The Second Sleep
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3.7 • 122 Ratings
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Brought to you by Penguin.
THE LATEST NOVEL FROM ROBERT HARRIS: chosen as a Book of the Year by The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, and Express
WHAT IF YOUR FUTURE LIES IN THE PAST?
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'One word: wonderful. Two words: compulsive reading. Three words: buy it tomorrow. Four words: tonight, if possible.' STEPHEN KING
'A thoroughly absorbing, page-turning narrative.' SUNDAY TIMES
'Genuinely thrilling.' DAILY TELEGRAPH
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Dusk is gathering as a young priest, Christopher Fairfax, rides across a silent land.
It's a crime to be out after dark, and Fairfax knows he must arrive at his destination - a remote village in the wilds of Exmoor - before night falls and curfew is imposed.
He's lost and he's becoming anxious as he slowly picks his way across a countryside strewn with the ancient artefacts of a civilisation that seems to have ended in cataclysm.
What Fairfax cannot know is that, in the days and weeks to come, everything he believes in will be tested to destruction, as he uncovers a secret that is as dangerous as it is terrifying ...
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'[Harris] takes us on a thrilling ride while serving up serious food for thought.' SUNDAY EXPRESS
'A truly surprising future-history thriller. Fabulous, really.' EVENING STANDARD
'The book's real power lies in its between-the-lines warning that our embrace of the internet represents some kind of sleepwalk into oblivion. It's a provocative, tub-thumping sci-fi of which H. G. Wells might have been proud.' DAILY MAIL
'Harris' latest work intelligently warps historical fiction and tackles issues of religion, science and the apocalypse in the process. As he flexes his imagination, you will be left pondering as often as you are page-turning.' HERALD
'A brilliantly imaginative thriller' READER'S DIGEST
LOOK OUT FOR ROBERT'S NEW THRILLER, V2 - COMING AUTUMN 2020
© Robert Harris 2019 (P) Penguin Audio 2019
Customer Reviews
An Unconscious Re-Write?
Anyone familiar with the author, knows they are guaranteed more than their money’s worth, when purchasing one of his works, and the all important narration is perfect for the subject matter. A master class on mystery thriller writing, with the less you know, coming to the novel, the more fun you’re going to have with its epic themes and jaw dropping reveals. The characters are sympathetic, interesting, and some will win you over, when you didn’t like them much at first; another achievement which only the best writers can pull off.
The only criticism is that fans, familiar with Harris’s earlier works, will recognise some uncanny resemblances to Pompey: with a young, middle ranking civil servant, hero; his seemingly unattainable love interest, from the upper classes, who’s actually more, “common,” than we may think; an elderly scientist, slowly growing more ill in the latter parts of the story; an unruly workforce, and all the main characters digging into the unsafe, untamed earth; indeed, I could write an essay on the similarities.
However, that isn’t a criticism of the sheer quality of the work, nor does it detract from the uniqueness of this imagined world, unlike anything from Harris’s earlier body of work. By keeping to George Orwell’s dictum, of avoiding flowery, over descriptive language, Harris skilfully weaves a fascinating web of intrigue in a world you cannot resist exploring. The little things, like the early mention of a parrot, as being NOT unusual in the Essex country side, catch you off guard, for example. You find yourself filling in the blanks of this, quite new England, due to the effortless skill of the author.
I’m still pondering the fate of these characters, two days after finishing the story, which means it’s obviously had an impact on me. I would recommend it to anyone who likes science, futurology, history, theology, or just a rattling good thriller
Gripping stuff
Nice set-up & twist in the tale. As others have said, the framework has a lot of similarities with Pompeii in terms of type of characters, but it’s a page-turner.
Excellent
Excellent read, highly recommended