Sleepeasy

by T.M. Wright

Deeply in love with his beautiful and wilful wife, Harry Briggs can't imagine life without her. But he can, and does, imagine death with her. After a fatal swimming accident the couple meet again, in a supernatural community, where everything has changed. By the author of "A Manhattan Ghost Story".

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Fiction

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Terrance Michael Wright (AKA T. M. Wright) is best known as a writer of horror fiction, speculative fiction, and poetry. He has written over 25 novels, novellas, and short stories over the last 40 years. His first novel, 1978's Strange Seed, was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and his 2003 novel Cold House was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. His novels have been translated into many different languages around the world. His works have been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and many genre magazines.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sleepeasy appeared in The U.K. in 1993, but didn't have a U.S. release until this 2001 Leisure edition. It's a quirky story of the afterlife, less horrific than most of Wright's work, with a prevalent dreamlike quality. It's a quiet tale of a man who dies, finds himself in an odd town called Silver Lake (which may be a dream of his wife, Barbara), and becomes a detective investigating murder and trying to get a handle on the weird events that keep occurring. There's a sense of ambiguity, and the writing is captivating even if the conclusions aren't as clear cut as the reader might wish.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man dies and finds his afterlife reality as a hard-boiled detective entangled with the placid reality of his also-dead wife in this trippy, semi-comic, semi-creepy tale by ghostmeister TM Wright. A not-bad, always enjoyable read, certainly highly imaginative; the main deficit, as is often the case with Wright's novels, is that not all of his ideas seem fully-fleshed out. The open ending seems to be a setup for a series, which I would be interested in checking out sometime.

[Mummy's Naughty Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard for me to review. I was lost for most of it and then got bored because I was lost. I'm not sure if it was the book or just me. I liked the ideas I just felt that you were left to wonder too much. I spent half of the time wonder who was crazy and when something weird happened there was no real explanation.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off feeling like an episode of The Twilight Zones. But with even less sense. I had no clue what was going on at first but it was strange and I was curious. And the strangeness continued, changed, and warped. But after a while my curiosity became boredom. I was over halfway through this before I finally got a clue as to what the heck was happening. Thank goodness it read fast. both writing style and with the short chapters. Too many characters, places, and "realities."

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

My introduction to T.M. Wright. Sent me looking for all of his other books.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a couple books by this author and at the end I have the same things to say about both, they were weird. I wouldn't call it horror, but I suppose anything involving ghosts gets lumped into that category. Started off interesting enough, but the the author jumps around a lot and seems to loose momentum half way through. The stories have lots of threads to them, but at the end of the book the author doesn't bother to tied them together and the reader is left to try to puzzle it out or assume that it was just filler meant to extend the book.
The endings just drop off with no real resolution, and don't necessarily make sense in the context of everything that came before.
I didnt dislike the books, they just felt unfinished. And as I said before, they were weird.

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It had earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Farhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why this book was touted as a horror novel. This is a supernatural yarn about a man who dies and finds himself in a town called Silver Lake which is the figment of his wife's imagination. The meandering tale, albeit quirky, fails to hold the reader's interest. When a character from Silver Lake manages to return to the real world and starts a killing spree there, the protagonist decides to chase him there in order to stop the killings. What could have turned out to be a thrilling ending fizzles out to nothing leaving numerous loose ends hanging. Only certain quirky scenes are the saving grace of this book which otherwise would have received a poor rating from me.

[Mary (Biblophile) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an enchanting,off-the-wall kind of book! I really enjoyed this little gem. Part mystery, part supernatural, part philosophical. I just couldn't seem to put it down. Likeable characters and interesting, if somewhat strange, plot.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favaourite books ever but can't ever find it. Is it out of print?

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best novels I've read so far by T.M. Wright, the master of quiet horror.

[Debra]

Stephen King recommended author: "T.M. Wright is a rare and blazing talent!"