying to continue until you got to the next chapter and waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen. And then when things did start to go down, it was still super slow and, to be honest, a bit of an anti-climax.
I think my overall opinion of this book was that it was good for a quick, easy read, when you need a break from all the fantasy you have been reading (well me especially). The characters and plot was not great and I felt that it nearly completely ripped of Shutter Island (which I found to be a much better read). It was just okay. Nothing special really.
“He had observed that physical pain, no matter how bad, was never the equal of mental pain.”
I would only recommend this book if you’re looking for a quick easy read, and even then I don’t think I would recommend highly, if at all.
2.5 stars.
Happy reading!
Hannah xoxo
“”A man dreams that he is a butterfly, and in the dream he has no knowledge of his life as a human being. When he wakes up, he asks himself two questions: Am I a man, who has just dreamed that he was a butterfly? Or am I really a butterfly, now dreaming that I am a man?”
James Richardson is offered the job of a lifetime; he is more than excited, especially because he will be working with one of the most famous psychiatrists, Maitland. One of his tasks is to monitor the sleep room – a room where the most ill of patients are put to sleep for long periods of time and given ECG once a week. Richardson begins to notice things are not quite right in the sleep room Soon Richardson is questioning everything he knows about the human mind. Are there really such things as ghosts?
To be perfectly honest the characters were so poorly written that I felt little or no warmth to any of them. They were dull and the main characters had such a small amount of backstory that they really did just feel fictional. None really jumped off the page and had me pining for them. I was let down with this aspect of the book.
The writing, however, really was not that bad. Okay so at times it was a little pretentious and, because the author himself is a psychiatrist, some of the words were medical jargon that I could often not get my thick head around. But it was easy to read and at times it was very easy to get carried away and read a whole chunk of this book in one sitting.
Oh god the plot and actions was SO SLOW. Nothing seemed to be happening for most of the first half of the book. It was like wading through a strong current, trying to continue until you got to the next chapter and waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen. And then when things did start to go down, it was still super slow and, to be honest, a bit of an anti-climax.
I think my overall opinion of this book was that it was good for a quick, easy read, when you need a break from all the fantasy you have been reading (well me especially). The characters and plot was not great and I felt that it nearly completely ripped of Shutter Island (which I found to be a much better read). It was just okay. Nothing special really.
“He had observed that physical pain, no matter how bad, was never the equal of mental pain.”
I would only recommend this book if you’re looking for a quick easy read, and even then I don’t think I would recommend highly, if at all.
2.5 stars.
Happy reading!
Hannah xoxo
May 6, 2014
I find it fascinating to read other reviews of The Sleep Room by F.R Tallis, because some people found this story to hit the perfect note of classic suspense, while others found it slow, predictable, and a letdown. It seems that the biggest disparity of opinion comes in reader's perceptions of the final twist of the novel...some people thought it was brilliant, and others felt it undermined the rest of the book.
Here are my thoughts about the The Sleep Room. First of all, I enjoyed the setting, the isolated mental asylum of Wyldehope Hall on the Suffolk coast. Crashing waves, misty bogs, shadowy corridors...the novel is a pleasure of gothic escapism.
However, like some reviewers, I felt that the main character, James Richardson was difficult to root for, even though I tried. Although in many ways, his intentions seemed altruistic, there was also a lascivious, narcissistic, unforgiving side of him that made him rather repellent.
Furthermore, the plot was a lot of buildup with not a lot of follow through. The ending of the The Sleep Room was confusing...and almost seemed to consist of two distinct stories.
On the one hand, there was a more traditional partial explanation for the mysterious events that were occurring at Wyldehope Hall. And on the other, the author threw in a twist, that for me, undermined the significance of the entire story that had gone before. The surprise felt unnecessary, and cheapened what could have been an enjoyable, classic ghost story without it. It almost seemed to me like the twist was an excuse to create a flashy distraction, and let the author off the hook from the more difficult task of coming up with a compelling explanation for the mystery that he had created.
In The Sleep Room, F.R. Tallis has written a novel with a strong sense of place and an intriguing premise. Unfortunately, in my opinion, he was unable to back this up with a convincing conclusion, or compelling main character.
Here are my thoughts about the The Sleep Room. First of all, I enjoyed the setting, the isolated mental asylum of Wyldehope Hall on the Suffolk coast. Crashing waves, misty bogs, shadowy corridors...the novel is a pleasure of gothic escapism.
However, like some reviewers, I felt that the main character, James Richardson was difficult to root for, even though I tried. Although in many ways, his intentions seemed altruistic, there was also a lascivious, narcissistic, unforgiving side of him that made him rather repellent.
Furthermore, the plot was a lot of buildup with not a lot of follow through. The ending of the The Sleep Room was confusing...and almost seemed to consist of two distinct stories.
On the one hand, there was a more traditional partial explanation for the mysterious events that were occurring at Wyldehope Hall. And on the other, the author threw in a twist, that for me, undermined the significance of the entire story that had gone before. The surprise felt unnecessary, and cheapened what could have been an enjoyable, classic ghost story without it. It almost seemed to me like the twist was an excuse to create a flashy distraction, and let the author off the hook from the more difficult task of coming up with a compelling explanation for the mystery that he had created.
In The Sleep Room, F.R. Tallis has written a novel with a strong sense of place and an intriguing premise. Unfortunately, in my opinion, he was unable to back this up with a convincing conclusion, or compelling main character.
August 11, 2014
The way I explained the ending to myself:
When James woke up he portrayed characteristics of almost each and every one of the patients that he cared for in his "dream". Therefore the different patients were simply different elements of James's personality. For example chapman was a chess player and he pinched himself repeatedly with James also did and also James explained the maternal feeling of loss of a child which he most likely felt when jane wouldn't give him a child. Sheila was simply his way of filling gaps in his memory and the fire at the end was James's mind telling him what really happened. Also the way James said several times that he saw maitland as a father figure was because maitland represented his father in this "dream" and that he died in the fire the same as his father proves this. At the start of the book where James interviewed for a job was actual reality but his reality got confused with fantasy when he actually started his job at wyldehope. As James started to wake up reality started to integrate more with his dream as he saw the wedding ring on Janes finger and how he saw extremely vivid dreams involving his family where he saw what exact perfume jane wore and when he learnt about the affair with jane and maitland this was what really happened but he refused to accept this in reality so it came through in his dream. This point was focused on when James woke up and saw jane and maitland.
I think this was an excellent ending that left room for each and every reader to have their own opinion about what happened to James. I thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected ending and hope to read something similar.
When James woke up he portrayed characteristics of almost each and every one of the patients that he cared for in his "dream". Therefore the different patients were simply different elements of James's personality. For example chapman was a chess player and he pinched himself repeatedly with James also did and also James explained the maternal feeling of loss of a child which he most likely felt when jane wouldn't give him a child. Sheila was simply his way of filling gaps in his memory and the fire at the end was James's mind telling him what really happened. Also the way James said several times that he saw maitland as a father figure was because maitland represented his father in this "dream" and that he died in the fire the same as his father proves this. At the start of the book where James interviewed for a job was actual reality but his reality got confused with fantasy when he actually started his job at wyldehope. As James started to wake up reality started to integrate more with his dream as he saw the wedding ring on Janes finger and how he saw extremely vivid dreams involving his family where he saw what exact perfume jane wore and when he learnt about the affair with jane and maitland this was what really happened but he refused to accept this in reality so it came through in his dream. This point was focused on when James woke up and saw jane and maitland.
I think this was an excellent ending that left room for each and every reader to have their own opinion about what happened to James. I thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected ending and hope to read something similar.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2013
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.
This review is also posted on my blog, www.bound4escape.com.
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.
This review is also posted on my blog, www.bound4escape.com.
May 25, 2015
While the plot was interesting and the writing easy to follow and gripping. The story didn't give me the "scare" feeling I was going for. The plot was heavily built up to the climax but kind of fell through last minute. It felt as if everything from the climax to the ending was rushed. It left me unsatisfied by the truth behind the mystery of the sleep room.
March 20, 2019
I loved this book. It was a slow burn but when things started moving, I couldn’t put it down. It had everything that I love in a story including a supernatural element, suspenseful plot and great writing style. I didn’t see the ending coming and I loved the book even more for it. The only reason I haven’t given it five stars is because, in my opinion, it took too long to get going. Otherwise, a cracking read.
April 5, 2014
This will be quite a difficult review to write, not because The Sleep Room is a difficult book (it isn't; it's an easy-peasy piece of quick-reading genre fiction that I picked up in Waterstone's because I wanted something to read while I had lunch in their cafe) but simply because I didn't really have any strong feelings about it whatsoever. I don't feel as if I wasted my time reading it, but equally I don't think I really got a great deal out of it either.
The premise of The Sleep Room is that of 1950s doctor taking up a residential post at a psychiatric hospital under the supervision of Hugh Maitland, a famous psychiatrist well known for his media presence and for his dismissal of 'couch merchants' and psychoanalytical techniques in favour of purely physical treatments such as antidepressants, sedation and ECT. His latest project is the experimental treatment of six disturbed women by, essentially, keeping them permanently asleep, except for short periods when they're woken for feeding, washing and the unpleasant-sounding 'voiding'.
If you think this treatment sounds slightly creepy, it is, and so is the hospital in general, with its isolated location and strange secrets. It's not long before Richardson, the narrator, finds himself spooked by odd noises, the peculiar agitation and unease of the patients and nurses alike, and by his observation that all the sleep room patients mysteriously enter the 'dreaming' stage of sleep at the same time each day.
And to be honest, that's really pretty much it. The horror elements are fairly low-key, except for one entertainingly gruesome showpiece with a self-harming patient, and there is a twist which should be gobsmacking but which I just found anticlimactic. It's not that The Sleep Room is bad - it really isn't. FR Tallis' prose is clear, precise and matter-of-fact in a way that befits the scientifically-minded narrator very well and contrasts nicely with the peculiarity of the events he experiences; the book's post-war setting is one I always enjoy, works perfectly for this story and is convincingly realised by the author; the feeling of isolation experienced by Richardson is suitably claustrophobic. But overall, The Sleep Room struck me as a book that is less than the sum of its parts. None of the characters are particularly memorable, and there is something lacking when it comes to the building of atmosphere, something that should be essential in supernatural fiction.
I really would like to be more enthusiastic as it's rare that I'm indifferent to a book and there were plenty of things about The Sleep Room that I thought were well-executed and enjoyable. But there just wasn't anything about it that really stood out. Oddly, I can see it working well as a film or a TV drama, however, and I would happily watch an adaptation of it - perhaps some arresting visual interpretations of the supernatural goings-on could lend The Sleep Room the sense of atmosphere I felt it lacked. And despite my misgivings I would almost certainly pick up another book by FR Tallis and give it a go.
The premise of The Sleep Room is that of 1950s doctor taking up a residential post at a psychiatric hospital under the supervision of Hugh Maitland, a famous psychiatrist well known for his media presence and for his dismissal of 'couch merchants' and psychoanalytical techniques in favour of purely physical treatments such as antidepressants, sedation and ECT. His latest project is the experimental treatment of six disturbed women by, essentially, keeping them permanently asleep, except for short periods when they're woken for feeding, washing and the unpleasant-sounding 'voiding'.
If you think this treatment sounds slightly creepy, it is, and so is the hospital in general, with its isolated location and strange secrets. It's not long before Richardson, the narrator, finds himself spooked by odd noises, the peculiar agitation and unease of the patients and nurses alike, and by his observation that all the sleep room patients mysteriously enter the 'dreaming' stage of sleep at the same time each day.
And to be honest, that's really pretty much it. The horror elements are fairly low-key, except for one entertainingly gruesome showpiece with a self-harming patient, and there is a twist which should be gobsmacking but which I just found anticlimactic. It's not that The Sleep Room is bad - it really isn't. FR Tallis' prose is clear, precise and matter-of-fact in a way that befits the scientifically-minded narrator very well and contrasts nicely with the peculiarity of the events he experiences; the book's post-war setting is one I always enjoy, works perfectly for this story and is convincingly realised by the author; the feeling of isolation experienced by Richardson is suitably claustrophobic. But overall, The Sleep Room struck me as a book that is less than the sum of its parts. None of the characters are particularly memorable, and there is something lacking when it comes to the building of atmosphere, something that should be essential in supernatural fiction.
I really would like to be more enthusiastic as it's rare that I'm indifferent to a book and there were plenty of things about The Sleep Room that I thought were well-executed and enjoyable. But there just wasn't anything about it that really stood out. Oddly, I can see it working well as a film or a TV drama, however, and I would happily watch an adaptation of it - perhaps some arresting visual interpretations of the supernatural goings-on could lend The Sleep Room the sense of atmosphere I felt it lacked. And despite my misgivings I would almost certainly pick up another book by FR Tallis and give it a go.
February 7, 2014
From the Doctor of Fear, comes the horror story that everyone is dreaming about
As haunting as Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and as dark as James Herbert's The Secret of Crickley Hall, F. R. Tallis’s The Sleep Room is where your nightmares begin . . .
When promising psychiatrist, James Richardson, is offered the job opportunity of a lifetime, 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 a controversial project – a pioneering therapy in which extremely disturbed patients are kept asleep for months. As Richardson settles into his new life, he begins to sense something uncanny about the sleeping patients – six women, forsaken by society. 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?
It's not long before Richardson finds himself questioning everything he knows about the human mind as he attempts to uncover the shocking secrets of The Sleep Room . . .
I really liked The Forbidden by this author, a tale of paranoia and madness which had a fab cover. I don't know why Pan decided to change the image of this author with a lurid thriller-esque cover for the Sleep Room.
Anyway if you are a fan of slow burning tale that is the stuff of nightmares you won't be disappointed. The book starts off with a focus on the dubious and controversial medical practices, slowly but steadily turns into something completely different, becomeing darker and darker as you turn each page.
Wonderful atmospherical writing...
"I stepped down onto a platform shrouded in mist. Stressed metal groaned, flashes of firelight emanated from the cab, and glowing cinders formed chaotic constellations above the smokestack. The effect was vaguely diabolical." (p.13)
..and I loved this quote that stayed with me for a while...
“A man dreams that he is a butterfly, and in the dream he has no knowledge of his life as a human being. When he wakes up he asks himself two questions: am I a man, who just dreamed that he was a butterfly? Or am I really a butterfly, now dreaming that I am a man?”
"Tallis has based his novel on the controversial psychiatrist William Sargant and his advocacy of narcosis or deep sleep therapy, a treatment developed in the 1920s which involved putting ‘problem’ patients to sleep for long periods of time, sometimes months, in the hope of alleviating their symptoms.
Sargant carried out his therapy on Ward 5 of the Royal Waterloo Hospital in London, which became known as the sleep room and, for Tallis, conjured up haunting images of a darkened ward full of slumbering patients… and became the defining motif of his engrossing novel."
July 2, 2016
Time taken to read - 2 days
Pages - 400
Publisher - Pan
Blurb from Goodreads
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 . . .
My Review
James Richardson is at the beginnings of his career as a psychiatrist when an opportunity to work for Dr. Hugh Maitland opens up. Maitland is well respected and offers Richardson a unique opportunity to work in Wyldehope Hall in Suffolk, looking after patients with psychiatric conditions and 6 ladies in a sleep room. A room where they are kept asleep with drugs, monitored & woken at arrange interval for brief periods. At first it seems like the dream job however strange and eerie events occur, one of the nurses is behaving bizarrely & James can't stop asking questions.
This is a strange wee tale, it starts off relatively fine with James moving in, asking about the predecessor and learning what the job entails. Soon things start to happen to make James question if there isn't some kind of paranormal activity going on and wanting to know more about the patients. James has the task of trying to investigate without seeming like he has lost his sanity or annoying his new boss.
There is a wee bit of everything in this book, death, spooky happenings, relationships, medical chat such as conditions and drugs. It goes along at a decent pace, building up an atmospheric tension as the reader plods along with James trying to grasp what is happening. The end came along a little suddenly for more and I would have liked a bit more in depth explanation however I am one of those readers who always wants more, 3/5 for me this time, I would read this author again.
Pages - 400
Publisher - Pan
Blurb from Goodreads
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 . . .
My Review
James Richardson is at the beginnings of his career as a psychiatrist when an opportunity to work for Dr. Hugh Maitland opens up. Maitland is well respected and offers Richardson a unique opportunity to work in Wyldehope Hall in Suffolk, looking after patients with psychiatric conditions and 6 ladies in a sleep room. A room where they are kept asleep with drugs, monitored & woken at arrange interval for brief periods. At first it seems like the dream job however strange and eerie events occur, one of the nurses is behaving bizarrely & James can't stop asking questions.
This is a strange wee tale, it starts off relatively fine with James moving in, asking about the predecessor and learning what the job entails. Soon things start to happen to make James question if there isn't some kind of paranormal activity going on and wanting to know more about the patients. James has the task of trying to investigate without seeming like he has lost his sanity or annoying his new boss.
There is a wee bit of everything in this book, death, spooky happenings, relationships, medical chat such as conditions and drugs. It goes along at a decent pace, building up an atmospheric tension as the reader plods along with James trying to grasp what is happening. The end came along a little suddenly for more and I would have liked a bit more in depth explanation however I am one of those readers who always wants more, 3/5 for me this time, I would read this author again.
April 3, 2015
Usually I'm pretty quick to give books star rating. I either like them and finish them (5), or can't believe I'm in the same reality as the Telegraph reviewer (1). This one has me more puzzled. I did enjoy it and I did finish it.
Okay, I think by puzzling through that little rant I've worked out why I'm a bit confused how to rate this. I actually didn't understand it. Rare for me, I hear you cry...No? Damn. But I usually can understand books. If they're easy with no long words, so either I'm seriously going downhill or I'm missing something. Perhaps we're supposed to be left with the uncertainty of whether what we perceive is real or not. If that's the case then this was quite effective. But I rather prefer my mysteries solved (although some of my readers might take issue with me about that at the moment. Oh yea of little faith. In Book 6 we discover...) anyway, what was I saying? The writing is evocative. It creates the time and place very well. It was a good read, and I recommend it for a slightly disturbing, spooky experience.
Okay, I think by puzzling through that little rant I've worked out why I'm a bit confused how to rate this. I actually didn't understand it. Rare for me, I hear you cry...No? Damn. But I usually can understand books. If they're easy with no long words, so either I'm seriously going downhill or I'm missing something. Perhaps we're supposed to be left with the uncertainty of whether what we perceive is real or not. If that's the case then this was quite effective. But I rather prefer my mysteries solved (although some of my readers might take issue with me about that at the moment. Oh yea of little faith. In Book 6 we discover...) anyway, what was I saying? The writing is evocative. It creates the time and place very well. It was a good read, and I recommend it for a slightly disturbing, spooky experience.
December 6, 2013
Dr James Richardson is delighted to get the chance to work with well respected Hugh Maitland, Head of the department of Psychological Medicine at St Thomas’s. He is to work for a personal project of Dr Maitland’s, set in an isolated location, Wyldehope Hall, deep in rural Suffolk. Dr Richardson has been told that his predecessor, Dr Palmer, left suddenly and Dr Maitland is keen to stress that he understands the difficulties of the post. However, Dr Richardson sees good opportunities for his career and, at first, is very positive and keen to make the best of things.
Wyldehope Hall treats patients with severe schizophrenia and depression. As well as these wards, there is the Sleep Room, where six female patients are being treated with combined continuous sleep, the latest drugs and electroconvulsive therapy. Dr Maitland is quite secretive about these patients, although details about the women are revealed gradually to the reader. However, Dr Richardson discovers there are links to the United States and possibly to research for the CIA.
This novel is set in the post-war years; the actual date is never stated, but I would guess late 1950’s. It is certainly not a scary book, but it is very atmospheric and quite disturbing. The setting, the characters and the patients in the Sleep Room themselves, add to a sense that things are not quite right. There are odd events, noises and sensations that Dr Richardson is unable to explain away. The young nurse, Mary, who works in the Sleep Room at night seems unaccountably afraid and jumps at the slightest noise. Then, Dr Richardson discovers that the patients seem to be dreaming at the same time.... I have previously enjoyed the historical crime novels of F.R. Tallis and I liked this well written book, although it took a completely different direction from his previous work. Overall, a well written novel, with good characters and a creepy feel, perfect for winter evenings.
Rated: 3.5
Wyldehope Hall treats patients with severe schizophrenia and depression. As well as these wards, there is the Sleep Room, where six female patients are being treated with combined continuous sleep, the latest drugs and electroconvulsive therapy. Dr Maitland is quite secretive about these patients, although details about the women are revealed gradually to the reader. However, Dr Richardson discovers there are links to the United States and possibly to research for the CIA.
This novel is set in the post-war years; the actual date is never stated, but I would guess late 1950’s. It is certainly not a scary book, but it is very atmospheric and quite disturbing. The setting, the characters and the patients in the Sleep Room themselves, add to a sense that things are not quite right. There are odd events, noises and sensations that Dr Richardson is unable to explain away. The young nurse, Mary, who works in the Sleep Room at night seems unaccountably afraid and jumps at the slightest noise. Then, Dr Richardson discovers that the patients seem to be dreaming at the same time.... I have previously enjoyed the historical crime novels of F.R. Tallis and I liked this well written book, although it took a completely different direction from his previous work. Overall, a well written novel, with good characters and a creepy feel, perfect for winter evenings.
Rated: 3.5
October 30, 2013
On the surface this book seems that it has all the ingredients of a ghost story. An old, isolated house now used as a small psychiatric hospital, a previous doctor who left due to mysterious circumstances, unexplained pehenomena.
I really, really wanted it to be a ghost story, but in the end you find out it wasn't a ghost story at all but something completely different. It's a bait and switch on the part of the author and I came away feeling cheated when it wasn't what I expected.
There is a twist at the end, but I guessed it long before we got there.
This is not a bad book, in fact it's a very interesting historical novel dealing with the disputes between the two main branches of psychiatry in the 1950's - "the talking cure" and treating mental illnesses with lots of medicatin, electro-shock therapy and narcosis (keeping the patient asleep for most of the day.)
The writing flows easily and you get drawn in. James Richardson starts off as an interesting character and quite sympathetic but then he lost a lot of my sympathy with his misogynist treatment of Jane, the nurse he was supposed to be in love with. He knew she'd had other lovers before him and it didn't seem to bother him until he discovered she'd also been with his boss. Suddenly he does an about turn and she's a scarlet woman and everything else! I know it was set in the 1950s, but come on!
This is interesting as a historical novel, but it is not a ghost story, which is what I'd been looking for when I ordered it.
Review copy from amazon vine.
I really, really wanted it to be a ghost story, but in the end you find out it wasn't a ghost story at all but something completely different. It's a bait and switch on the part of the author and I came away feeling cheated when it wasn't what I expected.
There is a twist at the end, but I guessed it long before we got there.
This is not a bad book, in fact it's a very interesting historical novel dealing with the disputes between the two main branches of psychiatry in the 1950's - "the talking cure" and treating mental illnesses with lots of medicatin, electro-shock therapy and narcosis (keeping the patient asleep for most of the day.)
The writing flows easily and you get drawn in. James Richardson starts off as an interesting character and quite sympathetic but then he lost a lot of my sympathy with his misogynist treatment of Jane, the nurse he was supposed to be in love with. He knew she'd had other lovers before him and it didn't seem to bother him until he discovered she'd also been with his boss. Suddenly he does an about turn and she's a scarlet woman and everything else! I know it was set in the 1950s, but come on!
This is interesting as a historical novel, but it is not a ghost story, which is what I'd been looking for when I ordered it.
Review copy from amazon vine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2016
I absolutely adored this book. Very much Shutter Island meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was set in a psychiatric hospital and I've always been interested in psychiatry so this book gripped my attention from the very beginning. I loved looking at the old treatments.
Character wise I much preferred Richardson's character to that of Maitland. Maitland strikes me throughout the book as someone who only wants to achieve results without much interest in the patients themselves, although this is all turned on it's head at the end. Richardson on the other hand appears to care deeply about what is best for the patients in his care and has several moral crises throughout the book.
This one is a definite must!!!
Character wise I much preferred Richardson's character to that of Maitland. Maitland strikes me throughout the book as someone who only wants to achieve results without much interest in the patients themselves, although this is all turned on it's head at the end. Richardson on the other hand appears to care deeply about what is best for the patients in his care and has several moral crises throughout the book.
This one is a definite must!!!
November 27, 2018
At times it seemed a bit close to Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger, but otherwise a great read.
November 15, 2021
I’m going to start with the ending in my review because of how contentious it is. I see many reviewers hated the ending but I liked it. If it hadn’t ended the way it did, I would have found it very underwhelming. The climax didn’t go as far as I wanted it to and the ending made up for it in my eyes. Even though I liked the ending, I still found it a bit of a lazy choice. There was a lot of promise with the earlier theories but those ultimately fizzled out. The plot and concept is there and I think F.R. Tallis could have really expanded on some of the ideas mentioned such as memory erasure, mutual dreaming and telekineses, rather than go with this lazy ending. So I liked the ending but found it lazy at the same time.
Some other dislikes I had included the narrator and the romance plot line. The narrator is boring, judgmental, and cowardly. He is rather pathetic at times and I never really warmed to him. The romance plot line is not my favorite but it makes more sense considering the ending. Overall, there is a lot of potential in this book but it didn’t come all together as I would have liked it to.
Some other dislikes I had included the narrator and the romance plot line. The narrator is boring, judgmental, and cowardly. He is rather pathetic at times and I never really warmed to him. The romance plot line is not my favorite but it makes more sense considering the ending. Overall, there is a lot of potential in this book but it didn’t come all together as I would have liked it to.
January 31, 2022
The first 16 chapters are 2 stars, and chapters 17 through 22 are 4 stars. The 2 star chapters are written in a cold, clinical style which didn't have enough suspense or a sense of uneasiness to make me feel the horror in the story. The later chapters, however, really picked up in pace and in suspense, and the twist at the end was pretty clever. A decent book, but an uneven reading experience.
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