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Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert

Thriller

Sleep Tight

by J.H. Markert

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Quick take

The lone survivor of a serial killer may hold the key to solving a new case when a copycat killer goes on the hunt.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Nonlinear_Timeline

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Creepy

    Creepy

  • Illustrated icon, Rural

    Rural

  • Illustrated icon, Graphic_Content

    Graphic violence

Synopsis

Beware the one who got away…

Father Silence once terrorized the rural town of Twisted Tree, disguising himself as a priest to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. When the police finally found his “House of Horrors,” they uncovered nineteen bodies and one survivor–a boy now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane.

Nearly two decades later, Father Silence is finally put to death, but by the next morning, the detective who made the original arrest is found dead. A new serial killer is taking credit for the murder and calling himself the Outcast.

The detective’s daughter, Tess Claibourne, is a detective herself, haunted by childhood trauma and horrified by the death of her father and the resurgence of Father Silence’s legacy.

When Tess’s daughter is kidnapped by the Outcast, Tess is forced to face her worst fears and long-buried memories. With no leads to follow, she travels back to Twisted Tree to visit the boy who survived and see what secrets might be buried in the tangled web of his broken mind.

Content warning

This book contains scenes that depict the death of children, sexual assault, and mentions of suicide.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Sleep Tight.

Sleep Tight

Before

The boy colored so hard the black crayon snapped in half in his hand.

This wasn’t uncommon with that color.

He remembered the darkness around those eyes was thick, and only the right amount of pressure could reproduce that deep, dark black.

From his seat on the hardwood floor, he pulled another black crayon from the bucket beside him and resumed coloring, furiously, hurriedly—he could hear that Mother was on her way up.

He’d done something bad, and she was mad. And when she was mad, she got mean. But he couldn’t remember what he’d done this time.

“Noah,” his mother’s shrill voice called from the stairwell outside his closed bedroom door. “Noah Nichols!”

Her footfalls made the steps groan.

Made his heart feel wrong, sick and swollen and thumpy.

He imagined her knee-length cotton skirt, thick like a curtain, swooshing upon each step, her big feet crammed into heavy shoes.

He pressed hard on the picture.

Had to get it dark.

Had to get it right.

Her voice grew closer outside the door. “Noah, I’m coming up. Someone’s been a baddy boy!”

He imagined the stairs splintering under her weight, her falling through into a dark, dusty hole, plunging into the basement where all the spiders slept, into the cellar with the snakes and guttersnipes, into the earth with the worms and the roots and the dinosaur bones, and he imagined her dying down there.

Decaying into dust.

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Why I love it

I confess I am not typically a fan of serial killer stories. They often feel too extreme and cartoonish. But J.H. Markert’s new novel, Sleep Tight, has me reconsidering my stance. This is a devilishly twisty and spooky update on the serial killer horror novel. It is best read with all the lights on.

For years the town of Twisted Tree was menaced by a serial killer called Father Silence, so named for his MO of dressing like a priest when committing his violent crimes. Eventually, he was captured by the authorities, who discovered more than nineteen bodies in his “House of Horrors” and one survivor. That survivor, haunted by what he endured, is now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane. But this survivor may hold the key to solving a new series of grisly murders from a new killer let loose on Twisted Tree, whose first victim is the detective who caught Father Silence…

Throughout reading Sleep Tight, I feared my heart might burst out of my chest. From the fully realized characters to the creepy vibes and knotty crime twists, this is a gripping read. Welcome to spooky season! Your new favorite bone chiller has arrived.

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