A review by bent
Sleepless by Charlie Huston

5.0

Just an excellent book. It's kind of a detective noir novel set in a future dystopia The two main characters are Parker Haas, a straight arrow police office, and Jasper, a hired killer. The two wend their way through a future Los Angeles, heading for the inevitable collision.

This is one of those books that I had problems putting down. The plot kept twisting and turning, there was lots of action, and you genuinely cared about Haas and his family. Jasper was also a fascinating character, an aesthete, obsessed with balance, that is also ruthlessly efficient. There is a point late in the book where Jasper should kill Haas but does not, and even though intellectually I was screaming "this is unrealistic" it was handled in such a way that I actually found his decision not too distracting.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I didn't know what to expect - it was at the bottom of a pile of library books that I had taken out, and I couldn't remember why I'd put a hold on it, but I'm really glad that I did. From cover to cover, this was a fantastic read. It might be the best thing I've read all year, although to be fair, it is only March 2.