The Sleep Room, by F.R Tallis, discussion (October)

[Hollie]

Well here we are in the month of Halloween! So can anyone guess what the genre might be for this month?? Yes that's right, Horror of course! This spooky adventure is definitely one I would rather not go alone on, so if anyone would like to join in with this one, lets grab our books and torches, pull the duvets over our heads, and listen out for those bumps in the night. Spooooky!!!!! Here we go!!

[Dana]

I won’t be participating in this group read. But I did find a potentially spooky in its own way book to read this month. “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” by Kate Morton. I just love her style of writing and I’ve only read the first 2 chapters but I’m already feeling a little eerie edge to this book and loving it.

[Hollie]

That one looks sooo good Dana, please let us know what it’s like and if it lives up to Kate Morton’s usual outstanding standards! X

[Shawnda]

I have this one in my stack ready to go I love, love, love spooky and horror books so I can't wait to get started on this one!

[Hollie]

I’m so pleased this is your cup of tea Shawnda! And as I said in my previous post, I am so pleased to have company on this particular adventure! Lol x

[Hollie]

I have just had to force myself to put this book down for a minute to write this post because I just HAVE to talk about it with someone! I am now at page 154 (view spoiler)[ So! Dr Palmer has left the pub, mysterious wedding ring in hand, after meeting with Dr Richardson, and on the way back to Wyldehope Dr Richardson has just had the oddest dream where Dr Palmer’s late wife is distraught about the fact that Dr Richardson gave the ring to Dr Palmer. In this dream the book also says that the wife was also wearing a “gauzy nightdress”. I am still very unsure about where this story might be going but at this moment in time, for some reason the nightdress has planted the suspicion in my head that she could have once been a patient at Wyldehope. 💭 Then again I could be completely over thinking the nightdress and she could have been wearing it because she was very ill with Leukaemia when she died. (hide spoiler)] hmmm. Thoughts on this subject anyone? I am Really enjoying this book so far, and the whole spooky vibe of it. Is Dr Richardson being haunted from beyond the grave by spirits frantically trying to get a message to him? Or is poor Dr Richardson going slightly mad? To be honest, with it being the month of Halloween I hope it’s the first option lol.

[Hollie]

Have just reached page: 231 (view spoiler)[ I just CAN NOT believe Dr Richardson is still in the building of Wyldehope after what he has just been through! Doors frantically opening and closing by themselves! Creepy Victorian Christmas Tree decorations jingling on their own accord! Not to mention the power cut of which he is sure is related to the paranormal activity that has been going on! You would not have seen me for dust! I would say that Mary had the right idea by making a very fast exit if she hadn’t tragically lost her way and ended up floating amongst the reeds in the marshes. The part of the book I have just read has reminded me how true it is that a book can be far more scarier than a film if you let yourself get really into it. (hide spoiler)]

[Kendra]

Totally with you, Holly! I just reached page 267 and boyyy have there been some scary moments...this has officially become a daylight/lunch break-only kind of read, haha.

(view spoiler)[ Seriously, though, how can this book opportunity with Maitland be so important to Richardson that he straight up doesn't care about everything that has just happened?! I can sort of understand him reasoning around it before the power outage Christmas incident, but afterwards there's just no way I'd stay.

I do like the touch where he can't really tell anyone else about it because the only other witness is "crazy."

But also, finding creepy Victorian doll tree ornament in my bed from a ghost?? Even if I stupidly decide to stay on as doctor, 110% not sleeping in that room again, ever.

As to your prediction, I can definitely see that being a possibility. The dream/nightgown detail struck me as interesting as well.

I'm mostly curious about how the hauntings are occuring, and what the sleep room patients have to do with it--and then of course if Maitland is consciously involved or not. What I really want to happen is Richardson to finally just snoop in Maitland's office where he saw that file folder, and get to know some of the sleep room girls' backstories so he/we can get some answers!! (hide spoiler)]

[Hollie]

That would be great if Dr Richardson had a good look round Maitland's office, I would have by now! Lol, I am so ready for some answers to all these mysteries! Up to page 245, (view spoiler)[ Osbourne has just dropped into conversation that a secret love affair has been known to take place between Jane and Maitland! REEEAALLLYYY???????? To be honest I don't know who is more shocked about this, me or Dr Richardson! Lol (hide spoiler)]

[Kendra]

Just finished, and this one threw me through a loop! I was truly liking it until the rushed and confusing ending--which unfortunately kind of ruined the whole thing for me. :/

I liked the characters, the writing, the setting, and the build-up. It was slow to get going, but I didn't mind because it fit the tone of the story--and by the time things picked up pace I definitely thought it was worth the wait.

However...
(view spoiler)[ I do like mysteries/thrillers to end with fanfare and be tied up neatly, but in this case the ending came super quickly and brought up way more questions than it answered:

Okay, so was Richardson dreaming or not? Was Wyldehope real or not? Was everything we just read seriously not real--or at least too different to make accurate connections? Why did his final "dream" (or reality?) take place in the 60's/70's when the rest of the story was post WWII? Was the rest of the story him dreaming he was his father at Wyldehope? If the final dream was real, was Richardson actually being taken advantage of, or did he really have paranoid delusions? Also: Isn't the "doctor is actually a patient" mystery a bit lazy and cliched?

It ended the whole thing on a very depressing and hopeless note, not to mention making it feel like the rest of the read was a waste of time because it in no way fit with the "twist" at the end.

What point was there to getting to know and becoming sympathetic to a set of characters that weren't really "real"? And for that matter, what was the point of all the other storylines: Chapman, Mary, the PTSD victim (I forget his name), Maitland's ties with the secret service...even Sheila and her fiance? Those and several other things ended up having literally no bearing on anything else, while at the time it seemed like they'd be parts of the mystery or at least relevant plot points.

I probably could ignore the ending and still appreciate the rest of the book if I hadn't found the other pre-ending twists underwhelming. By the time we had heard all the patients' backstories, I knew they were controlling the poltergeist activity and would most likely destroy the hospital + Maitland in the end; I just thought there'd be more to it than that.

I also guessed that Jane was hiding something, but was disappointed when it was no more than a previous tryst with Maitland, and that Richardson wasn't able to get over it. While I understand now that it was supposed to be a (poorly dropped) hint for the end, that still just seems awkwardly out of character rather than a clue.

So for me at least, the twist itself didn't have any "aha!" or "no way!" satisfaction, because not enough of it fit and it left too many parts of the rest of the story unexplained or dropped. I felt like I was reading the ending to a different mystery that just happened to have some of the same names thrown in as the one I spent the last few days reading. (hide spoiler)]

What are everyone else's thoughts? Were you okay with the ending, or how other things were wrapped up? It's entirely possible that I missed some key elements and was just too stupid to enjoy this book like I should have, haha.

[Hollie]

Just finished...and I now see exactly what you mean Kendra, what on earth was this ending about?? I feel this book had so much potential because I have to say 90% of it I really enjoyed and it had me guessing what was going to happen next on many occasions, and although I can't stand it when a book is too predictable and I enjoy guessing when reading a book, I do feel the need to know if my guesses were correct eventually. But that didn't happen here! I would love to have a conversation with F.R Tallis and have this ending explained to me! So frustrating. I think for a twist to have any impact of course it needs to be understood, and I just don't get this one, if anything I suppose it could pass as some sort of cliff hanger. One thing I can stay about this book is that it definitely got me thinking for a while after I finished the book, which I suppose all authors try to achieve this and don't want their book to not have any impact at all. But all the thinking I did I still could not work this ending out so rather than this staying in my head in a good way. It has just left a big confused blur. Unfortunately I don't feel like I can answer and of the questions in your previous post Kendra, as I am equally baffled! Overall good book in my opinion but massively let down by the complete mess of an ending, it seems to me like the author attempted a similar twist to the brilliant "Shutter Island" by Dennis Lehane. I can safely say that from where I am sitting, this was NOT achieved here.

[Shawnda]

I’m just starting this one and it is very interesting so far can’t wait to see what you guys are talking about with the ending

[Hollie]

Please let us know what you think Shawnda, any luck you will understand it and be able to explain it to me and Kendra! No pressure Lol x

[Kendra]

So glad I'm not alone in my thinking, Hollie! You explained it perfectly.

Shawnda, I can't wait to hear what you think of it, especially as you really like this genre. Maybe you'll have a different perspective because you have more experience!

[Hollie]

I will say this book did have me very spooked at times!! X

[Kendra]

Agreed! That is one definite part in its favor. :)

[Shawnda]

I must say this book highly disappointed me!!!!!!!! It all started off a little boring and I thought okay any time now something can happen. Then just when it started to get interesting, and everything starts to get freaky and we could have ended with a bang! No, the author decides to throw in such a freaking dumb ending that goes and cancels out everything!!!!!!!!! Plus come on we all know that was an ending inspired inside and out by Shutter Island So, in my opinion, to answer what I think happened at the end (view spoiler)[He was, of course, coming in and out of consciousness at some psych ward, and was somehow intermingling past and present memories into his dreams which I am assuming were being influenced by electrotherapy, and perhaps this suggested brainwashing that was being done by the CIA. I was pretty mad while reading the book at the author's extremely chauvinistic approach to writing about how the female love interest in this book was such a hoe because she had slept with people before he met her. Therefore he couldn't handle it and broke it off with her, but after reading the ending where he was so incredibly jealous of her as his wife in his "real life" and acted a fool I understood why this aspect was thrown in there, but I still don't have to like it. It all had something to do with his subconscious but it was so confusing and not explained the way it should have been to make this a good story (hide spoiler)]

[Hollie]

It's so interesting how all of us who have read this book have found it very confusing. To be honest I don't really know the stages a book has to go through to be published. Does it not have to be liked by someone such as an editor in order to be published and get onto the shelves of book shops and libraries? My reason for asking this is, surely someone must have understood this ending and even liked it for it to have got this far no?