Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun
It started as a rumour, whisperings about a wave of insomnia sweeping the nation and raising the prices of sleeping pills. Soon it becomes far more than whispers and as more and more people are unable to sleep, society starts to fall apart. People give up on going to work and start looting shops for sleeping pills, grabbing any hope of rest they can get. The pills seem to work for a very brief period of time but then the sleeplessness hits them harder than ever. As the days pass people come apart, becoming violent, hallucinating, turning on anyone that even looks like they might be getting sleep.
Matt is one of the very few people whose sleep hasn’t been affected but the same can’t be said for his wife, Carolyn. He’s done all he can to help her but after six sleepless nights, she manages to escape while Matt sleeps. Knowing that the streets are going from bad to worse and violence is erupting on every street corner Matt sets out on a mission to find Carolyn.
Black Moon is full of great ideas and is so easy to imagine that you can’t help but get completely caught up in it. The sleepless quickly degenerate into mindless threats and relationships such as parents or lovers mean nothing in the world of the sleep deprived. Parents turn on their sleeping children and gangs of children turn on adults. The different characters all come from very different angles and therefore really delve into the possibilities of a sleepless world, from a sleep research lab, a young female sleeper on her own and young man on the hunt for his girlfriend. Matt and Carolyn’s story is the most evocative as he uncovers a number of upsetting secrets about his wife as he hunts for her. Black Moon would translate very easily to film and will tick all the boxes of sci-fi or zombie fans. Utterly addictive, totally engrossing and pure brilliance, Black Moon makes a compulsive read that deserves to be a massive hit.
Buy Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun