THE INSOMNIACS

Four strangers bond over their chronic insomnia and then one member of their newly tightknit group goes missing.

Sybil Foster is a middle-aged mom staring down the barrel of empty nesting with the husband she’s pretty sure is cheating. Zeke Rodriguez is a world-famous baseball pitcher with an injured arm, and Julian is a grumpy widower who runs a candy store he won’t talk about. What they have in common is insomnia. After connecting through an online group, commiserating about exhaustion and playing sudoku, they finally meet in person. They form a quick attachment to each other, and to their waitress, Betty Jones, who works the night shift at the diner they’ve chosen. The foursome begins meeting regularly at the diner, then hanging out during daylight hours, and eventually even spending Thanksgiving together. Then, without warning, Betty disappears. They suspect she may still be running from her oppressive, religiously dogmatic childhood. Sybil takes matters into her own hands, leading an amateur sleuthing mission in hopes of rescuing their friend. Meanwhile, she’s also still trying to resolve her emotions about her crumbling marriage, the career she gave up for her soon-to-be ex, and her growing feelings for a baseball player she worries is out of her league. Told in close third person throughout, the book follows each of the four main characters, letting readers into their thoughts as they navigate personal drama, insomnia, and emerging group dynamics. Full of nuanced real-life issues, like caring for ungrateful family members, making complex and long-ranging career choices, and learning to separate those choices from a sense of self, the book is also filled with gripping suspense as the friends attempt to locate Betty. The plot does require suspension of disbelief, as when the cops are repeatedly left out of a missing person case and the characters seem to be surviving on no sleep for weeks at a time with little discussion of their failed attempts at rest. Even so, the sweet depictions of human bonding and the fast-paced, gripping plot are sufficiently appealing that readers will be thoroughly charmed.

Part rom-com, part mystery caper, a story for anyone who appreciates the magic of a sleepless night.