The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

‘Sleepless’ pandemonium unfolds in sci-fi thriller

Board needs $17,500 to finish dog park
3/17/10
Book will ‘Lift’ you to think about fleeting childhood
3/12/10
10 ways to give children effective criticism
3/12/10
Collection opens door to genius of Virginia Hamilton
3/5/10
Tech problems rush in to a desperate household
3/5/10
> More lifestyle headlines

By Vick Mickunas, Contributing Writer 4:55 PM Friday, January 29, 2010

“Sleepless” by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books, 353 pages, $25).

For the past five years, I have been reading various reviews of books written by Charlie Huston. Those reviews piqued my curiosity He has one series about a crime-solving bartender and another one about a Manhattan detective who is a vampire.

I have finally gotten around to reading one of his books. “Sleepless” is a futuristic piece of science fiction and a thriller. It is set in some bizarre Los Angeles of the not-too-distant future. The main character is a Los Angeles cop named Parker Hass.

As the story opens, Hass is stuck in an Los Angeles traffic jam. The city is in a state of pandemonium. Martial law has been declared. Ten percent of the population is infected with a disease that makes it impossible to sleep.

All those sleepless people are milling about looking for things to do. Many immerse themselves in online games including one named “Chasm Tide.” Only one medication provides any brief respite for these insomnia sufferers, a product called Dreamer. Officer Hass has gone undercover to identify and apprehend some black-market dealers of this precious drug.

He is all too familiar with the symptoms of the disorder. His wife is one of the afflicted sleepless ones. They have a young child, and Hass is concerned that their baby might fall ill, too. Of course people who can’t sleep for extended periods of time cannot survive for long. Nobody understands what causes this plague or how it is being transmitted. Was it in the water? Their food? In the air? Nobody seems to know.

Huston then introduces a professional killer who has been hired to obtain a piece of computer equipment. Hass has this device in his possession. Readers know that this assassin will soon be tracking down our heroic cop.

As Los Angeles melts down, “The few other cars were driven by those whose cares were great enough to take the risk, who were stupid enough not to see the danger as real, brave enough to face it with a desire to find some way to help, or the sleepless. No reason to fear anything, they wandered the sidewalks and drove the roads. Sudden bursts of speed, violent turns, or constant meandering between lanes tipped one off that the car ahead should be given a wide berth.”

Hass races against time. His wife is dying. He is close to finding the source of the black-market medicine. The mysterious killer closes in — this messenger of darkness is quite the fascinating fellow. While civilization teeters on the brink: “there’s still a better than even chance that someone somewhere will set off a nuke before this all shakes out.”

In “Sleepless,” Huston has created an apocalyptic nightmare. One man still possesses integrity and love for his family. He battles the demons of this vanishing world. This is a story that feels like it could really happen. The ending is a brilliant shocker. What a fabulous read.

Contact book reviewer Vick Mickunas at vick@vickmickunas.com

Share this article