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“Your future depends on your dreams, so go to sleep.” ― Mesut Barazany

Author: J.H. Markert

Father Silence has finally been executed. In his killing heyday, he posed as a priest to capture his victims, whom he tortured and killed. Post-execution, a new serial killer is in town, supposedly killing in Father Silence’s honor. This new killer, The Outcast, has started with the original policeman (and his family) who unlocked the case and arrested the fake priest.

Now, the Outcast has kidnapped that man’s granddaughter, and the distraught mother is on the case, trying to rescue her child and unravel her own memory before it’s all too late.

Sleep Tight has convinced me that I need to stop picking thrillers. They’re just not good anymore – or so it seems. Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s the oversaturation of the market, post Gone Girl. Maybe it’s the fact that the last several thrillers I’ve read have been both ill-conceived and sloppy.

Sleep Tight falls prey to all the worst thriller tropes. First, we have Tess. She’s the daughter of the original detective who broke the case and many years later was murdered on the day of Father Silence’s execution. Tess was somehow there on the day of the arrest, and she knew something (or participated in something) dark and ominous. But, of course, she has super convenient amnesia and will only start to remember that suitably dark and drizzly night in chunks, at opportune times. Yawn. So tired of amnesia-on-demand.

Now, Tess is also our main POV character. She is going through some stuff, and back on her little pill addiction. She used to be a cop (but is on leave) and she used to be married (but is having major trouble with her husband’s infidelity). All she had was her parents (now murdered by the new serial killer) and her daughter (now abducted by the new serial killer.) The woman has a complicated life. You’d think we’d feel for her. We don’t. She’s just so static. We are told things about her (she’s upset, grieving, addicted, etc.) but we never see these things. She is a walking trope, and honestly, we don’t especially care about her overly melodramatic trauma.

Meanwhile, we have The Outcast. He narrates some portions and is your usual killer. A childish man who is damaged and upset, means well, but “snaps.” He is so cookie cutter.

Image by Creative Canvas from Pixabay

As we go along, more ridiculous elements come into play. There is a mask wearing cult dedicated to Father Silence. This cult wears animal masks and goes around town scaring people, including the nice little old lady who now owns Father Silence’s house. These masked killers randomly show up to muddy the water and be generally ridiculous, and they have some sort of grand plan that somehow ties into the kidnapped daughter.

Then, we have the one survivor of the original massacre, a dude who is now in a psychiatric ward with multiple personalities, including a smooth talking, cigarette smoking personality who has a lot to reveal about what is actually going on. Problem is, getting the right personality to talk. The easy solution is the fact that this dude cycles through personalities at speed, even changing his voice and demeanor in a ten-minute span until the personality that is needed arises. Can you say unbelievable? Can you say laughable? Can you say plot device? I recognize that there are disorders where people do have multiple personalities that act differently and manifest with different characteristics. I doubt those real disorders are this easily manipulated or this plot device-y.

So, the characters bumble around, usually focusing on details that really are incredibly non-important. It’s all very ridiculous and very stiffly written. The segments are stilted, unfocused. Minor details blow up entire chapters, whereas major revelations happen rapidly, with little detail and information. There is no connective tissue between events, and we are forced to hope that the author will explain (usually through one of the personalities of the survivor, who seems to somehow have supernatural knowledge).

In the end, it’s all quite laughable. We get answers. But they are absurd. We get action, but it’s melodramatic and forced, stilted and choppy. We get a “resolution” and its just as stupid as everything that proceeded it.

Sleep Tight has convinced me that I need to take a break from thrillers and look for something with a little more quality, a little more showing and less telling. I need something with a soul, something that at least attempts a feeling and an emotion, instead of a stilted outline with wooden characters and a plot riddled with far-fetched ideas. Not recommended.

 

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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