"So is this a ghost story, or a time loop, or a memory play? For Thomas, nothing seems to be off the table. She shifts between erotic thrills, gothic drama, postmodern deconstruction and kitchen-sink realism. Through her bold storytelling, The Sleepwalkers becomes a work of peculiar, gonzo genius."
--THE NEW YORK TIMES

"A wildly original summer thriller."
--One of the BBC's Best Books of the Year

"A dark, twisty, savagely humorous plunge into a cauldron of toxic relationships . . . as well as a mystery loaded with menace, this is a smart, layered, stinging look at power and its abuse."
--THE TIMES

"Thomas tells her story with the craft and cunning of an Aegean sorceress. ... [S]he can make metafiction not just smart but fun. Once more she earns her place in a postwar British canon of playfully serious mavericks that runs from Muriel Spark and Brigid Brophy to Nicola Barker and Ali Smith."
--THE SPECTATOR

"Fantastically gripping. . . The Sleepwalkers is the tattered, singed and bloodstained scrapbook of a disaster . . . Clever, emotionally resonant, packed with startling twists and dark turns and very funny indeed, this is fiction roaring on all cylinders."
--THE GUARDIAN

"The Sleepwalkers should come with a surgeon general's warning. Not because there's smoking in Scarlett Thomas' latest (there is), but because it's such dark, twisted, pervy fun that it might dent the psyche."
--MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

"I've no idea why Scarlett Thomas isn't more widely read on this side of the pond--her writing is consistently funny and weird and crystalline."
--LITHUB

"Their letters to each other contain shocking revelations, which Thomas unspools masterfully, expertly building tension and jolting the reader in equal measure. Fans of literary fiction and thrillers will find much to appreciate here, with the slow burn of the story's beginning paying off exponentially once all the cards are turned over. A straight-up winner."
--BOOKLIST (starred review)

"A novel about secrets, family curses, and the past erupting into the present... from a seemingly fearless writer."
--KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

"The Sleepwalkers is never-endingly surprising and full of keen observations on relationships, politics, and art. Thomas makes real life so fraught with meaning, it feels hauntingly supernatural. A twisty Gothic tale of vertiginous depths and haunting power."
--SANDRA NEWMAN, author of Julia and The Heavens

"A fabulously sly and slippery tale of a honeymoon that goes from bad to worse to even worse yet. Vivid, scalpel-sharp, and impossible to put down."
--KELLY LINK, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get In Trouble

"Vibey, dark, and weird, The Sleepwalkers is like a poetic, sinister The White Lotus with even more plot twists. I loved it."
--ALLIE ROWBOTTOM, author of Aesthetica

"Brilliant and utterly surprising, The Sleepwalkers kept me up late, ensnared by these pitch-perfect voices and desperate to know what was going to happen next, but also, what exactly happened in the past. A gut-wrenching mystery about how far we will go to keep our secrets, and how secrets can reverberate outward in shocking and devastating ways. Lush and deeply human, stylish and sexy and important, The Sleepwalkers will take your breath away."
--CHELSEA BIEKER, author of Godshot and Heartbroke

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pub date: 2025-04-22

Length: 304 pages