The Sleepwalkers By Scarlett Thomas

A Review of
The Sleepwalkers
By Scarlett Thomas
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover; 300 pages

Epistolary thriller peeks into new couple’s fractured life

By Shellie Zeigler
Special to the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger

Welcome to the end of another Greek summer. Evie and Richard are honeymooning on a small island in Greece and after a few days at one location, the not-so-happy couple are moving to Villa Rosa, a much ritzier hotel—a gift from Richard’s mother. The island is now deserted as the tourist season has come to an end. Evie and Richard quickly find themselves at odds over the behavior of Villa Rosa’s owner, Isabella.

Isabella is a flirtatious, beautiful woman who has taken a liking to Richard and is dismissive and often downright hostile to Evie. Also troubling is that just a year before, a married couple—now known as the Sleepwalkers—drowned together in the waters right in front of Villa Rosa. This haunting revelation isn’t helping an already crumbling honeymoon. Not that the couple had much of a chance anyway: something dire occurred at their wedding reception that shattered their world, and they silently made a pact not to discuss it. As a vast storm approaches, Evie and Richard are forced to face many hidden secrets of their own.

This delightfully disjointed epistolary novel is not for the casual reader. The book is comprised of letters (some are incomplete) from multiple sources: an uncorrected audio transcript, damaged notes from the hotel stationary, damaged pages from the hotel guest book, photographs (that have been removed), and a list of images. Readers who enjoy sleuthing and piecing together information will relish the unconventional construction of this novel. 

The first letter lays the foundation of the story. While Richard sleeps beside her, Evie writes to him about her earnest feelings of inadequacy when they are around the young “beautiful people” of the island. Evie recounts her obsession with one particular young woman who is always frolicking around with two boys; her life appears carefree and limitless. Evie’s feelings of physical inadequacy are only heightened when they move to the Villa Rosa and meet the sensual Isabella. Richard does not help matters by his obvious attraction to the woman. The letter goes on to set the stage for the current state of Richard and Evie’s barely hatched marriage.

This is all the prospective reader needs to know. Any further details would ruin the fun of putting it all together.

This literary thriller demonstrates the devastating power of secrets, money, and sexual shame. I admire the author’s risk-taking in writing a novel with a structure that is anything but straightforward. This atmospheric novel begins with a letter written by a wife to her husband; this long letter sets the atmosphere and the base story and creates a cliffhanger. From this point on, the plot really takes off. This tale has characters of all kinds: the oddball film couple Debbie and Marcus (are they just looking for a good story to option for a film?) Hamza, the seemingly innocent man from Turkey (why doesn’t he want to talk about the Sleepwalkers?); the “dapper little man” that owns the curio shop (why does he spend so much time at the Villa Rosa?). Ultimately, this is the tale of terrible people doing terrible things.

The Sleepwalkers is raw and fractured. Fans of literary thrillers will feel at home and appreciate the slow-burn beginning, as all roads eventually come together in a huge, satisfying payoff. Thomas, known for her nontraditional plot and structure, has created a triumph. Readers who enjoy unlikeable characters with witty, sardonic banter might find themselves seeking Thomas’s other adult titles.

---

Shellie Zeigler is a Library Consultant at the Mississippi Library Commission and a frequent reviewer for Booklist.