Doctor Sleep — Madison Smartt Bell

Sophisticated suspense from a National Book Award finalist, about a hypnotist tormented by insomnia and a hunt for a killer: “Excellent…revelatory writing.” -- The Washington Post Book World

Adrian Strother is a hypnotherapist who, paradoxically, can't get to sleep. He's left New York to ply his trade in a depressed section of London, treating phobias and addictions and doing the occasional job for Scotland Yard. That aspect of his work is about to get him involved with the case of a serial killer who targets little girls, as he treads the line between tortured wakefulness and surreal sleep, wrestling with his own demons and fighting to keep his past at a distance. Now the gifts of his cursed insomnia will be called upon to unlock the secrets of a man who believes he has discovered the key to immortality. Part spiritual pilgrimage, part psychological thriller, Doctor Sleep is witty, menacing, and “a rip-roaring good read” (Los Angeles Times).

“A wonderfully inventive novel in the genre of the hard-boiled detective story, with metaphysical overtones…a poetic thriller, perfectly orchestrated, beautifully written, reverberant and entertaining.” -- The Baltimore Sun