Victor Manibo’s debut novel The Sleepless is a sharp, thought-provoking science fiction mystery with an instantly compelling premise and some strong commentary on technology and corporate power. In a near future in which large swathes of the population have become physically incapable of sleeping, Jamie Vega is a journalist for a global media outlet, and a hyperinsomniac himself – one of the Sleepless. When he finds the body of his beloved boss and mentor in the buildup to a huge takeover bid, Jamie can’t believe that it’s a case of suicide, and puts his investigative skills to use in trying to uncover the truth. The deeper he digs, as he uncovers dangerous secrets and reopens old wounds, the more he realises that not only can he not trust many of the people around him, but he might not even be able to trust his own mind.
There’s quite a lot going on in this book, but the central concept of the Sleepless is straight-up cool, and provides endless opportunities for the exploration of thought-provoking questions. The novel is set a decade after the global sleeplessness pandemic that suddenly changed everything, with years of fear and unrest largely in the past, but the social and economic impact is still very much being felt, and Manibo gradually works through a lot of the implications (both positive and negative) as the story progresses. There’s a real Cyberpunk feel to the way Manibo explores questions of memory, both from a technological perspective but also a biological one – after all, one of the purposes of sleep is to help us process memories, so what happens if someone can’t sleep? And what might that mean for the processing of particularly traumatic memories, and the knock-on mental health effects?
Of course a great idea isn’t enough on its own, but thankfully there’s plenty to dig into with the plot too. Things start off quite low-key and grounded, but over the course of the book everything begins to ramp up – scale, stakes, pace, the lot – until it ends up more like a high-stakes cyber thriller than the low-key mystery it started off as. The change of tone and feel, from investigative journalism to breathless action, might not suit everyone, but the mystery is clever enough and Jamie is a sufficiently engaging and well-developed character that it does somehow work. As a queer Filipino-American as well being Sleepless, he offers an interesting perspective on this not-too-distant and remarkably believable setting, as he questions everything – the decisions he’s made, his place in the world, who and what he wants to be.
It is definitely a science fiction novel, with that great central concept that poses a lot of questions and proves worryingly believable (and, in a post-pandemic world, very topical), but if you strip all that back there’s an equally relevant core of commentary on where the real world is going. Which is what makes great science fiction great, of course, and in this case makes The Sleepless the sort of book that will live with you for a while after finishing it. As long as you’re happy to go with the flow as the plot ramps up and the book slightly changes tone, then this is well worth picking up if you’re looking for a gripping, pacy mystery with great queer and Asian rep, a world that feels well-realised and utterly real, and a speculative concept that’s as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.
Review copy provided by the publisher
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