Sleep When You're Dead

March 1, 2014

A freelance sports reporter named Casey Thread who suffers bouts of narcolepsy at inopportune times learns that a friend has disappeared. When statues containing dead bodies begin appearing around Green Bay, WI, Thread teams up with an FBI agent to find his friend before she becomes the next piece of art. This debut thriller is an inconsistent mess from the beginning. The clunky dialog, the inconsistencies concerning geography, and gaps in logic are baffling. For example, a character breaks an arm and soon after is packing and carrying heavy boxes. The biggest mistake of all is using the protagonist's narcolepsy as nothing more than a joke or plot device when it's convenient. A chance to understand the condition and its causes is wasted. With another layer of edits that tackled all of the inherent problems in the story line, this could have been a winner. VERDICT This title will only have regional interest.--Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

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