Sleep No More

Mississippi #4

by Greg Iles

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Penn Cage series explores the dangers of obsession in this gripping psychological thriller.

John Waters is a successful businessman and a happy family man--but his life comes crashing down around him with one word from a beautiful stranger: "Soon." Suddenly, he is face to face with a memory from his past--of an obsession that he thought he had escaped. One that now plunges him into the darkest side of love and passion...

"This novel should come with a red wrapper marked DANGER: HIGH EXPLOSIVES."--Stephen King

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Horror, Supernatural

470 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Greg Iles spent most of his life in Natchez, Mississippi. His first novel, Spandau
Phoenix, was the first of seventeen New York Times bestsellers. His Natchez
Burning trilogy continued the story of Penn Cage, the protagonist of The Quiet Game,
Turning Angel, and #1 New York Times bestseller The Devil’s Punchbowl. Iles’s novels have been made into films and published in more than thirty-five countries. He was a
member of the lit-rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

The great Dick Hill narrating in his prime can't salvage this Disappointing novel. 1 of 10 stars!

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 2 out of 5]

In many ways this does not seem like a book Greg wrote and was far below typical. Predictable in some ways, he introduced a paranormal element which I felt didn't work. Having read every book he's written save one, this is mediocre at best, and lacks everything I expect from him. Sorry dude, this is a loser.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of a sucker for any novel or movie that Stephen King recommends. It may not always pay off when it comes to movies, but when it comes to good books, King has rarely steered me wrong. It's because of King that I discovered one of my favorite authors, Laura Lippman.

I didn't come to Greg Iles through King. I picked up his novel "Turning Angel" and was hooked immediately. Most Iles books are those that I'd classify as "books that own me" while reading them. I keep wanting to go and do other necessary things, but I can't because I just have to read "one more chapter" to find out what happens next.

So, combine the fact that I already like Iles with a front cover blurb by King and I find myself wondering why I hadn't read "Sleep No More" before now.

Set in Iles fictional town of Natchez, Mississippi, "Sleep No More" tells the story of John Waters. With his long-time friend Cole, Waters is part of an oil-drilling business that's had some solid success. He's married to Lily and they have a precocious daughter together. Their marriage looks great, but it's been on a shaky ground since Lily had a miscarriage several years before and they haven't exactly been connecting in a physical way.

Years before, Waters had a long romance with Mallory Candler, a beautiful woman who turned out to be a couple of tacos short of a combo platter. The romance took place in college and the couple aborted two unwanted pregnancies. This helped bring on some of Mallory's less desirable traits and led to her stalking Waters for a period of years. She was killed several years before and Waters hasn't forgotten her but has tried to move on with his life.

Enter Eve, a woman who claims she's been possessed by the spirit of Mallory. She comes to Waters and tells him this. Eve is a local real estate agent who has a certain reputation around town. Is she looking for a new fling with Waters or is she telling the truth? Waters is convinced it is Mallory and enters into an affair with Eve/Mallory. (It seems that Mallory can enter the body of a new host upon sexual peak only).

If it all sounds like it takes a huge dose of suspension of disbelief to make the story work, it does. But the thing is that by grounding Waters as he does, Iles takes a page from King or Richard Matheson and gives us an ordinary person facing extraordinary circumstances. Seeing how Waters reacts as the web slowly closes in around him keeps the pages flying, just to see what happens next. And Iles is willing to at least throw in a few things that are plausible reasons as to why this could be certain people in Waters' life trying to mess with him.

In fact, half the fun of the story is trying to figure out which twist is the right twist and which are red herrings.

According to the critical blurbs, "Sleep No More" was recommended as a beach read when it was first published. And that's exactly what it is. Iles has done some great stories and while this may not be his most profound or important, it's one of the more enjoyable stories he's told. Like a blockbuster, popcorn movie, don't think too much about it and just enjoy the ride. You'll be glad you did.

[Coral · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnn.

Totally predictable and what story there is gets buried by all of the poorly-written sex scenes.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like this author, even though sometimes the stories become so far-fetched that you would never believe these things could happen. He manages to make it plausible and suck you in to the story before he drops the crazy on you.
But this one? ehhhhh...I'm still not sure. I think the strength of his other stories are that, even with all the twists, they are still based in reality. This was definitely not.
******SPOILER****
I'm not going to give the whole plot line here but I will say that it starts off fairly normal. You begin to think that something weird is going on with the main character John Waters, but you are sure there is a reasonable explanation to it. Not so much. His old girlfriend Mallory managed to switch her (her what? essence? That sounds like an Emeril spice. Bam! Her soul? Oh,whatever you want to call it...)into the mind and body of the man who is raping and about to kill her. From there she finds a way to pass "herself" along from person to person until she winds up in the body of a realtor in the same town as John Waters. And then she confronts him with the fact that she is Mallory , and hey, how about they have lots of sex?
Towards the end of the book, there are lots of alternate explanations offered up (conspiracy to blackmail him,etc....) so you aren't really sure if this supernatural element is going to be the real explanation. Turns out, yes it is. And in the end, Mallory is inside John's wife's brain/soul/subconscious forever. So she could surface and decide she is REALLY pissed off about everything at any time.
AND there are some sketchy explanations given involving DNA which made me think "really? Is that a thing? that can't happen" but being at the end of the book, it was a bit late to quit reading.
I still like this author, but no more supernatural stuff, please?

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

IIRC, this is the only novel by Iles that contains a supernatural aspect. Our lead, John Waters, runs an oil business with his partner Cole; John finds the oil and Cole sells the prospects for the digs. 20 years or so ago, John had a torrential relationship with a woman named Mallory in college that ended badly. Mallory, a beautiful woman who won the Miss Mississippi contest, possessed an obsessive, jealous character that finally had John running for the hills. After they broke up, Mallory moved to New Orleans, married, and then, 10 years later, died in a rape/murder.

The novel starts with John and his 9 yo daughter on the soccer field in a game. John spots a lovely women afterwards who mouths the word 'soon' to him. WTF? That was part of the game between Mallory and him back in the day. When he finally meets this mystery women, she seems to know every secret aspect of their old relationship. Everything! In fact, she tells John she is Mallory! John, forever traumatized from their relationship, does not know what to do or believe...

While not one of my favorite Iles, this still makes for an engrossing read to be sure. The depths of Mallory Iles brings out in almost painful detail; she really was/is a piece of work! Iles also tosses in several characters from other novels set in Natchez, such as Penn Cage, who John goes to for advise (and later, legal consul). One thing is for sure, Iles never repeats the same formula. 3.5 haunting stars, rounding up for GR! RIP Iles!

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Greg Iles. He writes at a furious pace, with believable characters. He's so good here that He makes the unbelievable more realistic than what would normally be called "reality". If you like fast paced thrillers with a supernatural touch, he's your guy.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Waters is a Mississippi petroleum geologist who hasn't had sex with his wife in years because she's haunted by two miscarriages. Lily is beginning to look worn, she has some cellulite, plus she carries a gaudy handbag John doesn't approve of. Understandably, when a hot realtor with a big horsey mane of hair seduces him, John is all in - until he finds out Eve contains the demon spirit of John's dead former lover (the love of his life) Mallory, Miss Mississippi 1982 (which is engraved on her tombstone). Mallory became a demon when she was raped and murdered, and she enters the successive bodies of sexual partners when they orgasm. She occupies Eve, John's business partner Cole, and finally Lily. John and Mallory were blissfully happy and copulating like rabbits until Mallory had two abortions at John's insistence. It's these abortions that push her over the edge into obsessiveness, stalking, violence, and madness. John later reflects on the abortion vacuum hose and concludes that everyone and everything is in danger of being aborted: "That metal machine was absolutely against nature, created in opposition to nature. I'm not religious or anything, but I felt like the hose that had sucked up that fetus could suck up the entire world, that the whole universe could be sucked into the black maw of that vacuum pump." Why didn't John use a condom if he was anti-abortion - especially after Mallory had already had one abortion? Why did Mallory have two abortions if she desperately wanted a baby? You're asking good questions.

John realizes that Lily's miscarriages were karma resulting from Mallory's abortions.

John and his lawyer Penn Cage have discerned how pregnant women feel about ending pregnancies. "Did she want the abortion?"
"I don't think any woman really wants an abortion."
"Point taken...."

The book has lots and lots of sex. Sometimes it seems like Ikea furniture is being assembled: "Eve placed him against her opening and tried to sit down." Once, there was a big word I couldn't be bothered to look up: "After Mallory's deepest drives had been sated to some degree, she could spend hours exploring, caressing, and kissing - but all that was lagniappe." There's so much sex it finds its way into interactions between John's 7-year-old daughter and her pet: "Ana pushed the cat's bottom, but Pebbles pressed back against her hand and glared like a woman groped in an elevator."

Race is awkwardly treated. The Waters' "maid" (so-called even though she also does childcare) is a Mammy figure who speaks in black dialect. John has his home office in the detached "slave quarters" on his property, and these are never referred to as as an office, but always, dozens of times, as the "slave quarters." John constantly retires to the "slave quarters" in order to escape Lily and fantasize about Eve or bone her. He once pointed out to Mallory that she had attended a preppy private school, "while he'd graduated from public school 'with the blacks'." We're gratuitously told that when some elevator doors open, "Waters and Penn got inside with a black nurse."

Perhaps like me you are irked by all the HIPAA violations in badly written books. Doctors running around informing the universe about their patients' conditions. "Last time [Cole] was in my office, his pressure was way up," Cole's doctor tells John. "And that scotch isn't doing his liver any favors. Or his diabetes."

[Beagle Lover (Avid Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Read this many years ago...am I showing my age by stating this?? An excellent read that kept me on my literary toes.

[Christie (The Ludic Reader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stephen King said “should come with a red wrapper marked DANGER: HIGH EXPLOSIVES” about Greg Iles book Sleep No More. People magazine said: “Irresistible Pass-the-popcorn fun.” And somewhere in the middle is the truth.

There are three different types of books – fun books without a lot of literary merit and intelligent books that are, often, dry as toast and books that fall in the middle - well written prose with characters that jump off the page. Iles isn’t a bad writer and Sleep No More isn’t a bad book - but it’s not literature. I read the book in a day and a half, but I had to suspend all disbelief to do it because the premise of this book is ridiculously silly.

John Waters lives in the south with his wife and young daughter. The blurb on the back of the book would have you believe that he’s got all his ducks in a row- happy marriage, successful business, but that isn’t true. His business (oil dilling) and his marriage (his wife has been depressed for four years after the loss of their second child) are both floundering making John the perfect candidate for an infidelity. So, he cheats. Only he cheats with someone from his past and things get slightly more complicated than he might have expected.

It’s impossible to say much more about the plot without giving away the book’s central conceit - the one you’ll have to suspend disbelief for. The book is filled with illicit couplings - though none of them are very titillating, so you won’t be getting your thrills that way. The characters aren’t particularly sympathetic and the whole thing tidies up just the teensiest bit unbelievably. Still, if you want to haul a book to the beach this summer, this will be reliably entertaining so long as you don’t expect too much.

[Alexw · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was billed as scary, I found it to be comedic. A woman's soul who has been dead for 10 years can invade a body and the invaded person doesn't know it. I was waiting for her to invade a dog for the ultimate joke. Most dialogue is when they are having sex and there is a lot of that or saying" this can't be real"

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Greg Iles book that I have not cared for. All of his books have been 4 stars for me but this just fell flat.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really???!!!!?? I am having a rough spell with picking up kind of icky books. I have no problem with the basic plot of Sleep No More, however, the fact that the development of the plot took place during, ilicit coupling as another review described, was a turn off for me. (I'm trying to not make a spoiler so I know my description is weird!) I guess all I'll say is that normally, I reach a sex scene and I just jump to the end of the section or end of the page as it may be, and I feel that I can censor my reading in that way. Unfortunately, with this book I would have had to have skipped 60% of the pages. Greg Iles could have kept the exact same story and had the act of sex not be a part of the plot so heavily if he were creative, in my opinion.

And if we set aside my moral preference, I have to say, I still wasn't that impressed with the premise of the book anyway. You have to suspend disbelief and love a true supernatural-thriller genre. We picked this book up at the used bookstore, I'm afraid it's going back there.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still giving this book 5 Stars even though this story was beyond anything I have ever read. Very well written and so whacked out, even for Greg Iles, well maybe not :-)

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Waters is a successful businessman and a happy family man -- but his life comes crashing down around him with one word from a beautiful stranger: "Soon." Suddenly he is face-to-face with a memory from his past -- of an obsession that he thought he had escaped. One that plunges him into the darkest depths of love and passion.... (cover blurb

On the surface, John Waters has it all -- a loving wife, a beautiful child, a successful business -- but appearances are deceiving. His marriage is in trouble, his business is under investigation by a federal agency, and his business partner has made questionable financial decisions which jeopardize everyone's future. Into this mix wanders Eve Sumner, a stunningly attractive woman who makes it abundantly obvious she's chosen Waters as her next conquest. However, appearances are again deceiving, because Eve Sumner claims she is actually Mallory Chandler, Waters' first great love.

Funny thing, though: Mallory Chandler died ten years previously.

So who is this woman? And how does she know things only Mallory should know?

In an effort to discover the truth, Waters finds himself involved in an affair that quickly turns dangerous, as Eve/Mallory displays the same obsessive behavior that destroyed Waters' love for Mallory twenty years ago.

This novel requires a major suspension of disbelief for its critical plot device: transmigration of a soul. Once the reader accepts that, however, the story moves along quickly and works well within its preposterous premise. Waters flails and fumbles and does his best to fix the mess he's made by getting involved with Eve/Mallory, even as she seems to be setting him up for a murder charge. His desperation and fear are palpable, and certainly mitigate his at times wrong-headed choices. I truly enjoyed this story, that is, until I read the final pages.

The final plot twist, which I won't reveal here, is so farfetched, even within the confines of a plot that stretches suspension of disbelief to its outermost limit, as to spoil all the good trashiness that preceded it. I read the last few pages and threw the book across the room. I felt cheated. I think Mr. Iles wrote himself into a corner and couldn't think of any other way to give the reader a happy ending. Gah.

Never have I been so disappointed with a novel's resolution.

Oh, and the frequent references to a novel written by a character within this novel which happens to have the same title as a novel written by Iles bugged me too.

Gah.

Oh. Go ahead and read the story. Just rewrite the ending in your own head. I did.

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a stand-alone novel set in the same Mississippi town as The Quiet Game, which was an excellent thriller featuring lawyer turned bestselling novelist Penn Cage. This is an erotic thriller with a supernatural twist, and very different in style. Cage does feature here but this would be outside of the rest of his series. It feels like the author was experimenting with a different genre and hopefully then realised his mistake. I got this from Book Club and my friend recommended it and asked to get it back, but this one wasn’t for me.

John Waters is a happily married geologist running an oil prospecting business with his best friend Cole. When a beautiful younger woman starts coming on to him, he’s not interested, but then she reveals secrets only his psychotic ex-girlfriend, who was murdered ten years earlier, could possibly know, and Waters is helplessly drawn in to an impossible obsessive affair.

The main suspense here was whether there could be a plausible explanation for whatever was going on, or whether the preposterous supernatural premise would be it. I won’t spoil it by revealing which it turned out to be, but I didn’t like it. Once the answer is definitely revealed, I was still gripped to find out how it would all play out, but again found myself disappointed.

My biggest problem here was the sexism, misogyny, and racism running all through it. I don’t think the fact it was published in 2002 is much of an excuse. The sex scenes were just detailed enough to be icky. I’m not into erotica but do know from the little I have read that men write it very poorly. The hero is portrayed as wanting to do the right thing, as long as his penis agrees.

This is the third Iles book I’ve read and the only one I haven’t liked, so I would read some of his later books but will be sure to check the reviews (especially the negative ones) first. I thought the writing and pace was OK but the central idea was just wrong. 2.5 rounded down for the unsatisfying ending.

[lynne fireheart · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would make a good thriller/supernatural movie.

The book itself was rather disappointing, especially when the dust cover boasts Stephen King saying "This novel should come with a red wrapper marked DANGER: HIGH EXPLOSIVES."

One amusing repetition/recurrence in Sleep No More and Turning Angel is the hiring of ex-district attorney Penn Cage with one dollar here, and twenty dollars in the other tale, in order to secure attorney-client priviledge even if Mr Cage didn't really end up as the accused lawyer.

I found the premise of this tale extremely contrived. I'd buy it in a movie, but not in a book, or not as it plays out in *this* book, anyway! Characters are only a rickety rung above two-dimensional, and I never was able to empathize with John Waters despite his roller coaster emotional ride when someone who seems to be channeling his dead psycho ex girlfriend ensnares him in 2 weeks of hot sex and then dies in suspicious circumstances.

Go ahead and read it, just be prepared to not be impressed.

[Susan (aka Just My Op) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Greg Iles as an author, and I've enjoyed all the books of his that I read previous to this one. He writes a good story and he writes it well. There are always twists and turns and it is just enjoyable entertainment.

However, this one has been my least favorite so far. There are lots of supernatural happenings, and I'm not going to tell whether the book made them real or delusions, but I didn't really care for that storyline. Sex was an integral part of the story, but the sex wasn't even sexy. It was mostly violent and angry.

I'm not giving up on Greg Iles, but I'll read the blurbs a little more carefully before I pick up another of his books.

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of times I had to check the author of this book, thinking it was written by Stephen King.

I have a couple of books on my shelf by Iles but have never read him util now so didn't know what to expect. I was surprised when there were some mysterious things happening.

Before I read another Iles, I'm reading what my Goodreads friends have to say about the book.

As most everyone knows, I love mysteries, noir and hard-boiled and not quite sure if "Sleep No More" fits snugly into any of these categories. Therefore the rating. But it was ok.

[Mary Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible! I only finished it because I’m stuck inside during COVID rules. Someone must have paid Stephan King to recommend this waste of time. A dead first love entering the bodies of people you know....get this...through intercourses. Even sex scenes are boring!!!

[Hyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grossly Engaging!!

This is my second book of Greg Iles and I’m glad that I took this book from the library. After reading his first book “The Quiet Game” where we get to introduce Mr. Penn Cage, a former lawyer and now an author who decides to go his home, Natchez in Mississippi and gets entangled in a murder of a black korean war veteran.

Coming to this book, I was totally enthralled by the writing and the way the plot is written. We get introduce to Mr. John Waters who put his wife and daughter’s life at stake after engaging in extramarital affair with a young lady recently shifted to his town, Natchez in Mississippi. But there is a twist in the plot which would make you shiver.

I don’t understand why people here in GoodReads had given so low rating and bad reviews. To be frank, I enjoyed this book as much as because it has been recommended by Stephen King. The starting might give you some yawning but don’t stop there, just keep on reading and you’ll be totally engrossed into finishing it.

The only downfall of this book is the climax which I felt could have been better had Mr. Iles given some thought on how to make powerful in the same time very shocking.

I totally recommend this book to everyone who wants to wake up all night just to finish this book.

I��ll definitely read some other books of Mr. Iles where he put himself better than Stephen King in the department of Horror.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

great psychothriller

[Glen Krisch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Workmanlike. 460 pages, but could have been 350. A twisty plot that didn't feel twisty. If you're looking for an OK read, try Sleep No More.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most whacked book I've read in a while!

[Shirley Laliberte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgot how much I love Greg Isles

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book hard to put down.

[Tristan Robin Blakeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing to me. I thought this was going to be a mystery thriller. And, it sort of is ... but it's supernatural and, basically, an excuse for chapter after chapter of soft porn. I've never been a fan of soft porn. I have always equated soft porn with real life sex: soft just doesn't get the job done. Okay - too much information, I know. But, it bored me silly.

One dead ex-lover's spirit inhabits the body of a new lover and makes the life of the main character a living hell. It's a living hell for a bazillion chapters while he has supposedly mind-blowing sex.

Just not my cup of tea. If you like this kind of thing, I suppose it was bizarre enough to keep one reading. I only kept reading because I thought it was going to turn out that somebody was trying to drive the main character crazy or something. Nope. It was what it was.

As much as I disliked the book, I really disliked the publisher's advertising and found it disingenuous and misleading.

[Free Fall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like about Greg Iles' books is that they start from a precarious point for the main character and then they steadily get worse.

It's as though you're slowly watching Waters' life fall apart while he stands at the sidelines, completely helpless to do anything about it. Though it ends with everything settled, for the majority of Sleep No More, Waters is buried up to his neck and surrounded by crocodiles.

Oh, Mallory. Wow. Okay, I really don't see how what she did could be possible, but the book takes a supernatural premise and builds on it so convincingly that it terrified me even in broad light. And she's as close to being an omniscient, malicious force as anyone could be. It seems impossible that Waters could ever get away from her obsession.

With all that said, Mallory is the one who held my attention throughout the entire book. And in a way I wish she had succeeded in getting and keeping John, because her doubt and obsession towards him are such interesting factors in her personality. Though I wonder, if she got him so easily, would she still want her prize?

[Dollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mallory has been dead for ten years, but can put her soul into anyone. So, when she puts her soul into Eve and then contacts her former lover, John Waters, to say she wants him back, John cannot believe it. But he learns that it’s true and it could ruin the entire life he’s built with his wife, Lily, and their daughter, Ana. This is the tenth novel I’ve read by Greg Iles and it’s the first one that’s ever disappointed me. I kept trying to figure it out and couldn’t, so I continued reading and waiting for an explanation as to how Mallory could possess anyone. No explanation was ever given, so when I got to the end of the book, I was really disappointed. It wasn’t like any of his previous novels. It was like Iles was trying his hand at writing a horror story, rather than the legal thrillers I usually really like. I love horror and know what a great writer Iles is, so I was sure he would explain. He didn’t, hence the low rating.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of drink-driving - without consequences; all the women are either beautiful with a 'mane' of hair or they're of no sexual interest to the hero & thus no physical description is given. The plot is ludicrous - I don't buy the basic premise but even with that caveat no-one's behaviour is remotely plausible.
And the author is clearly being misfiled- I don't think he's interested in writing mysteries / whodunnits; he wants to write soft porn.