Patricia Highsmith meets White Lotus in this surprising and suspenseful modern gothic story following a couple running from both secretive pasts and very present dangers while honeymooning on a Greek island.
тАЬFantastically grippingтАжthis is fiction roaring on all cylinders.тАЭ тАФThe Guardian
тАЬA work of peculiar gonzo geniusтАжThomas takes a glamorous late-capitalist setting, with ros├й and catamaransтАжand warps it into a story that is surprising, humane and political to its bones.тАЭ тАФThe New York Times
Still reeling from the chaos of their wedding, Evelyn and Richard arrive on a tiny Greek island for their honeymoon. ItтАЩs the end of the season and a storm is imminent. Determined to make the best of it, they check into the sun-soaked rooms of Villa Rosa. Already feeling insecure after seeing the тАЬbeautiful people,тАЭ the seemingly endless number of young models and musicians lounging along the Mediterranean, Evelyn is wary of the hotelтАЩs owner, Isabella, who seems to only have eyes for Richard.
Isabella ostensibly disapproves of every request Evelyn makes, seemingly annoyed at the fact that they are there at all. Isabella is also preoccupied with her chance to enthrall the only other guestsтАФan American producer named Marcus and his partner DebbieтАФwith the story of тАЬthe sleepwalkers,тАЭ a couple who had stayed at the hotel recently and drowned.
Everyone seems to want to talk about the sleepwalkers, save for Hamza, a young Turkish man Evelyn had seen with some of the тАЬbeautiful people,тАЭ as well as the тАЬdapper little manтАЭтАФthe strange yet fashionable owner of the islandтАЩs lone antiques and gift shop she sees everywhere.
But what at first seemed eccentric, decorative, or simply ridiculous, becomes a living nightmare. Evelyn and Richard are separated the night of the storm and forced to face dark truths, but itтАЩs their confessions around the origins of their relationship and the years leading up to their marriage that might save them.
тАЬVibey, dark, and weirdтАЭ (Allie Rowbottom, author of Aesthetica), and also very funny, The Sleepwalkers asks urgent questions about relationships, sexuality, and the darkest elements of contemporary societyтАФwhere our most terrible secrets are hidden in plain sight.