The Bram Stoker Awardâwinning author of Survivor Song and The Cabin at the End of the World âslices, dices, and spins the neo-noir in his own strange wayâ in his âfast, smart, and completely satisfyingâ* debut novel featuring a narcoleptic detective from Southie.
*Stewart OâNan
The Little Sleep is Paul Tremblayâs nod to Raymond Chandler starring a PI who nods off. Mark Genevich is a South Boston private detective who happens to have a severe form of narcolepsy, which includes hypnagogic hallucinations, like waking dreams. Unsurprisingly, his practice is not exactly booming.
Then one day the daughter of an ambitious district attorney and a contestant on the reality talent show American Star named Jennifer Times comes to him for helpâor does she? A man has stolen her fingers, she claims, and sheâd like Genevich to get them back. When the PI wakes up from what must surely be a hallucination, the only evidence that his client may have been real is a manila envelope on his desk. Inside are revealing photos of Jennifer. Is Genevich dealing with a blackmailer or an exhibitionist? And where is the mysterious young lady, who hopefully still has her fingers attached?
The detective has no choice but to plunge into what proves to be a bad dream of a case, with twists and turns even his subconscious could not anticipate. Chloroforming the hardboiled crime genre then shaking it awake and spinning it around, Paul Tremblay delivers a wholly original, wildly imaginative, gleefully entertaining noir mysteryâguaranteed to keep you up all night, even if Mark Genevich wonât be joining you.