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World's Scariest Legends #2
The Sleep Experiment
In 1954, at the start of the Cold War, the Soviet military offered four political prisoners their freedom if they participated in an experiment requiring them to remain awake for fourteen days while under the influence of a powerful stimulant gas. The prisoners ultimately reverted to murder, self-mutilation, and madness. None survived.
In 2018, Dr. Roy Wallis, an esteemed psychology professor at UC Berkeley, is attempting to recreate the same experiment during the summer break in a soon-to-be demolished building on campus. He and two student assistants share an eight-hour rotational schedule to observe their young Australian test subjects around the clock.
What begins innocently enough, however, morphs into a nightmare beyond description that no one could have imagined--with, perhaps, the exception of Dr. Roy Wallis himself.
In 2018, Dr. Roy Wallis, an esteemed psychology professor at UC Berkeley, is attempting to recreate the same experiment during the summer break in a soon-to-be demolished building on campus. He and two student assistants share an eight-hour rotational schedule to observe their young Australian test subjects around the clock.
What begins innocently enough, however, morphs into a nightmare beyond description that no one could have imagined--with, perhaps, the exception of Dr. Roy Wallis himself.
254 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2019
About the author
Jeremy Bates
48 books1,595 followersUSA TODAY and #1 AMAZON bestselling author Jeremy Bates has published more than twenty novels and novellas, which have been translated into several languages, optioned for film and TV, and downloaded more than one million times. Midwest Book Review compares his work to "Stephen King, Joe Lansdale, and other masters of the art." He has won both an Australian Shadows Award and a Canadian Arthur Ellis Award. He was also a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided by readers. The novels in the "World's Scariest Places" series are set in real locations and include Suicide Forest in Japan, The Catacombs in Paris, Helltown in Ohio, Island of the Dolls in Mexico, and Mountain of the Dead in Russia. The novels in the "World's Scariest Legends" series are based on real legends and include Mosquito Man and The Sleep Experiment. You can check out any of these places or legends on the web. Also, visit JEREMYBATESBOOKS.COM to receive Black Canyon, WINNER of The Lou Allin Memorial Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 705 reviews
June 2, 2021
Where do I start? No really, where do I start? This book was so bad for so many reasons including (but not limited to) huge scientific inaccuracies, extreme misogyny, and bad portrayal of the characters of color. Not to mention immature writing, horrible pacing, annoying characters, and so much fucking filler in the book to make up for its lack of plot. So where do I start? I suppose you'll want to hear the problematic stuff, so I'll start with one of my biggest problems that kept screaming at me.
Casual sexism. Objectifying women. Misogyny. It goes by many names, pick whatever one you want, I guarantee it's correct. Dr. Roy Wallis is not a sex addict, but he does say himself that he's addicted to sex. Why this clarification? Because he is too high class to be considered a "sex addict". He is dignified, get used to that sentiment being shoved down your throat. He goes through a few women, which there is nothing wrong with. I mean all the women were consenting so go ahead do your thing. But the problem is that every woman is too willing, almost borderline obsessed with him. Like actually obsessed. There's this one assistant named Penny who STALKS him. EvERY SINGLE WOMAN IN THIS FUCKING BOOK. THERE WERE QUITE A FEW WOMEN. HE WAS NOT THAT CHARMING. And none of the women had personalities besides being romantically or sexually interesting in him. It was their only personality trait. Every woman in the story was described physically before anything else which again isn't a problem inherently since physical description is important, but the thing is, it was always about their bodies and what clothes they were wearing and how it completed their figure and I was like "ew." Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew. This author's writing was compared to Stephen King's. I personally believe that means neither of them can write women.
Next, we had a handful of non-white characters. I can't speak to the representation since I am not a person of color, all I can say is that it made me very uncomfortable. He would often describe a person just by saying "The African" or "The Indian" instead of saying their names. This made me especially uncomfortable because this was used in a scene where Dr. Roy Wallis was picking up a prostitute at a club. He referred to the women as "The African", "The Asian" and "The Scandanavian" which is 100% objectifying women AT THE VERY LEAST. Beyond this, the two main characters of color (The lab assistants Guru and Penny) were very stereotypical. I've read multiple reviews of people who have been saying the same thing, so I felt comfortable putting this complaint in my review. Another note about Guru and Penny, at the beginning of the book especially, they would get into very petty and juvenile arguments. The dialogue was very childish and made me wonder how 2 very smart graduate students are talking like this? Well I know the answer, it's to make Dr. Roy Wallis seem smarter and more mature in comparison.
And possibly the biggest thing wrong with this book is the sheer inaccuracy of it. At the beginning of the book, it states, "Nobody really knows why we sleep" which is a straight-up lie. Dr. Roy Wallis's argument is that we have been conditioned to sleep and no longer require it. When we sleep, our organs repair themselves, we refresh and prepare for another day and the long-term memory is very active. We are very active when we sleep. (Which angered me more because sleeping kept being referred to as "shutting down" which is not even close). I understand that this is a work of fiction, but it just made me very angry to read false psychological information. There was also a case where a man stayed awake for 11 straight days and Dr. Roy Wallis claimed that he had no long-term effects after she slept which is a straight-up lie. Like, look it up.
Also anytime Bates would get bored of the horror story I came from he would introduce another character for half a page that we never get a follow up on. Don't even get me started on Dr. Roy Wallis who is always referred to by his full name for some reason. They were really going for a whole Greek Tragic hero complex and failed because he had no good qualities but very faked charisma.
Save your time, don't read the book. Read the creepypasta.
Casual sexism. Objectifying women. Misogyny. It goes by many names, pick whatever one you want, I guarantee it's correct. Dr. Roy Wallis is not a sex addict, but he does say himself that he's addicted to sex. Why this clarification? Because he is too high class to be considered a "sex addict". He is dignified, get used to that sentiment being shoved down your throat. He goes through a few women, which there is nothing wrong with. I mean all the women were consenting so go ahead do your thing. But the problem is that every woman is too willing, almost borderline obsessed with him. Like actually obsessed. There's this one assistant named Penny who STALKS him. EvERY SINGLE WOMAN IN THIS FUCKING BOOK. THERE WERE QUITE A FEW WOMEN. HE WAS NOT THAT CHARMING. And none of the women had personalities besides being romantically or sexually interesting in him. It was their only personality trait. Every woman in the story was described physically before anything else which again isn't a problem inherently since physical description is important, but the thing is, it was always about their bodies and what clothes they were wearing and how it completed their figure and I was like "ew." Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew. This author's writing was compared to Stephen King's. I personally believe that means neither of them can write women.
Next, we had a handful of non-white characters. I can't speak to the representation since I am not a person of color, all I can say is that it made me very uncomfortable. He would often describe a person just by saying "The African" or "The Indian" instead of saying their names. This made me especially uncomfortable because this was used in a scene where Dr. Roy Wallis was picking up a prostitute at a club. He referred to the women as "The African", "The Asian" and "The Scandanavian" which is 100% objectifying women AT THE VERY LEAST. Beyond this, the two main characters of color (The lab assistants Guru and Penny) were very stereotypical. I've read multiple reviews of people who have been saying the same thing, so I felt comfortable putting this complaint in my review. Another note about Guru and Penny, at the beginning of the book especially, they would get into very petty and juvenile arguments. The dialogue was very childish and made me wonder how 2 very smart graduate students are talking like this? Well I know the answer, it's to make Dr. Roy Wallis seem smarter and more mature in comparison.
And possibly the biggest thing wrong with this book is the sheer inaccuracy of it. At the beginning of the book, it states, "Nobody really knows why we sleep" which is a straight-up lie. Dr. Roy Wallis's argument is that we have been conditioned to sleep and no longer require it. When we sleep, our organs repair themselves, we refresh and prepare for another day and the long-term memory is very active. We are very active when we sleep. (Which angered me more because sleeping kept being referred to as "shutting down" which is not even close). I understand that this is a work of fiction, but it just made me very angry to read false psychological information. There was also a case where a man stayed awake for 11 straight days and Dr. Roy Wallis claimed that he had no long-term effects after she slept which is a straight-up lie. Like, look it up.
Also anytime Bates would get bored of the horror story I came from he would introduce another character for half a page that we never get a follow up on. Don't even get me started on Dr. Roy Wallis who is always referred to by his full name for some reason. They were really going for a whole Greek Tragic hero complex and failed because he had no good qualities but very faked charisma.
Save your time, don't read the book. Read the creepypasta.
December 31, 2023
The Sleep Experiment
by Jeremy Bates is a chilling horror tale that will keep readers turning the pages. In 2018, Dr. Roy Wallis, the head of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley is attempting a sleep deprivation experiment using a stimulant gas. With two Australian test subjects under surveillance around the clock, he and his two student assistants (Penny Park and Guru Rampal) will record their findings. These will include general observations as well as various test results. The experiment is scheduled to last twenty-one days. But the situation soon becomes a nightmare.
Wallis is fashionable, ambitious, and determined to see the experiment through to its end. Penny is sharp, has a sardonic sense of humor, is an extrovert, and she’s attracted to older men. Guru is intelligent and hopes to eventually help reform the health care system in India. The two test subjects are Sharon and Chad, who met while traveling in Europe, and have become friends.
While the prologue and last day of instruction chapters were interesting, the book pacing quickly slows to a crawl as readers gain insight into the various characters during the next two chapters. The following few days get more interesting as readers see how the test subjects behave as they experience boredom, lack of privacy, and endless tests that show physical and mental changes. Readers need to be prepared for a chilling, horrifying, and action-filled horrifying finish. Themes include human experiments, ethics, sleep deprivation, values, and much more.
Overall, this is a book that kept me turning the pages after a slow start to see what would happen next. It was initially intriguing and this was followed by shocking.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was July 7, 2019.
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My 2.73 rounded to 3 stars review is coming soon.
Wallis is fashionable, ambitious, and determined to see the experiment through to its end. Penny is sharp, has a sardonic sense of humor, is an extrovert, and she’s attracted to older men. Guru is intelligent and hopes to eventually help reform the health care system in India. The two test subjects are Sharon and Chad, who met while traveling in Europe, and have become friends.
While the prologue and last day of instruction chapters were interesting, the book pacing quickly slows to a crawl as readers gain insight into the various characters during the next two chapters. The following few days get more interesting as readers see how the test subjects behave as they experience boredom, lack of privacy, and endless tests that show physical and mental changes. Readers need to be prepared for a chilling, horrifying, and action-filled horrifying finish. Themes include human experiments, ethics, sleep deprivation, values, and much more.
Overall, this is a book that kept me turning the pages after a slow start to see what would happen next. It was initially intriguing and this was followed by shocking.
I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was July 7, 2019.
----------------------------------------
My 2.73 rounded to 3 stars review is coming soon.
September 3, 2019
This is based extensively on the Creepypasta short horror story, “The Russian Sleep Experiment,” and if you haven’t read that short horror story, drop everything and go read it (https://www.creepypasta.com/the-russi...). But that aside, this time the story follows a psychology professor at Berkley who’s conducting a study on sleep deprivation. The test subjects are locked in a room for 21 days, and observed by the researchers as a stimulant gas is pumped into the room which forces them to remain awake for the entire period. While not nearly as terrifying as the Creepypasta short, it’s still a fun read with some good scares and lots of gore. I’m docking it a star because there’s a lot of padding unnecessarily thrown in to increase the page count, but which eventually just drags on.
September 5, 2019
The Sleep Experiment, a horror book, was a solid 4 stars. The book centers around main character Dr. Wallis, a charismatic and popular professor at Berkeley, who wants to attempt the same sleep experiment that the Soviets completed in the 1950s. After finding a place to conduct the study, two willing students to be his assistants (Penny and Guru) and most importantly-two paid subjects willing to stay awake for a long duration, the sleep experiment begins. Horrifying stuff will happen but no spoilers here.
I’m always up for a creepy read and The Sleep Experiment was definitely a creepy book. Dr. Wallis goes to incredible lengths not to have his sleep experiment compromised and readers will learn soon enough that it borders on obsession. The characters are well-developed and though most were not particularly likable, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book. I’d highly recommend this to fans of horror/darker theme books.
I’m always up for a creepy read and The Sleep Experiment was definitely a creepy book. Dr. Wallis goes to incredible lengths not to have his sleep experiment compromised and readers will learn soon enough that it borders on obsession. The characters are well-developed and though most were not particularly likable, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book. I’d highly recommend this to fans of horror/darker theme books.
December 8, 2023
Yeah I didn’t really gel with this book if I’m honest. I liked the gore and stuff but I just couldn’t really get into it. The main basis for the “real” sleep experiment was, in my opinion, kinda confusing and dumb. I did like the twist and the ending because I hated Roy but other than that I was really invested.
Also, if you want to make this read more exciting, take a shot every time Roy is called attractive!
Also, if you want to make this read more exciting, take a shot every time Roy is called attractive!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2023
⭐⭐ because of the reasonably fluid and smooth reading style.
Minus three stars for being vapid and reading more like a self-help book on personal grooming and hygiene and how to behave like cringe-ridden cretins with wooden, stereotypical characters and cheesy dialogues!
The intriguing questions remain however: Do we actually need to sleep and why do we do it? We don’t need to hide at night from predators to conserve energy, but more importantly, what happens if we get no sleep at all? I think it’s something to do with resetting our brains so that a new and fresher day can begin and allowing our bodies to recover so that we don’t collapse from exhaustion. The book thinks there’s something more sinister at play.
The amount of banal chit-chat regularly got on my nerves, making the main characters seem drab and shallow. There’s the stereotypical good-looking males/females, plus the rather dimwitted and even more stereotypical cohorts from Korea, India and Australia, with their regional traits, accents and expressions. It's really patronising and borderline discriminatory.
The writing often feels loose and frivolous, concentrating on unnecessary character development that has nothing to do with the focus of the story or anything to do with expected tension and horror. The story keeps on switching backwards and forwards between encounters at bars and restaurants, a mix that turns you off more than drawing you in. If you like that sort of thing, great, but it doesn't feel right here. Everyone comes across as overprivileged, spoiled, corny and cliched. None of the characters seem like serious professionals, but shallow people subject to pointless and banal repetition. The story feels more like Starbucks with a romantic twist, better rebadged as a thriller with plenty of fluffy filler.
And then there's the sleep experiment itself, the reason I purchased the book, intermixed with all the boozing, dining and sexing from the doctor who presides over the entire experiment, and then there's his assistants, their own love lives, interspersed with the love lives of their irrelevant partners on top of that, and so on. The book goes down the chute and fails to recover.
Worst of all, when characters speak to each other it comes across as distant, static, awkward and wrong. People don’t talk to each other like that, which is strange when you consider the amount of research the author did into technicalities and descriptions, but not into how characters actually interact. I found huge amounts of the dialogue cringeworthy and annoying.
There’s too much focus on pointless activities away from the sleep experiment and not enough action from an internal perspective - I mean, from the people who are subject to the experimental situation and experiencing its potential drawbacks and horrors. We don’t get to feel anything about the experimental rats from their perspective, other than they banter and bicker with each other from time to time. When we get direct action, it’s back to eating out and getting laid.
This book annoyed the hell out of me.
Unlike The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, for example, which brilliantly makes it work from a third-party instead of a direct perspective, this is 80% about relationships and very little to do with tension or horror. It would have been a better book as a standalone romantic thriller with betrayals and intrigue with a smidgen of disjointed backstabbing, murdering and schizophrenia.
There’s little tension, it doesn’t shock and is far too implausible to be taken seriously. I’ll leave the criticisms alone for now… it’s just not a very good book.
A few final words: Don’t get me started on the lack of forensic evidence. It’s rubbishy and daft.
Minus three stars for being vapid and reading more like a self-help book on personal grooming and hygiene and how to behave like cringe-ridden cretins with wooden, stereotypical characters and cheesy dialogues!
The intriguing questions remain however: Do we actually need to sleep and why do we do it? We don’t need to hide at night from predators to conserve energy, but more importantly, what happens if we get no sleep at all? I think it’s something to do with resetting our brains so that a new and fresher day can begin and allowing our bodies to recover so that we don’t collapse from exhaustion. The book thinks there’s something more sinister at play.
The amount of banal chit-chat regularly got on my nerves, making the main characters seem drab and shallow. There’s the stereotypical good-looking males/females, plus the rather dimwitted and even more stereotypical cohorts from Korea, India and Australia, with their regional traits, accents and expressions. It's really patronising and borderline discriminatory.
The writing often feels loose and frivolous, concentrating on unnecessary character development that has nothing to do with the focus of the story or anything to do with expected tension and horror. The story keeps on switching backwards and forwards between encounters at bars and restaurants, a mix that turns you off more than drawing you in. If you like that sort of thing, great, but it doesn't feel right here. Everyone comes across as overprivileged, spoiled, corny and cliched. None of the characters seem like serious professionals, but shallow people subject to pointless and banal repetition. The story feels more like Starbucks with a romantic twist, better rebadged as a thriller with plenty of fluffy filler.
And then there's the sleep experiment itself, the reason I purchased the book, intermixed with all the boozing, dining and sexing from the doctor who presides over the entire experiment, and then there's his assistants, their own love lives, interspersed with the love lives of their irrelevant partners on top of that, and so on. The book goes down the chute and fails to recover.
Worst of all, when characters speak to each other it comes across as distant, static, awkward and wrong. People don’t talk to each other like that, which is strange when you consider the amount of research the author did into technicalities and descriptions, but not into how characters actually interact. I found huge amounts of the dialogue cringeworthy and annoying.
There’s too much focus on pointless activities away from the sleep experiment and not enough action from an internal perspective - I mean, from the people who are subject to the experimental situation and experiencing its potential drawbacks and horrors. We don’t get to feel anything about the experimental rats from their perspective, other than they banter and bicker with each other from time to time. When we get direct action, it’s back to eating out and getting laid.
This book annoyed the hell out of me.
Unlike The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, for example, which brilliantly makes it work from a third-party instead of a direct perspective, this is 80% about relationships and very little to do with tension or horror. It would have been a better book as a standalone romantic thriller with betrayals and intrigue with a smidgen of disjointed backstabbing, murdering and schizophrenia.
There’s little tension, it doesn’t shock and is far too implausible to be taken seriously. I’ll leave the criticisms alone for now… it’s just not a very good book.
A few final words: Don’t get me started on the lack of forensic evidence. It’s rubbishy and daft.
September 26, 2019
Oh, I generally love this author. I buy his books sight unseen and usually rave about them.
But this one - oh, this one...it failed for me rather spectacularly.
Our diverse characters were shamefully stereotypical. Whether it was the Indian guy with the Elvis haircut or the horny Asian girl who kept confusing her Ls and Rs, I was simply cringing.
Our main character was primarily concerned with girlfriends and never once felt like anyone with any authority or scientific knowledge.
I expected things to get weird, but I didn't expect to just be completely stunned into disbelief. What one character manages to do to themselves was...unfortunate and unbelievable.
Our basic plot was actually interesting. I was intrigued by what would happen with the experiment and was...disappointed by the end result.
So, a misstep for me, but I will read the author again. I still like his work. Just not this one.
But this one - oh, this one...it failed for me rather spectacularly.
Our diverse characters were shamefully stereotypical. Whether it was the Indian guy with the Elvis haircut or the horny Asian girl who kept confusing her Ls and Rs, I was simply cringing.
Our main character was primarily concerned with girlfriends and never once felt like anyone with any authority or scientific knowledge.
I expected things to get weird, but I didn't expect to just be completely stunned into disbelief. What one character manages to do to themselves was...unfortunate and unbelievable.
Our basic plot was actually interesting. I was intrigued by what would happen with the experiment and was...disappointed by the end result.
So, a misstep for me, but I will read the author again. I still like his work. Just not this one.
November 12, 2020
Books like this remind me why I've started avoiding thrillers written by white men.
Longer review to come.
Longer review to come.
December 2, 2023
Every now and then I stray from the straight and narrow and into a mud pit. This book shows that most of what I read is really quite good. This was misogynistic and racist crap wrapped in bad writing and substandard plot.
This professor is starting a sleep deprivation experiment with two Australians. He enlists two students, an Asian girl Penny and an Indian guy. Every nationality is spectacularly stereotypically portrayed. Partying and beer drinking Australians, Indians who only eat curry (or MacDonald’s). Penny is portrayed as a sexually obsessed vixen.
The idea is that the professor provides the Australians with a gas in their laboratory conditions that makes them stay awake. Of course it must end badly - a few nights without sleep and you hallucinate, three weeks without and your dead. The Australians sign up for three weeks, apparently clueless to the risks.
Predictable, violent and awful from start to end. I have no idea why I didn’t give it up at 10% or whatever point the level of racial and sexist stereotypes had gone completely over my limits.
This professor is starting a sleep deprivation experiment with two Australians. He enlists two students, an Asian girl Penny and an Indian guy. Every nationality is spectacularly stereotypically portrayed. Partying and beer drinking Australians, Indians who only eat curry (or MacDonald’s). Penny is portrayed as a sexually obsessed vixen.
The idea is that the professor provides the Australians with a gas in their laboratory conditions that makes them stay awake. Of course it must end badly - a few nights without sleep and you hallucinate, three weeks without and your dead. The Australians sign up for three weeks, apparently clueless to the risks.
Predictable, violent and awful from start to end. I have no idea why I didn’t give it up at 10% or whatever point the level of racial and sexist stereotypes had gone completely over my limits.
September 21, 2019
Ppl need their sleep, Yo! No way around it at this point .... and if you start messing with it like this professor ...whom is an egotistical, poopie faced sociopath ... What. An. Idiot. Gross. The end.
Between 3.5-4
Warning :/ this story is kinda a mess, has some mess, and just is messy in every which way you can think to apply the word. 🤢
Between 3.5-4
Warning :/ this story is kinda a mess, has some mess, and just is messy in every which way you can think to apply the word. 🤢
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 17, 2020
So he *did* read The Russian Sleep Experiment but he failed to check into the idea of writing a good story of his own. This was one of the worst books I've read all year. One of the most annoying aspects was referring to the main character by his full name over and over. "Dr Roy Wallis did (whatever)" "Dr Roy Wallis said (whatever)" - you get the gist. Instead of giving the characters depth and dimension, we are left with the literary equivalent of check-boxes ticked on a build-your-own-character form; I lost count of the times I was reminded that Dr Roy Wallis had a beard, Dr Roy Wallis could pull more tail than a kid at a petting zoo, someone told Dr Roy Wallis he was fashionable, etc. At several points, we are smacked with sudden key aspects of a character with zero warning or build-up. Random actions that were completely out of character didn't get any justification, they were simply abrupt and felt tacked-on. I think the writer got bored and just cobbled together some "shocking" ending scenes for Dr Roy Wallis and the Dr Roy Wallis fan club and gave up. Just go read Creepypasta and skip this whole travesty.
October 22, 2021
Omfg!!! This was the first book from Jeremy Bates that I’ve read, but will definitely not be the last. My heart is still pounding super fast and my head has completely gone!! This was the most frightening, sad, horrific, exciting book I’ve EVER read. My heart broke for Sharon and Chad, and also for the innocent people caught up in Roy’s madness. This will definitely be a book I will remember for the rest of my life. I will also remember it being the BEST I have ever read. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone, but be warned, it’s definitely NOT for the faint hearted. Totally EPIC!!
December 10, 2023
THE SLEEP EXPERIMENT [2019] By Jeremy Bates
My Review 4.0 Out Of 5.0 Stars
“There’s something in us that is very much attracted to madness. Everyone who looks off the edge of a tall building has felt at least a faint, morbid urge to jump. And anyone who has ever put a loaded pistol up to his head… All right, my point is this: even the most well-adjusted person is holding onto his or her sanity by a greased rope. I really believe that. The rationality circuits are shoddily built into the human animal.” —Stephen King
The Prologue depicts Dr. Roy Wallis exiting the San Francisco Hall of Justice a free man after a jury acquitted him of all charges in a month-long trial. Hundreds of demonstrators spouting various iterations of the end of days were loudly broadcasting their warnings and holding up helpful visual aids while still effectively cordoned off behind police tape.
The storyline then flashes back to the last day of instruction six months earlier. Dr. Roy Wallis is lecturing in the darkened auditorium of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Education, and Psychology. The professor is lecturing on the topic of sleep, his field of expertise. It is toward the conclusion of the lecture that Dr. Wallis tosses out a few controversial missives to stimulate the crowd. He posits that in his opinion humans don’t need sleep and that in fact “the entire human race is sleeping solely due to habit.” The lecture ends and Dr. Wallis is closing up shop, allowing a nostalgic glance around the empty lecture hall, knowing he would not be back again before the new fall semester in September.
Tolman Hall had been the home of the Psychology Department since 1963. It had since been deemed environmentally unsafe, primarily due to its seismically unfit status, and it was in fact scheduled for demolition and had been already shuttered up. This made Tolman Hall the perfect place for Dr. Wallis to conduct his “Sleep Experiment.”
The description of the novel is pretty sketchy, and essentially tells potential readers that a well-respected psychology professor at UC Berkeley is all set to conduct a “Sleep Experiment” during the Summer Break. Dr. Wallis is conveniently using the abandoned Tolman Hall, has successfully screened applications for test subjects and selected two young and healthy Australians. He and two student assistants will be sharing an eight-hour rotational schedule to record observations around the clock for the duration of the experiment.
Dr. Wallis had chosen Guru and his student assistant Penny for the monitoring and recording of data on the amiable Australians Chad and Shaz. A non-toxic gas is piped into the enclosed quarters of Tolman Hall. It prevents the test subjects from sleeping during the experiment. Guru Rampal is a caring man, but he is also brandishing a genius IQ. Penny is far more interested in getting to know her mentor Dr. Wallis more intimately, but that is not to say she is not fully competent to make pertinent observations, document findings, and report any concerns during the experiment. Lastly, the man in charge, Dr. Wallis, has both a hidden agenda and a dirty little secret to hide. He is also a sociopath without a petri dish full of remorse.
This is the first novel I have read By Jeremy Bates, who is a USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author. “The Sleep Experiment” was an alternate selection that I chose on TERROR TOMES. The Discussion Thread was separated into three intervals of time after “The Sleep Experiment” was initiated.
Raves and criticisms were both represented on our Discussion Thread. I can truthfully say that both claims are legitimate. “Dr. Roy Wallis” is a sex addict and could rightfully be categorized as misogynistic. He murdered with the same mindless casual state that you would be in when taking out the cat litter. I thought he was despicable and the ending was satisfying. Fans who enjoy an abundance of gore will be happy with this experiment from hell. It is truly a “gore-fest.”
There was no attempt at character development and the plot had credibility gaps that I could drive a semi-truck through. The “Experiment” did not have the goals that dapper Dr. Wallis explained to his team. That much is suggested in the Book Description. I will avoid the “Spoiler” by only addressing the aspect that side effects from the subjects’ sleep deprivation were manifest almost from the beginning, and only became more severe in scope and intensity. The laissez-faire acceptance of the physical and mental deterioration of his test subjects seemed to be nothing that he did not already know or anticipate. This was not true of his student assistant Penny nor the brilliant Guru. There was zero tolerance for any human interference with the “experiment.”
I will not disclose a smorgasbord of spoilers about Wallis’s personal quest to validate his rigidly held fanaticism involving sleep. The storyline ventures into several different arenas that were unexpected going into the narrative. I believe I was possibly a teensy bit too generous on the rating, but hey, this novel was the book equivalent to a fairly decent “B” movie, Rated Horror.
“TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP”
My Review 4.0 Out Of 5.0 Stars
“There’s something in us that is very much attracted to madness. Everyone who looks off the edge of a tall building has felt at least a faint, morbid urge to jump. And anyone who has ever put a loaded pistol up to his head… All right, my point is this: even the most well-adjusted person is holding onto his or her sanity by a greased rope. I really believe that. The rationality circuits are shoddily built into the human animal.” —Stephen King
The Prologue depicts Dr. Roy Wallis exiting the San Francisco Hall of Justice a free man after a jury acquitted him of all charges in a month-long trial. Hundreds of demonstrators spouting various iterations of the end of days were loudly broadcasting their warnings and holding up helpful visual aids while still effectively cordoned off behind police tape.
The storyline then flashes back to the last day of instruction six months earlier. Dr. Roy Wallis is lecturing in the darkened auditorium of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, Education, and Psychology. The professor is lecturing on the topic of sleep, his field of expertise. It is toward the conclusion of the lecture that Dr. Wallis tosses out a few controversial missives to stimulate the crowd. He posits that in his opinion humans don’t need sleep and that in fact “the entire human race is sleeping solely due to habit.” The lecture ends and Dr. Wallis is closing up shop, allowing a nostalgic glance around the empty lecture hall, knowing he would not be back again before the new fall semester in September.
Tolman Hall had been the home of the Psychology Department since 1963. It had since been deemed environmentally unsafe, primarily due to its seismically unfit status, and it was in fact scheduled for demolition and had been already shuttered up. This made Tolman Hall the perfect place for Dr. Wallis to conduct his “Sleep Experiment.”
The description of the novel is pretty sketchy, and essentially tells potential readers that a well-respected psychology professor at UC Berkeley is all set to conduct a “Sleep Experiment” during the Summer Break. Dr. Wallis is conveniently using the abandoned Tolman Hall, has successfully screened applications for test subjects and selected two young and healthy Australians. He and two student assistants will be sharing an eight-hour rotational schedule to record observations around the clock for the duration of the experiment.
Dr. Wallis had chosen Guru and his student assistant Penny for the monitoring and recording of data on the amiable Australians Chad and Shaz. A non-toxic gas is piped into the enclosed quarters of Tolman Hall. It prevents the test subjects from sleeping during the experiment. Guru Rampal is a caring man, but he is also brandishing a genius IQ. Penny is far more interested in getting to know her mentor Dr. Wallis more intimately, but that is not to say she is not fully competent to make pertinent observations, document findings, and report any concerns during the experiment. Lastly, the man in charge, Dr. Wallis, has both a hidden agenda and a dirty little secret to hide. He is also a sociopath without a petri dish full of remorse.
This is the first novel I have read By Jeremy Bates, who is a USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author. “The Sleep Experiment” was an alternate selection that I chose on TERROR TOMES. The Discussion Thread was separated into three intervals of time after “The Sleep Experiment” was initiated.
Raves and criticisms were both represented on our Discussion Thread. I can truthfully say that both claims are legitimate. “Dr. Roy Wallis” is a sex addict and could rightfully be categorized as misogynistic. He murdered with the same mindless casual state that you would be in when taking out the cat litter. I thought he was despicable and the ending was satisfying. Fans who enjoy an abundance of gore will be happy with this experiment from hell. It is truly a “gore-fest.”
There was no attempt at character development and the plot had credibility gaps that I could drive a semi-truck through. The “Experiment” did not have the goals that dapper Dr. Wallis explained to his team. That much is suggested in the Book Description. I will avoid the “Spoiler” by only addressing the aspect that side effects from the subjects’ sleep deprivation were manifest almost from the beginning, and only became more severe in scope and intensity. The laissez-faire acceptance of the physical and mental deterioration of his test subjects seemed to be nothing that he did not already know or anticipate. This was not true of his student assistant Penny nor the brilliant Guru. There was zero tolerance for any human interference with the “experiment.”
I will not disclose a smorgasbord of spoilers about Wallis’s personal quest to validate his rigidly held fanaticism involving sleep. The storyline ventures into several different arenas that were unexpected going into the narrative. I believe I was possibly a teensy bit too generous on the rating, but hey, this novel was the book equivalent to a fairly decent “B” movie, Rated Horror.
“TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP”
June 14, 2021
Our characters include:
Dr. Roy Wallis, he of the glorious beard (that you will hear about every other paragraph in lieu of a personality), he who must bravely battle his way through the throngs of 20 somethings constantly throwing themselves at him even though he is *gasp* an ancient 41! Dr. Roy Wallis, who we must be told constantly is in amazing shape, is the bestest dresser, the most charming, the most funny, the smartest ever.
Penny Park, 20 something Korean grad student who acts more like a perpetually horny K-Pop star in her teens. You too can be delighted as we are told over and over and over about how she mixes up her "L"s and "R"s (aren't those funny foreigners and their funny accents so funny!?). Proud daddy issues causing her to "seduce" her married teacher in high school (18 or not, power imabalance!) and masturbate with toys kept on display in a skeevy hotel room (because that is not a nasty infection waiting to happen!). Her only real personality trait seems to be her trying to seduce Dr. Roy Wallis (and who can blame her as he is the very bestest ever!). He ethically refuses to sleep with her of course, he is just too damn moral (shoddy medical ethics aside, also he is a cheat, also he sees nothing wrong with sleeping with his students and has done so on more than one occassion).
Guru (or "Gulu" as Penny oh so cutely calls him!) 20 something Indian grad student who is fat, balding, and dresses like a teenager before the oh so brilliant Dr. Roy Wallis gives him clothing tips. He has a funny accent too!
All these and more you can read about in one of the most hillariously bad books I have ever read. If the paper thin author self inserted wish fulfillment and "men writing women"-esque female characters were not bad enough we also get almost no logical consistancy to plot or behaviour. Characters have no understanding of the science that is the supposed basis of their experiment, hell the grad students don't seem to have shown any intellectual curiosity about (the already very well documented) studies showing sleep deprivation leading to insanity and death (like you are grad students, you couldn't at least google it?). We are assured at one point that this is not torture (even though sleep deprivation is one of the oldest torture techniques).
Even the ending seems to be less plotted out and more "oh shit the book is almost done better write something!). Which is odd considering how much feels like padding (did we seriously need a dozen words to describe an umbrella getting closed?).
No.
Just...
No.
Dr. Roy Wallis, he of the glorious beard (that you will hear about every other paragraph in lieu of a personality), he who must bravely battle his way through the throngs of 20 somethings constantly throwing themselves at him even though he is *gasp* an ancient 41! Dr. Roy Wallis, who we must be told constantly is in amazing shape, is the bestest dresser, the most charming, the most funny, the smartest ever.
Penny Park, 20 something Korean grad student who acts more like a perpetually horny K-Pop star in her teens. You too can be delighted as we are told over and over and over about how she mixes up her "L"s and "R"s (aren't those funny foreigners and their funny accents so funny!?). Proud daddy issues causing her to "seduce" her married teacher in high school (18 or not, power imabalance!) and masturbate with toys kept on display in a skeevy hotel room (because that is not a nasty infection waiting to happen!). Her only real personality trait seems to be her trying to seduce Dr. Roy Wallis (and who can blame her as he is the very bestest ever!). He ethically refuses to sleep with her of course, he is just too damn moral (shoddy medical ethics aside, also he is a cheat, also he sees nothing wrong with sleeping with his students and has done so on more than one occassion).
Guru (or "Gulu" as Penny oh so cutely calls him!) 20 something Indian grad student who is fat, balding, and dresses like a teenager before the oh so brilliant Dr. Roy Wallis gives him clothing tips. He has a funny accent too!
All these and more you can read about in one of the most hillariously bad books I have ever read. If the paper thin author self inserted wish fulfillment and "men writing women"-esque female characters were not bad enough we also get almost no logical consistancy to plot or behaviour. Characters have no understanding of the science that is the supposed basis of their experiment, hell the grad students don't seem to have shown any intellectual curiosity about (the already very well documented) studies showing sleep deprivation leading to insanity and death (like you are grad students, you couldn't at least google it?). We are assured at one point that this is not torture (even though sleep deprivation is one of the oldest torture techniques).
Even the ending seems to be less plotted out and more "oh shit the book is almost done better write something!). Which is odd considering how much feels like padding (did we seriously need a dozen words to describe an umbrella getting closed?).
No.
Just...
No.
November 30, 2023
actually insane. twists and turns i never would have expected. ending was chef’s kiss. definitely recommend.
February 7, 2024
Bates' work keeps coming across my GR feed so I thought I would give him a go. The Sleep Experiment does induce a decent creep factor, but overall, a pretty light horror novel featuring as our main protagonist a rather unsavory 'mad scientist'. Dr. Roy Wallis, a professor at Berkeley, starts the novel getting ready to conduct a sleep experiment, which should really be called a non-sleep experiment, as it consists of keeping two test subjects awake for 21 days to study the results.
The subjects, young Australians traveling the world but running out of cash, opt in as it pays really well. Wallis recruits as few assistants to monitor the project. Essentially, he has developed some new fangled gas that is piped into a room, really a large suite, in a soon to be demolished building on campus that prevents the subjects from sleeping. The subjects are free to opt out (supposedly), but as mentioned above, are cash strapped and hence try to stay the course. Nonetheless, after a few days they both start showing signs of sleep deprivation, including cloudy judgements. Things quickly go south from there...
The Sleep Experiments had a good premise. Supposedly the Soviets tried something similar in the 50s and all the subjects went insane. Wallis tells his assistants that the Soviet experiment is folklore and really, lots of people have gone days without sleep with no long term negative impacts. As a reader, however, you know pretty early on Wallis is lying and knows pretty damn well what will happen, something way OTT and I will stop on that to avoid spoilers. The novel starts with Wallis walking out of a courthouse being acquitted of criminal charges, so you know something bad is going to happen to our poor Aussies, but lets just say the devil is in the details.
I grew tired of Wallis pretty quickly; smug egomaniacs who go through life using other people (especially women in this case) rub me the wrong way, which is one reason I tend to avoid horror featuring slashers and serial killers. YMMV however. The first part of this was pretty slow going, with Bates building the characters and setting the stage for the rather gruesome experiment, and yes, the second half did have some surprises and moved much faster. I had a hard time really getting into this one and thought the payoff was rather lackluster and OTT. I may try Bates again, but probably not for some time. 2 experimental stars!
The subjects, young Australians traveling the world but running out of cash, opt in as it pays really well. Wallis recruits as few assistants to monitor the project. Essentially, he has developed some new fangled gas that is piped into a room, really a large suite, in a soon to be demolished building on campus that prevents the subjects from sleeping. The subjects are free to opt out (supposedly), but as mentioned above, are cash strapped and hence try to stay the course. Nonetheless, after a few days they both start showing signs of sleep deprivation, including cloudy judgements. Things quickly go south from there...
The Sleep Experiments had a good premise. Supposedly the Soviets tried something similar in the 50s and all the subjects went insane. Wallis tells his assistants that the Soviet experiment is folklore and really, lots of people have gone days without sleep with no long term negative impacts. As a reader, however, you know pretty early on Wallis is lying and knows pretty damn well what will happen, something way OTT and I will stop on that to avoid spoilers. The novel starts with Wallis walking out of a courthouse being acquitted of criminal charges, so you know something bad is going to happen to our poor Aussies, but lets just say the devil is in the details.
I grew tired of Wallis pretty quickly; smug egomaniacs who go through life using other people (especially women in this case) rub me the wrong way, which is one reason I tend to avoid horror featuring slashers and serial killers. YMMV however. The first part of this was pretty slow going, with Bates building the characters and setting the stage for the rather gruesome experiment, and yes, the second half did have some surprises and moved much faster. I had a hard time really getting into this one and thought the payoff was rather lackluster and OTT. I may try Bates again, but probably not for some time. 2 experimental stars!
February 16, 2022
This book really should have been called "The Dick of Dr. Wallis" as 2/3 of the book focuses on the main character, Dr. Roy Wallis, getting laid or trying to get laid at every opportunity. No no, he would not consider himself a "sex addict", but rather one addicted to sex. What does this have to do with a sleep experiment, you might ask? Absolutely nothing. Dr. Roy Wallis seems to be a self-insert for the author and how magnificent he and his beard are.
This must not have had an editor. One line that is not dialogue describes how one character got their shit together. Literally, they got their shit together. Not a line that I would think would fly with an editor.
Also.. there is a foreign exchange student from South Korea named Penny Park. Penny Park. Not some white girl from Kansas named Penny, a South Korean girl named Penny. Who also has a crush on Dr. Roy Wallis. Everyone must find Dr. Roy Wallis either attractive or intriguing. Her roommate is also a foreign exchange student from China by the name of Jimmy. Chinese Jimmy, y'all.
The last 1/3rd of the book had some gore but by the time I got to it all, I was wondering if Dr. Roy Wallis (seriously, how aggravating it is to read here about Dr. Roy Wallis all the time, imagine having to read all three names every time he is mentioned in the book) was going to sleep with one of his test subjects. Or at the very least, her body. Oh yeah, and there's demons!
I started hating this book very early on because of Dr. Roy Wallis, his sex addiction that took up most of the book and the minimal amount of horror. I hate read to the end just to see where Dr. Roy Wallis would stick his dick next.
The back of the book very much neglected to mention the fact that Dr. Roy Wallis would spend most of the book trying to get his dick wet instead of.. y'know.. doing this sleep experiment. Because I wouldn't have bought it. The original creepypasta was much more entertaining.
This must not have had an editor. One line that is not dialogue describes how one character got their shit together. Literally, they got their shit together. Not a line that I would think would fly with an editor.
Also.. there is a foreign exchange student from South Korea named Penny Park. Penny Park. Not some white girl from Kansas named Penny, a South Korean girl named Penny. Who also has a crush on Dr. Roy Wallis. Everyone must find Dr. Roy Wallis either attractive or intriguing. Her roommate is also a foreign exchange student from China by the name of Jimmy. Chinese Jimmy, y'all.
The last 1/3rd of the book had some gore but by the time I got to it all, I was wondering if Dr. Roy Wallis (seriously, how aggravating it is to read here about Dr. Roy Wallis all the time, imagine having to read all three names every time he is mentioned in the book) was going to sleep with one of his test subjects. Or at the very least, her body. Oh yeah, and there's demons!
I started hating this book very early on because of Dr. Roy Wallis, his sex addiction that took up most of the book and the minimal amount of horror. I hate read to the end just to see where Dr. Roy Wallis would stick his dick next.
The back of the book very much neglected to mention the fact that Dr. Roy Wallis would spend most of the book trying to get his dick wet instead of.. y'know.. doing this sleep experiment. Because I wouldn't have bought it. The original creepypasta was much more entertaining.
December 31, 2021
The Sleep Experiment could be broken down into two parts: The chapters about the actual sleep experiment and the chapters about Dr. Wallis' personal life.
The sleep experiment passages were fantastic! I loved watched the subject's descent into madness and the megalomaniac scientist's response. We witness confusion, gore, and a ton of creepiness. I WISH the entire book took place inside the lab because it would have been a five star read.
The rest of the book was about the lead researcher's personal life. Now, I love a villainous protagonist so Dr. Wallis should be right up my alley. He is the quintessential scientist who believes all his contributions are brilliant and for the greater good no matter the cost. Not a new archetype but one that always provides chaos and destruction.
However, his chapters were just so chringy. Dr. Wallis didn't do or say anything remotely interesting or charming yet every single character who interacted with him just wanted to bone. It stated over and over... and over... how handsome and fashionable he is with his tailored suits and well-trimmed beard. Women everywhere were dropping their panties on sight. It was a freaking epidemic. Even the men consistently told him how nice he dressed. It honestly felt like a thirteen year boy's fantasy writing--women want to be with him and men want to be him.
But if you can get past all of that dry-heaving awkwardness, you get back to the lab and fun-filled insanity of two Australians being awake in a confined space for weeks.
It really was a good horror that picked up steam all the way through. Loved the end. I'll definitely read more of the World's Scariest Legends series.
The sleep experiment passages were fantastic! I loved watched the subject's descent into madness and the megalomaniac scientist's response. We witness confusion, gore, and a ton of creepiness. I WISH the entire book took place inside the lab because it would have been a five star read.
The rest of the book was about the lead researcher's personal life. Now, I love a villainous protagonist so Dr. Wallis should be right up my alley. He is the quintessential scientist who believes all his contributions are brilliant and for the greater good no matter the cost. Not a new archetype but one that always provides chaos and destruction.
However, his chapters were just so chringy. Dr. Wallis didn't do or say anything remotely interesting or charming yet every single character who interacted with him just wanted to bone. It stated over and over... and over... how handsome and fashionable he is with his tailored suits and well-trimmed beard. Women everywhere were dropping their panties on sight. It was a freaking epidemic. Even the men consistently told him how nice he dressed. It honestly felt like a thirteen year boy's fantasy writing--women want to be with him and men want to be him.
But if you can get past all of that dry-heaving awkwardness, you get back to the lab and fun-filled insanity of two Australians being awake in a confined space for weeks.
It really was a good horror that picked up steam all the way through. Loved the end. I'll definitely read more of the World's Scariest Legends series.
April 10, 2022
This is a 3.5 star read.
You know the saying "crazier than a shithouse rat"? Oh boy!! It SO applies here.
You know the saying "crazier than a shithouse rat"? Oh boy!! It SO applies here.
March 2, 2021
Oooh this is good, really good. I enjoyed it so much I’m a bit gutted it’s over now.
We have an ethically dodgy psychology experiment called “The Sleep Experiment”. The idea is to keep two people awake for 21 days to see if humans actually need sleep and in the process we watch them fall apart and lose their minds. As a side story to this we also have the personal lives of those carrying out the experiment; the narcissistic professor and his students, one of which seems scary in their own right.
Reading this you just know it is not going to end well for anyone. It was fabulously done, you know it’s coming but not quite what, there are twists and turns along the way which added a decent surprise element here and there as events took an unexpected turn even for this warped tale.
I really enjoyed the characters (both good and bad) which were interesting and well written. The whole story flowed really well, and kept me wanting more, a real page turner this one for me. As things escalate on quite a drastic scale I found it impossible to look away. It’s dark yes, very much so and yes it does get gory - beautifully so!
I liked the crazy scientist - or is he(?) element to this story, there is lots to keep you intrigued and on the edge of your seat here. If you like your stories dark with some quite unnerving gore then this is the book for you.
I only have one issue with this; the ending. It wasn’t bad, honestly it wasn’t but personally I think it would have been even better without the epilogue. But even so this book deserves a 4.75*/5!
We have an ethically dodgy psychology experiment called “The Sleep Experiment”. The idea is to keep two people awake for 21 days to see if humans actually need sleep and in the process we watch them fall apart and lose their minds. As a side story to this we also have the personal lives of those carrying out the experiment; the narcissistic professor and his students, one of which seems scary in their own right.
Reading this you just know it is not going to end well for anyone. It was fabulously done, you know it’s coming but not quite what, there are twists and turns along the way which added a decent surprise element here and there as events took an unexpected turn even for this warped tale.
I really enjoyed the characters (both good and bad) which were interesting and well written. The whole story flowed really well, and kept me wanting more, a real page turner this one for me. As things escalate on quite a drastic scale I found it impossible to look away. It’s dark yes, very much so and yes it does get gory - beautifully so!
I liked the crazy scientist - or is he(?) element to this story, there is lots to keep you intrigued and on the edge of your seat here. If you like your stories dark with some quite unnerving gore then this is the book for you.
I only have one issue with this; the ending. It wasn’t bad, honestly it wasn’t but personally I think it would have been even better without the epilogue. But even so this book deserves a 4.75*/5!
December 2, 2023
The Sleep Experiment by Jeremy Bates fails to deliver the thrilling horror experience it promises. The characters are unengaging and the plot lacks suspense. Also, the portrayal of foreign characters is stereotypical. Authors should get cultural insights from natives to avoid such issues in their writing.
The characters, including the protagonist Dr. Wallis, lacked the richness and depth needed to carry such a story. They felt more like cardboard cutouts than real people, making it hard for me to invest in their fates. The women in the book, particularly Penny, the assistant, seemed to exist solely to pine over Dr. Wallis. Their portrayal was not only one-dimensional but also troublingly misogynistic. It felt like a throwback to outdated stereotypes where a woman's value is tied to her relationship with a man.
Also jarring was the way characters were often identified by their nationalities, like "the Indian" or "the Australian," creating a stark contrast to "Dr. Roy Wallis," who was mostly referred to with his full title and name. This method of characterization felt lazy and borderline racist, reducing characters to mere stereotypes.
The horror elements, which I had been so looking forward to, were underwhelming. What could have been a fascinating exploration into the psychological horrors of sleep deprivation turned into a series of predictable and unexciting events. The book lacked the depth and suspense necessary to be truly terrifying.
The characters, including the protagonist Dr. Wallis, lacked the richness and depth needed to carry such a story. They felt more like cardboard cutouts than real people, making it hard for me to invest in their fates. The women in the book, particularly Penny, the assistant, seemed to exist solely to pine over Dr. Wallis. Their portrayal was not only one-dimensional but also troublingly misogynistic. It felt like a throwback to outdated stereotypes where a woman's value is tied to her relationship with a man.
Also jarring was the way characters were often identified by their nationalities, like "the Indian" or "the Australian," creating a stark contrast to "Dr. Roy Wallis," who was mostly referred to with his full title and name. This method of characterization felt lazy and borderline racist, reducing characters to mere stereotypes.
The horror elements, which I had been so looking forward to, were underwhelming. What could have been a fascinating exploration into the psychological horrors of sleep deprivation turned into a series of predictable and unexciting events. The book lacked the depth and suspense necessary to be truly terrifying.
October 1, 2020
‘The Sleep Experiment’ by Jeremy Bates promises a nightmare of a story, but unfortunately doesn’t deliver.
.
Copying the supposed 1954 Soviet military experiment, Dr. Roy Wallis enlists two participants to stay awake for 21 days by means of a stimulant gas as a way to study the brain when it lacks sleep. With his two research assistants, the trio watches the devastating effects and the experiment turns into something no one expects.
.
I was hoping this would be the book that scared me so much I’d have to sleep with the lights on, but alas, it is not. It was a very disappointing read.
.
The first half played out more like a soap opera than a horror novel. This book is under 300 pages so I was hoping it would be packed with “the good stuff” but seriously half the book was character backstory. Some backstory is fine, but nothing even slightly scary happens until halfway through.
.
Even when the horror elements start to appear I wasn’t overly wowed. I was more grossed out than anything. There are definitely some strong and disturbing visuals depicted which made me a bit queasy though.
.
The premise sounds so promising, but I feel so much more could have been done with it.
.
Copying the supposed 1954 Soviet military experiment, Dr. Roy Wallis enlists two participants to stay awake for 21 days by means of a stimulant gas as a way to study the brain when it lacks sleep. With his two research assistants, the trio watches the devastating effects and the experiment turns into something no one expects.
.
I was hoping this would be the book that scared me so much I’d have to sleep with the lights on, but alas, it is not. It was a very disappointing read.
.
The first half played out more like a soap opera than a horror novel. This book is under 300 pages so I was hoping it would be packed with “the good stuff” but seriously half the book was character backstory. Some backstory is fine, but nothing even slightly scary happens until halfway through.
.
Even when the horror elements start to appear I wasn’t overly wowed. I was more grossed out than anything. There are definitely some strong and disturbing visuals depicted which made me a bit queasy though.
.
The premise sounds so promising, but I feel so much more could have been done with it.
February 11, 2022
Bates has clearly never experimented with honest editors and, or publishers in writing his book “The Sleep Experiment”. Heavily based on CreepyPasta’s “The Russian Sleep Experiment”, Bates has poorly attempted to execute his own version of said psychological thriller. The premise and idea portrayed in the previews had so much potential, what happens when humans are subjected to severe sleep deprivation? Though, so much fell through while completing the reading. From scientific inaccuracies, misogyny heavily sprinkled throughout and poor representation of characters, especially those described as people of color. Ending the book with more fear of the writing skills and grammar than the actual filler, I mean, plot of the novel.
As readers we can visualize when descriptors are given, though does the same description need to be re-explained every five pages? No, especially when it is about the main character's beard which was of luxurious length that he very often stroked every few pages. The main character was always and only referred to by his full name, Dr. Roy Wallis. Wallis likes women and you cannot miss that in the writing, the many women introduced were almost obsessed with him. Always willing to do anything, though little to no character depth was described, their personalities were simply being romantically and sexually interested in Wallis. These “relationships” were described more than the actual experiment itself. Though it got to the point where every female character was drooling over him, even his young and smart lab assistant resorted to stalking him. In this novel, women were mere objects that would aggressively gravitate all their energy on to Wallis.
As a person of color pursuing a scientific career I would never tolerate being addressed as “The Middle Eastern” in general and definitely not in a professional lab setting. Referring to every non-white character as their assumed ethnicity instead of their name almost every time they were brought up. If that wasn't bad enough, all these characters very often referred to as “The Indian '' or “The African '' were drenched in their given stereotypes. Just consistently seeing this happen multiple times on one page made me uncomfortable. Just to clarify, these are scientists he works closely with, so names should be no issue. Details like these are spread all over to carry Wallis to his throne, everyone in this book is merely beneath him.
Unnecessary sexual/romantic descriptors and, or scenes were more frequent then what was actually happening within the study. With what little plot was given, there are still multiple scientific errors. This is a psychological thriller, therefore those who write within this genre should study up on some psychological facts. The brain is so interesting, that’s what makes these thrillers exciting, that factor was lost in the amount of filler to plot ratio. Every time science was mentioned it seemed like Bates would rather have been writing about Wallis picking up another prostitute just to refer to her as “The Scandinavian”.
In terms of strengths, plain and simply, there were no strengths to this novel. The only reason I finished this book was because a co-worker had recommended it and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. The only positive is that Bates knew how to describe gore somewhat well. That gore was only described once or twice, which was odd in itself because this book was one of bate’s stand-alone novels in his collection titled “World’s Scariest Legends”.
The scientist above everyone, women brought down to mere sexual objects, no real scientific bases, poor writing skills and little to no plot in terms of the overall experiment. I would never recommend this book to any kind of reader. It was disappointing, a sleep experiment seemed very interesting and had the potential to be mind warping. The only aspect I ever feared while reading was that the novel would simply never end.
As readers we can visualize when descriptors are given, though does the same description need to be re-explained every five pages? No, especially when it is about the main character's beard which was of luxurious length that he very often stroked every few pages. The main character was always and only referred to by his full name, Dr. Roy Wallis. Wallis likes women and you cannot miss that in the writing, the many women introduced were almost obsessed with him. Always willing to do anything, though little to no character depth was described, their personalities were simply being romantically and sexually interested in Wallis. These “relationships” were described more than the actual experiment itself. Though it got to the point where every female character was drooling over him, even his young and smart lab assistant resorted to stalking him. In this novel, women were mere objects that would aggressively gravitate all their energy on to Wallis.
As a person of color pursuing a scientific career I would never tolerate being addressed as “The Middle Eastern” in general and definitely not in a professional lab setting. Referring to every non-white character as their assumed ethnicity instead of their name almost every time they were brought up. If that wasn't bad enough, all these characters very often referred to as “The Indian '' or “The African '' were drenched in their given stereotypes. Just consistently seeing this happen multiple times on one page made me uncomfortable. Just to clarify, these are scientists he works closely with, so names should be no issue. Details like these are spread all over to carry Wallis to his throne, everyone in this book is merely beneath him.
Unnecessary sexual/romantic descriptors and, or scenes were more frequent then what was actually happening within the study. With what little plot was given, there are still multiple scientific errors. This is a psychological thriller, therefore those who write within this genre should study up on some psychological facts. The brain is so interesting, that’s what makes these thrillers exciting, that factor was lost in the amount of filler to plot ratio. Every time science was mentioned it seemed like Bates would rather have been writing about Wallis picking up another prostitute just to refer to her as “The Scandinavian”.
In terms of strengths, plain and simply, there were no strengths to this novel. The only reason I finished this book was because a co-worker had recommended it and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. The only positive is that Bates knew how to describe gore somewhat well. That gore was only described once or twice, which was odd in itself because this book was one of bate’s stand-alone novels in his collection titled “World’s Scariest Legends”.
The scientist above everyone, women brought down to mere sexual objects, no real scientific bases, poor writing skills and little to no plot in terms of the overall experiment. I would never recommend this book to any kind of reader. It was disappointing, a sleep experiment seemed very interesting and had the potential to be mind warping. The only aspect I ever feared while reading was that the novel would simply never end.
January 12, 2022
Okay... This is gonna have spoilers y'all.... I will try to refrain from doing too much but you've been warned.
Frankly,
This book is a really good concept. It's based around the Russian sleep experiments and how it made them all go crazy. This has been changed a little-- a professor of psychology asks two of his students to assist him on a sleep deprivation experiment. Chaos ensues.
That in itself was a fine story/book. It is gory and horrific and completely intense to read. There were moments in this where I could picture this in my head as a film, like in the line of "The Thing" or "Jurassic Park." I love it when books do that.
But the author included some extra story lines that just frankly felt like a distraction to me and took away the intensity of the book. SPOILERS AHEAD:
For one, one of his assistants has a thing for him and it's just super annoying. She continues to get turned down, and one day when supervising the experiment she says they need to end the experiment and he has to get rid of her. Honestly, the romantic thing between these two characters was just plain old dumb. The character of Penny was written just poorly, and honestly her and Guru were borderline stereotypically written.
The professor can't just have a thing for women, and a few girlfriends, he has to have a sex addiction where he has to go to a brothel before his shift because he can't get breasts out of his mind. *rolls eyes*
Then when the test subjects go full batshit crazy, they have to have it connected to demons and Hell.
All of these little things kind of added up and decreased the intensity for me. These made the characters less human, it made it less scary. The idea of sleep being what holds us together from insanity is scary, it doesn't have to be supernatural. The professor could have been fueled by power and disregard others safety that way. What happened to Penny and Brook didn't need to happen. It was dumb.
Frankly,
This book is a really good concept. It's based around the Russian sleep experiments and how it made them all go crazy. This has been changed a little-- a professor of psychology asks two of his students to assist him on a sleep deprivation experiment. Chaos ensues.
That in itself was a fine story/book. It is gory and horrific and completely intense to read. There were moments in this where I could picture this in my head as a film, like in the line of "The Thing" or "Jurassic Park." I love it when books do that.
But the author included some extra story lines that just frankly felt like a distraction to me and took away the intensity of the book. SPOILERS AHEAD:
For one, one of his assistants has a thing for him and it's just super annoying. She continues to get turned down, and one day when supervising the experiment she says they need to end the experiment and he has to get rid of her. Honestly, the romantic thing between these two characters was just plain old dumb. The character of Penny was written just poorly, and honestly her and Guru were borderline stereotypically written.
The professor can't just have a thing for women, and a few girlfriends, he has to have a sex addiction where he has to go to a brothel before his shift because he can't get breasts out of his mind. *rolls eyes*
Then when the test subjects go full batshit crazy, they have to have it connected to demons and Hell.
All of these little things kind of added up and decreased the intensity for me. These made the characters less human, it made it less scary. The idea of sleep being what holds us together from insanity is scary, it doesn't have to be supernatural. The professor could have been fueled by power and disregard others safety that way. What happened to Penny and Brook didn't need to happen. It was dumb.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2022
I had such high hopes that were crushed by this awful novel. I felt like I was stuck reading a script for a cheesy scary movie that tried too hard to make an edgy, sexy character. So much build up and for what? The book was hardly about a sleep experiment and felt more like a mass cult murder rumor typed out and spread all over Reddit like a STD.
I really thought this was going to be a good book and, though it was thought provoking at times re: theories of sleep, the unnecessary ventures into the doctor’s sex robot life were so…. Wtf. He reminded me of a nerdy guy trying to emulate hardcore sex appeal that just didn’t freaking work (nothing wrong with being a nerd, just be who you are for the love of god). The female characters were written to be the most dependent, robotic, “Misogynist’s ‘yes sir’ dream” type of people. Not one likable character - if I could punch them all in the head I would.
I really thought this was going to be a good book and, though it was thought provoking at times re: theories of sleep, the unnecessary ventures into the doctor’s sex robot life were so…. Wtf. He reminded me of a nerdy guy trying to emulate hardcore sex appeal that just didn’t freaking work (nothing wrong with being a nerd, just be who you are for the love of god). The female characters were written to be the most dependent, robotic, “Misogynist’s ‘yes sir’ dream” type of people. Not one likable character - if I could punch them all in the head I would.
November 19, 2019
Taking a good old scary urban legend and putting it into a novel format might look like a good idea, but there is a reason why urban legend are short... they don't have much to provides for longer storyline and after a while reading you can't help but feel it felt stretch a lot. The author might have done a better job at adding perspective, depth to his characters and better background, but he didn't. I didn't like this book. I still would recommend you to read the original legend, which can easily be fun on the Internet. I read it years ago, maybe 15 years ago or something..., but I remember it to be good, and it's very short, something like less then half and hour read.
October 16, 2021
This actually might be the worst book I’ve ever read. It’s honestly as if a 5th grader wrote it. I kept telling myself to stop reading but it was like a bad car accident and I just couldn’t look away from something this terrible. It’s clear the author has limited experience with women (lol) and trying to write about them was just embarrassing and honestly offensive. This was truly so bad.
April 21, 2020
***Somewhat spoilers, but this book so bad it doesn't matter***
Where do I begin?
I got about half way through the book before dropping it. I tried to give it a chance, I really did. I don't know what possessed me to buy this book, but it was a mistake.
The writing is pretty bad. There's so much clunky dialogue and no detail, or the wrong detail. Instead of a story about two people slowly going insane, you get a mess of personal character details and interactions that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot, and still make the characters one-dimensional and boring. The synopsis mentions the original Russian sleep experiment and I was hoping the author would dive into the experiment from two distinct time periods and locations. Sadly, this didn't happen. The original experiment isn't even mentioned.
There is so much embellishment in the already short book. It didn't focus nearly enough on Sharon and Chad who were the only interesting characters and were the ones in the experiment. The side characters Penny and Guru felt racially stereotyped, making me uncomfortable reading them. I also cannot express enough how irrelevant their personal lives are to the plot. The book focused more on what was happening outside the experiment and it felt like the author was just trying to get that word count up.
I'm really disappointed in this book, because this could've been a great claustrophobic, psychological horror novella told from two different time periods if the author had just put more effort into the horror aspect and what the characters (Sharon and Chad) in the experiment were going through rather than the fact that the student was trying to bang the professor.
The original creepypasta was much better so if you've never read it (or heard it on youtube like me) I highly recommend that instead.
Where do I begin?
I got about half way through the book before dropping it. I tried to give it a chance, I really did. I don't know what possessed me to buy this book, but it was a mistake.
The writing is pretty bad. There's so much clunky dialogue and no detail, or the wrong detail. Instead of a story about two people slowly going insane, you get a mess of personal character details and interactions that have absolutely nothing to do with the plot, and still make the characters one-dimensional and boring. The synopsis mentions the original Russian sleep experiment and I was hoping the author would dive into the experiment from two distinct time periods and locations. Sadly, this didn't happen. The original experiment isn't even mentioned.
There is so much embellishment in the already short book. It didn't focus nearly enough on Sharon and Chad who were the only interesting characters and were the ones in the experiment. The side characters Penny and Guru felt racially stereotyped, making me uncomfortable reading them. I also cannot express enough how irrelevant their personal lives are to the plot. The book focused more on what was happening outside the experiment and it felt like the author was just trying to get that word count up.
I'm really disappointed in this book, because this could've been a great claustrophobic, psychological horror novella told from two different time periods if the author had just put more effort into the horror aspect and what the characters (Sharon and Chad) in the experiment were going through rather than the fact that the student was trying to bang the professor.
The original creepypasta was much better so if you've never read it (or heard it on youtube like me) I highly recommend that instead.
September 21, 2019
KILLER READ!!!
This is one novel I won’t forget!
I was ready to rate “The Sleep Experiment” with 4 stars until I read the ending. And what an ending! So that’s why I rated this terrific novel with 5 stars.
This story was part horror, part suspense, part thriller. Mr. Bates writing was searing & powerful. The characters were realistic & believable. (Even those that didn’t make it out alive.) The plot was realistic. The reader can imagine an experiment like that executed by Dr. Wallis could exist. Which makes this novel all the more horrible.
TSE is definitely a novel worth reading.
This is one novel I won’t forget!
I was ready to rate “The Sleep Experiment” with 4 stars until I read the ending. And what an ending! So that’s why I rated this terrific novel with 5 stars.
This story was part horror, part suspense, part thriller. Mr. Bates writing was searing & powerful. The characters were realistic & believable. (Even those that didn’t make it out alive.) The plot was realistic. The reader can imagine an experiment like that executed by Dr. Wallis could exist. Which makes this novel all the more horrible.
TSE is definitely a novel worth reading.
May 28, 2022
It’s just a typical creepy pasta story but with unnecessary things added to it to make it longer. Everyone knows about the urban legend of the sleep experiment and reading this doesn’t really add anything.
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