Night-night, Sleep Tight

by Paul Burman

Meg Dapsy's family home has been destroyed in an arson attack. Her mother is dead and her father is missing, but Stella, the younger sister she's always taken care of, has one secret too many... and it involves an old boyfriend.

With suspicion falling on a group of militant Animal Rights activists, Meg has no doubt where the blame really lies.

Night-night, Sleep Tight is a psychological thriller set against the backdrop of a vast, forested wilderness.

This is the third novel from Paul Burman, author of the surreal The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore and the thriller The Grease Monkey's Tale.

314 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2017

About the author

Paul Burman was born in Northamptonshire, England, but currently lives in Port Fairy, Australia.

He’s worked in a wine-bottling factory, a deep freeze, a plumbing warehouse, the Post Office; he’s been an English teacher, a shop assistant, a maize ‘castrator’ in the south of France, and he once had a newspaper round until a neighbour’s dog bit him.

As a child, he lied about his age to become a Beefeater at the Tower of London, but was sent to school instead, where he spent many years failing to escape.

That he’s been compulsively reading and writing fiction from the age of 6 may be the result of a childhood indiscretion, in which he was caught inadvertently telling the truth. Making up stories has remained a happy obsession ever since.

Reviews

[Beagle Lover (Avid Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Night-Night, Sleep Tight 3.50 stars

This book was extremely difficult for me to review, as it has so many excellent plot twists that are outweighed by a few totally underdeveloped characters. But in the end, I found in favor of the plot and forgave the characters underdevelopment.

The story begins with the protagonist's, Meg, family house being set ablaze by arson. In the fire, her father turns up missing, her mother is killed and her younger sister, Stella is in the hospital for smoke inhalation. (She wasn't supposed to even be in the house, as her mother and her had had a huge fight that day.) Meg had dated Pete Lailer, who "dumped" her after Meg's mother contacted him and shied him off of her daughter. He was heavily into Action for Animal Rights, which was vehemently against the testing of drugs on animals. Yet Meg's father, Victor, had been the one who got Pete a job at Demlab, where Victor was the executive manager. Demlab used animals in the testing of new drugs.

After the fire, Meg tries to point the finger at Pete. But as the plot unveils, we come to discover that the police and other authorities are investigating the fire. Stella is released from the hospital and does not come to live with Meg, who is house sitting for a friend. She is, in reality staying with Pete, who is back in town.

Meg, unable to cope with all of this intense pressure, succumbs to a mental breakdown and spends weeks in a mental health ward recovering. Upon release, she begins to remember certain things from her past that she has blanked out of her consciousness. In a series of brilliant plot twists, the author manages to revel in startling detail what REALLY happened the night of the fire. The last few chapters will have you rapidly blinking your eyes and thinking "What did I just read?"

The book was worth the read, and the plot was totally captivating. Do I recommend it? Yes. Is it perfect? In my opinion, no. But the positive outweighs the negative for this reader.

[Maree Hodgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story, being told by Meg Dapsy, begins with the aftermath of a fire which burned down the family home and killed Meg's mother. Her father is missing and her younger sister Stella was taken to hospital but recovers.
Police are investigating and their suspicion seems to shift between different characters.
As the inner workings of the toxic family environment are slowly revealed through Meg's memories you begin to understand how it has helped to shape events. It's quite interesting to follow the story from Meg's perspective as she tries to control her world and the people in it.
I must say that although I enjoyed reading this book I did find the ending quite abrupt. I would have liked at least a couple more chapters or perhaps a second book.
A great read for people who like psychological/crime fiction.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

My opinion doesn't really count here because I wrote it and so of course I like it a lot... otherwise I wouldn't have released it into the wild! :-) Beyond that, what can I say? As an author, I love it when the characters in a book take on a life of their own and begin to surprise me with some of their actions. This was certainly the case with the characters in 'Night-night, Sleep Tight'. The moment they began to do this was the moment it shifted from being a potential third novel, which might, like others, get ditched after 50,000 words or so, into a story that was breathing and wouldn't allow me to walk away from it. Always a great feeling. But because - like many authors, I imagine - I'm always beset by doubts as to whether a book will work for other people, the proof is in the response of readers themselves. And so it's always with a great sense of relief when readers - people I know and people I don't know - begin to tell me that they've enjoyed the story, it's worked for them, they've got caught up in the characters and, maybe, have been surprised themselves. At the very least that they've been entertained for a while and made it their own. And if a few haven't enjoyed it then so be it: not everything works for everyone.

[Tracie Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling. Disturbing. The ending delivers a perverse kind of justice. Check it out.

[Suzy Dominey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good twist