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dessski's review against another edition
3.0
Cool idea, but has a lot of useless fluff that makes it pretty slow moving. Got halfway through the book and wondered when the excitement would happen. Still a decent read with very gorey descriptions. Didn't care for all the romance stuff though.
caspore_'s review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
reading_112's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
zemmitash's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
miss_snek's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cxffee_addxct's review against another edition
2.0
I ended up picking up The Sleep Experiment in the hopes that it would be an expansion of the well-loved and incredibly written Russian sleep experiment creepypasta, and in a way I got what I hoped for. Jeremy Bates did a great job of taking that initial source material and expanding upon it, inserting the original creepypasta in the story as Dr. Roy Wallis uses it as a source of both inspiration and a blueprint for his own experiment, trying to see exactly how three weeks of no sleep will affect his two willing participants, two Australian backpackers wanting to make a little extra money.
That being said, what Bates didn't need to do was throw in heaps of unnecessary and far too detailed side stories focused on Dr. Wallis' dating and sex life. Most of the women in this book were melted down into caricatures and exist solely to tell us as readers that Dr. Wallis is soooo smart and soooo desirable. Beyond that, half of them end up dying because Dr. Wallis is a misogynistic, narcissistic a-hole who only cared about his accolades and an experiment that was very obviously heading for disaster. Penny deserved better. Brook deserved better. Dr. Wallis got what he deserved.
That being said, what Bates didn't need to do was throw in heaps of unnecessary and far too detailed side stories focused on Dr. Wallis' dating and sex life. Most of the women in this book were melted down into caricatures and exist solely to tell us as readers that Dr. Wallis is soooo smart and soooo desirable. Beyond that, half of them end up dying because Dr. Wallis is a misogynistic, narcissistic a-hole who only cared about his accolades and an experiment that was very obviously heading for disaster. Penny deserved better. Brook deserved better. Dr. Wallis got what he deserved.
lynguy1's review
3.0
The Sleep Experiment by Jeremy Bates is a chilling horror tale that will keep readers turning the pages. In 2018, Dr. Roy Wallis, the head of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley is attempting a sleep deprivation experiment using a stimulant gas. With two Australian test subjects under surveillance around the clock, he and his two student assistants (Penny Park and Guru Rampal) will record their findings. These will include general observations as well as various test results. The experiment is scheduled to last twenty-one days. But the situation soon becomes a nightmare.
Wallis is fashionable, ambitious, and determined to see the experiment through to its end. Penny is sharp, has a sardonic sense of humor, is an extrovert, and she’s attracted to older men. Guru is intelligent and hopes to eventually help reform the health care system in India. The two test subjects are Sharon and Chad, who met while traveling in Europe, and have become friends.
While the prologue and last day of instruction chapters were interesting, the book pacing quickly slows to a crawl as readers gain insight into the various characters during the next two chapters. The following few days get more interesting as readers see how the test subjects behave as they experience boredom, lack of privacy, and endless tests that show physical and mental changes. Readers need to be prepared for a chilling, horrifying, and action-filled horrifying finish. Themes include human experiments, ethics, sleep deprivation, values, and much more.
Overall, this is a book that kept me turning the pages after a slow start to see what would happen next. It was initially intriguing and this was followed by shocking.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was July 7, 2019.
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My 2.73 rounded to 3 stars review is coming soon.
Wallis is fashionable, ambitious, and determined to see the experiment through to its end. Penny is sharp, has a sardonic sense of humor, is an extrovert, and she’s attracted to older men. Guru is intelligent and hopes to eventually help reform the health care system in India. The two test subjects are Sharon and Chad, who met while traveling in Europe, and have become friends.
While the prologue and last day of instruction chapters were interesting, the book pacing quickly slows to a crawl as readers gain insight into the various characters during the next two chapters. The following few days get more interesting as readers see how the test subjects behave as they experience boredom, lack of privacy, and endless tests that show physical and mental changes. Readers need to be prepared for a chilling, horrifying, and action-filled horrifying finish. Themes include human experiments, ethics, sleep deprivation, values, and much more.
Overall, this is a book that kept me turning the pages after a slow start to see what would happen next. It was initially intriguing and this was followed by shocking.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was July 7, 2019.
----------------------------------------
My 2.73 rounded to 3 stars review is coming soon.
tinselcity2040's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
fai_aka's review
3.0
I know that this story will end badly-I mean, come on, it's a thriller- but I feel like the doctor’s turn from normal to crazy is a little too sudden?? Usually, you could sense that a certain character is not normal, but I didn’t saw it coming at all. And conveniently, after the reveal that the guy’s crazy, we’re suddenly told about his other behaviors which would have made me doubt him from the beginning—like his dreams, his deviant sexual behavior. I don’t know, maybe I’m the one who missed the clues, the foreshadowing that the author gives, but I totally didn’t expect the doc to kill Penny.