Title: Let Me Sleep
Author: Laura J. Sillett
Published: September 23, 2021
Purchase: Amazon
Add it on Goodreads
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis:
He would do anything to remember. And even more to forget.
Tormented by nightmares of a screaming woman, Nico Jakes opens his eyes to an unfamiliar world.
Forced into hiding by a global war, a society has made its home underground. Suffering from psychological trauma, Nico learns that his lost memories hold the key to the survival of the entire community. Frustrated, confused, and under the watchful eye of his protective brother, Nico submits to an unconventional drug treatment to unearth a crucial secret, before an escaped traitor can exploit it.
But the descent into his mind also opens the flood gates to Nico's past, bringing back forgotten lovers, enemies, and tragedy. With dreams warped by drugs and memories tainted by lies, Nico soon realises that he cannot trust anything, not even himself.
Let Me Sleep is a dark, fractured psychological thriller, exploring identity, relationships, and the darker side of human nature when forced into survival.
My Review:
Where do I start?
There is just so much to say about this book that I don't know how to organize my thoughts, but here we go... 😅
This was my first time picking up a psychological thriller. Laura J. Sillett's Let Me Sleep follows a young man, Nico Jakes, who has amnesia and whose memories hold the key to the survival of the entire community. He has to remember before a traitor can exploit an important secret. Intriguing! 👀
I do admit that in the beginning, I was a little lost and confused as I wondered why does a woman keep screaming in Nico's dreams, but then slowly got the hang of it later as things started getting intense with Nico's memories slowly coming in parts after he submits to a drug.
Let Me Sleep was a book that posed a lot of questions in my head.
Why does Nico keep having dreams that he's murdering his brother?
Why is it that some of his dreams about Elena are bad and then some of them are good? I found Elena to be such a strange character; was she bad or good?
Why is Nico forbidden to go outside the medical bay?
Why does Hanna keep feeling jumpy? Why is she lying about the bruise on her face?
Let Me Sleep was a strange, fishy thriller with a lot of unpredictable, unexpected turns that you don't know who the bad guy is. I loved how the author makes us think something in the beginning and then later it turns out that it isn't what it is.
Okay, so while I found Let Me Sleep really intriguing that makes you guess until the end, unfortunately, it isn't one of my favorite books. There were some things I didn't get, and there were some parts that were so slow and boring that many times I felt relieved whenever a chapter ended so I could put it down. In other words, one minute I'm hooked, and then the next thing I know, I'm like, ugh! I can't wait to finish this. No offense to the author. I guess it's just me since I'm not used to the dystopian genre; they're usually confusing for me. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the key to enjoying a story for me would be to feel attached to the characters; happy when they're happy and sad when they're sad. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like that to any of the characters in Let Me Sleep. I may have liked a few of the characters - the side ones, mostly - but it wasn't like I loved them so much that I'd die for them.
As someone who's crazy for brotherly love and bromances and always in search of good books about them, what drove me to get this book in the first place were the words "under the watchful eye of his protective brother" in the synopsis, which got me excited as I kinda expected to see brother moments. Unfortunately, there was none of that at all. I mean, that wasn't the main reason I knocked down stars as I gotta accept the harsh reality that not every book about brothers has to be about close brothers, right?😅 ***Spoiler*** Unfortunately for me, Gerrin, Nico's older brother, turned out to be one of the bad guys. ***Spoiler***
I may not have liked Nico very much, but I do admit that near the end of the book, I kinda found myself rooting for him.
As someone who hates spicy romance, there were some inappropriate parts that made me squirm, I skipped through them. 😫
With the plot intriguing but not feeling attached to any of the characters, I thought Let Me Sleep would be a three-star read for me in the end, but unfortunately, the ending made me decrease it down to two. Not sure if it was just me, but I felt as if it showed that suicide can be an answer - long story. I absolutely didn't like Nico's thinking! Suicide absolutely gets you NOWHERE!
If you're like me and love to read good books about close brothers or guy friendships, then Let Me Sleep wouldn't be the book for you. But if you love a good thriller with unpredictable, unexpected turns of events, then go for it!