'Award-winning Paul Tremblay's debut noir novels back in print after a decade, for fans of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, Raymond Carver and Dashiell Hammett. This omnibus brings Paul Tremblay's debut novels - classic noirs, The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland back in to print for the first time in over 10 years. Darkly comedic and carrying all the hallmarks of Tremblay's later work, they introduce Mark Genevich, a narcoleptic detective operating out of his mom's apartment in South Boston
'In THE LITTLE SLEEP, Genevich is hired to identify the girl in a couple of photos except the girl looks a lot like the reality TV star and DA's daughter, and he can't remember who gave him the job because he was asleep at the time. Wrangling deception, intrigue, cataleptic hallucinations and a body that could fall asleep at any moment Genevich follows the trail that leads him into his own family history, and his memories of his dear departed father.
'NO SLEEP TILL WONDERLAND sees Genevich dropping out, forced into group therapy by his landlord mother or face eviction. His new friend, Gus, finds out he's a PI and asks him to help find a local suit's lover. But soon Genevich is pulled into events over his head rescuing a child from a burning house, maybe?; drug deals with a local bouncer and dealer; possibly getting a girlfriend. But solving mysteries is what Genevich does, starting with the mystery of what happened to him whilst he was asleep.'
Before reading this omnibus collection I'd only read one Paul Trembaly book, and it was one of his horror titles; as such I had no idea what to expect from his noir mystery novels. One of the things that quickly became apparent, however, is that Tremblay is really, really good at writing a mystery where you have no idea what you can trust, and where reality seems to bend around the edges.
That last sentence might make you think that there's something weird or supernatural going on in these books, but that's not the case. Instead, Tremblay uses an unreliable narrator to mess with readers heads, to make it so that you're unsure whether what you're reading is actually happening; and even on occasion having you doubt the things you were convinced were real actually were. This is down to the lead character, Mark Genevich.
Mark seems to be a fairly unique protagonist, or at least one unlike any others I've come across before. Mark is a private investigator who leans into the noir aesthetic, complete with fedora and chain-smoking, but what makes him very different is that he suffers from narcolepsy. Due to an accident in his past Mark struggles with this debilitating condition, one that has cost him friendships, strained his relationship with his family to breaking point, and makes his everyday life a struggle. Not only does he have to contend with the possibility of falling asleep at any moment, along with paralysis, but it also means that his dreams and reality can get mixed up inside his head. Mark can believe something has happened, truly remember an event, yet it's not real, or at least a very altered version of reality. As you can imagine this makes being a PI quite difficult, but it also means that us readers need to question everything we read; because we never know if we're experiencing his altered reality or not.
The first book in this collection, The Little Sleep, is Tremblay's first published novel; but you'd be hard pressed to think that from the text as it's better than some writers work decades into their career. The story sees Mark finding himself in possession of some photos of a young woman who looks a lot like the daughter of the local District Attorney, a young woman currently in the limelight thanks to her appearance on a television talent show. At first Mark believes that the woman herself hired him for the job, but when she seems to have no idea who he is, or what the photos are Mark realises he has no knowledge of who actually hired him, or why. Now he has to not only seek out answers, but he has to figure out what the question was too.
I really enjoyed The Little Sleep, and thought that it was the stronger of the two books, mainly because the case really put Mark in the middle of a big mystery. Without giving too much away, it's a case that has a lot of history to it, one where it soon becomes apparent he's going to be having to dig up the past. Thanks to a family connection to the DA and his daughter it also becomes something of a personal case, and one that goes into the Genevich family and their secrets.
I liked that the book wasn't your typical mystery, that like Mark the reader has no idea what he's even supposed to be solving. Is this a missing person case? Is it a blackmail case? Mark genuinely doesn't know, and going along with him whilst he's trying to piece together the puzzle is a lot of fun.
There's also a lot of time in this first book to get to know Mark, and his mother, as he navigates his way through this case. The reader will learn a lot about narcolepsy, and how it can effect someones's life; and we get to see that in Mark and the way that he's struggling. It's used not just to make the mystery more difficult to figure out, but really wins you over to Mark and makes you like him a lot more; which is important as he's a bit of a dick. But, we learn why he's a bit of a dick, about how much he suffers, and we see that his lashing out is as much a coping mechanism as anything else. The relationship he has with his mother is a big insight into this too, and something that I really enjoyed. And it's something I felt the second book in the collection was definitely slightly weaker for due to her absence from the narrative.
No Sleep Till Wonderland is the second part of this collection, and picks up a year or more after the events of the first book, and we get to join Mark as he continues to try and form a coherent life living with his condition. As previously mentioned, this book lacks the presence of his mother, but introduces some other characters for Mark to connect with.
Having been forced into group therapy by his mother, Mark meets Gus, a fun loving and outgoing guy who seems to enjoy Mark's gruff exterior and insists that they should become friends. After going out for drinks with the guy Mark actually seems to enjoy his company, and the lack of judgement he feels Gus gives him definitely seems to help with his own issues of self image and esteem. When Gus asks to hire Mark to follow one of his friends home, to keep an eye on her and protect her from a potential stalker Mark soon finds himself being drawn into events that are way over his head.
After trying to save a child from a burning building Mark finds himself in the sights of a local drug dealer, questioned by the cops, and may even be beginning a relationship with a woman. All things that are sure to add stress on anyone; but when Gus also disappears Mark begins to suspect that there's something bigger going on and starts investigating.
The second book takes a less personal approach than the first one did, and makes Mark more of an outsider in this mystery. The first book had him squarely in the middle when he found himself in possession of the mystery pictures, and with the family connections; but No Sleep Till Woderland has Mark on the outside. Here the mystery involves people he hardly knows, and it's a situation where he definitely feels like an outsider. No one's even hired him to look into anything here. Despite that, Mark's own sense of ethics makes him look into things, even if it's only to get answers for himself.
The collection of new characters that surround Mark in this book are an interesting bunch, and are definitely more varied than those in the first. I also enjoyed the fact that we get to see more of what makes Mark tick here too; and I don't mean the narcolepsy. Thanks to the group therapy sessions we learn a lot about Mark's emotional state and how his mind works. It reveals even more about the man than we thought we knew, and makes him an even more sympathetic character.
One of the most important things about this book, though, is that Mark is not only a disabled lead character, but his narcolepsy is never used for laughs. The only times I can remember seeing the condition used in fictional stories it's always thrown in for comedy, for characters whose falling asleep is done for the audience to laugh. But Mark is never treated as a punchline. Tremblay shows him respect, he shows the readers how this condition can negatively affect someone's life, and gives it a level of care that other writers never seem to bother with.
Overall I really enjoyed this collection, and it definitely reignited my desire to read more of Tremblay's work. I also find myself hoping that we get to see more from the narcoleptic PI in the future, as he makes for one of the most interesting and compelling investigators around.
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