Nod by Adrian Barnes

Dawn breaks over Vancouver and no one in the world has slept the night before, or almost no one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand, can still sleep, and theyve all shared the same golden dream.

This was quite a quick burn, short and sweet. I thought the premise was super interesting but it kind of fizzled in the second half. I would have like to see it pull in more of his manuscript and explore that a little more and he saw people writing on a typewriter - so why didn't he take that opportunity to write new passages for his own gain? What was the purpose of him going to that ‘other camp' of sleepers as I felt that hindered the pace of the story.

An unexplained happening means a sleepless end for most of humanity, a blissful dream for some and, perhaps, a new generation of mute pacifists.

A people hating, word-loving etymologist in a failing relationship becomes a kind of prophet, but he is not a prophet just a very naughty boy.

Codswallop!

A more literary science fiction novel about what happens when 90% of the population is suddenly unable to sleep.

The high concept is great, and sometimes the prose too, but it's all wasted on a tedious wanker of a main character. Why would the plot revolve around this guy? Why should I care about his Deep Thoughts™? Pretentious misanthropic writers are a bore in real life and in fiction. The story's two cornerstone devices of sleep and etymology don't fit together in any conclusive way. On the plus side, it's short. I'd love to see a better sleep-apocalypse book.