Author: Ellie Marney
Published by: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
The best way to describe None Shall Sleep is that the book is the perfect combination of the TV show Criminal Minds and the novel Silence of the Lambs. The story centers on two teenagers: Emma Lewis, who is the only one to have survived and escaped from a brutal serial killer, and Travis Bell, who is a US Marshal candidate with extensive knowledge of law enforcement. They are both recruited by the FBI to interview juvenile killers and give insights into cold cases; however, the teens soon find themselves involved in a very active murder case. Enters Marney’s version of Hannibal, teen serial killer Simon Gutmunsson, he is open to sharing insights about the open murder case with Emma (Marney’s Clarice Starling).
I found this book to be incredibly engaging, especially because the author was able to balance the development of Emma’s relationships with the other characters and her inner struggles with the serial killer plot. It’s clear to me that Marney took great care to develop each character’s backstory, showing through their actions and inner monologues how those have impacted them. Furthermore, she succeeded in depicting Simon as a complex human being, instead of just a plain old “monster,” in fact, I think she did this better than Thomas Harris (author of Silence of the Lambs). One thing that made me a little reticent at the beginning of the book was the fear that the author would push a romantic relationship between Emma and Travis. However, she surprised me by having Emma struggle with getting close to him even as a colleague, and needing to work through her trauma and PTSD along the book to develop a thorough connection with him. It is clear that Marney intends to have them get together further down the series, but this has been one of the few times that I’ve seen a YA author take the time to develop a proper foundation for the relationship and take into account how the protagonists’ trauma affects her emotionally.
Marney is skilled at writing both complex inner monologues and more dynamic scenes, I felt part of the action whenever she described an FBI stake-out, chase sequences, and gruesome murders. If you’re into true crime, YA thrillers such as The Natural series, Karen McManus’s books, or Silence of the Lambs, I feel confident that you’ll love None Shall Sleep.
For Trigger Warnings click here
Originally written in Dec/2021
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