Dr. James Richardson is a promising young psychiatrist who
has just landed what seems to be a dream job for someone in
his position. Dr. Hugh Maitland has decided to take James
under his wing and hires him to run the reclusive Wyldehope
Hall located deep in Suffolk. This is a real coup for
someone in James' place. He happily accepts the post and
moves into his apartment located in the hospital.
One of James' responsibilities is to monitor Dr. Maitland's
controversial project of sleep therapy patients. It is a
potentially dangerous treatment but could mean professional
accolades for both doctors if it is successful. However,
from the first moment that James sets foot in the Sleep
Room, he is filled with a sort dread and wonders early on if
this is something that is helpful or harmful for the six
women involved.
Soon odd things begin to happen at Wyldehope. These are
things that make no sense and cannot be explained by logical
means. More and more, James is left to wonder why his
predecessor left so suddenly and under such odd
circumstances. The longer he stays the more James is exposed
to what seem to be supernatural events. Eventually, he
begins to wonder whether this is such an amazing position
after all. But whatever is haunting James seems reluctant to
let him leave.
THE SLEEP ROOM is an engrossing tale of a man's fight for
his career as well as his sanity. The author, F. R. Tallis,
is also Frank Tallis who has written many award winning
books in the past and he certainly does not disappoint in
THE SLEEP ROOM. Even though it is set in the mid to late
1950s, this book is part steam punk and part ghost story. I
found myself to be very caught up in the plot and very
concerned for James Richardson's safety as well as being
greatly curious about what was really going on with those
patients in THE SLEEP ROOM.
The really jarring factor about THE SLEEP ROOM is that just
when you think you know what is happening and what has
happened, you find yourself taking a turn so twisted that
you are still trying to figure out what was real and what
was not. Of course, this only makes THE SLEEP ROOM that much
more fun! It may take more than one reading before you
completely understand it all, but it is well worth the
effort because you will totally give yourself over to this
story.
When promising young psychiatrist James Richards is offered
the job opportunity of a lifetime by the charismatic Dr.
Hugh Maitland, he is thrilled. Setting off to take up his
post at Wyldehope Hall in deepest Suffolk, Richardson
doesn’t look back. One of his tasks is to manage Maitland’s
most controversial project—a pioneering therapy in which
extremely disturbed patients are kept asleep for months. If
this radically and potentially dangerous procedure is
successful, it could mean professional glory for both
doctors.
As Richardson settles into his new life, he begins to sense
something uncanny about the sleeping patients—six women,
forsaken by society. Why is Maitland unwilling to discuss
their past lives? Why is the trainee nurse so on edge when
she spends nights alone with them? And what can it mean when
all the sleepers start dreaming at the same time? In this
atmospheric reinvention of the ghost story, Richardson finds
himself questioning everything he knows about the human
mind, as he attempts to uncover the shocking secrets of the
Sleep Room . . .