Insomnia, by Sarah Pinborough

I tried reading Sarah Pinborough back when she was a Leisure writer, but the book I bought, Breeding Ground, didn't appeal to me. Years later a friend assured me that Pinborough had undergone a metamorphosis and her new suspense fiction was like something from an altogether different writer.

So I tried Behind Her Eyes, which was enormously popular. I really liked it. I didn't find the novel to be as original as some did. I was reminded of Harlan Ellison's dark novella, Mefisto in Onyx. Behind Her Eyes also recalls Stephen King's End of Watch, which was published a year beforehand.

I don't mean to take anything away from Sarah Pinborough and Behind Her Eyes. It's a rip-snorting novel that absolutely deserved its success.

I didn't like the next two Pinborough novels as much, but they are good books. My enthusiasm waned a little, but not enough to prevent me from reading her latest, Insomnia.

Right off, Insomnia is another rapid-paced novel, with a smart but very troubled female protagonist. I roared through the book in a twenty-four hour period.

However, I think Sarah Pinborough relies to much on the trendy twist plot device. I've grown sick of these kind of things. Major twists are, to me, like a cheap jump scare in a middling horror movie.

When I hear a reviewer describe a book as "twisty", I want to run in the opposite direction. Joe Hill, obviously a Sarah Pinborough fan, says Insomnia is the twistiest thriller since The Girl on the Train. Like this is a good thing?

Ever since Gillian Flynn electrified readers with her incredibly influential Gone Girl, suspense writers have been stumbling all over one another trying to out-twist the last bestseller. It's the literary equivalent of The Shyamalan Syndrome.

I really liked Insomnia's strong but troubled protagonist. The novel moves at a brisk pace, and I actually gave a damn about her plight. Even though the identity of the antagonist was plainly obvious to me from the onset. There are hints at quantum physics in the mix, but it's murky and unsatisfying.

If capable writers like Sarah Pinborough and Riley Sager stopped trying to blow our minds with ingenious twists, I at least might enjoy them a lot more. It's probably not all their fault. I imagine publishers pressuring them into repeating their biggest successes.

I think the whole domestic suspense fad has worn thin. A legion of writers have sold a lot of these kind of stories since Gone Girl rocked the publishing world, but maybe it's time to move on.

Written by Mark Sieber