Praying for Sleep

Jeffery Deaver is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE AUTHORS & this book doesn't disappoint. His books have many twists & turns, and you never know what to expect next! If you've read some of Deaver's earlier books/series, namely, the "The Rune Series" or the "The John Pellam Series", and did not enjoy them, please do not judge him by those books... his writing style changes completely with the "Lincoln Rhyme" books. I recommend that you start at the beginning of the series though because it enables you to get to know and appreciate the characters so much more as they grow & develop throughout the books! "The Devil's Teardrop" is probably my favorite Deaver stand alone book. I wish he'd do a series with the characters from that book! If you like mystery & suspense, you are going to LOVE Jeffery Deaver & "Praying for Sleep"!

Jampacked with twists and turns, always coming up with something new. It seemed to drag a little in a couple of spots, but all in all was a great thriller!

Mr. Deaver developed all of the key players in the book, to the fullest extent. I think the book would have been fine, without all of the extra information.

The purpose of this novel is to create suspense and it does that but the characters are stereotypical and seem incredible with one unbelievable episode after another. There is a good description of the process of tracking a fugitive using a trained dog, but even there the story seems farfetched. One can skim through the book quickly in an evening and not miss much, just to get the gist of the story. The plot twists and turns and ends up with a surprise at the end. But on the whole dumb characters do dumb things and it might be better to spend time with another book. This book does not make for pleasant reading. The characters are all unlikable except for the dog.

I have become a devotee of Jeffery Deaver and have enjoyed all his books that I've read to varying extents. This one started off quite slow but really picked up speed and interest during the last 20%. I'd recommend it.

The book has an urban legend type of plot: Escaped mental patient, hell bent for revenge, destroying everything and everyone in his path. The story line was interesting but Deaver rambled from time to time and the book has moments where sleep had no alternative. The book was a 3 star read until the last fifty pages when it really picked up. A classic Deaver plot twist has you guessing who is the villain and who the hero, making the brief moments of boredom almost tolerable. For Deaver fans this may be a bit of a dissapointment.

Jeffry Deaver is an excellent writer. "Praying for Sleep" is exciting with well developed characters who are believable. If your like scary stories, this book delivers. Deaver gives the story twists and unexpected turns. I usually can guess the ending, but not this time. I would certainly recommend it.

An atmospheric, dark, & stormy thriller,whose emotionally isolated characters are drawn together in this night of the hunter and the hunted. This atypical thriller, its quirky characters, charged atmosphere, dynamic action, intricate weaving of the past and present will keep you turning pages into the wee hours of the night. I finished this book, closed the cover, shut out my light and wondered who to contact about turing this into a movie - what a great ensemble piece for some REAL actors to sink their teeth into!

This is where Jeffery Deaver started turning out his great novels. I've read everything by him from this book on and I must say this is the weakest. It's a bit long, all the hunting down of Michael Hrubek. it also ends up to quickly and nicely for me. I can see some of the plot twists Deaver used after this book and recommend it only to see how far Jeffery Deaver has come from here. I'm reading all of his earlier books that are being rereleased.

Another fabulous thriller by Jeffery Deaver. All of his novels are based on a single premise - keep the reader entertained and involved and Praying for Sleep does just that.
Deaver's novels stand out from the pack for many reasons - the well drawn plot lines and characters and the plot twists and turns. This one has an ending that you will never forget.
Praying for Sleep will do for dark and stormy nights what Jaws did for the ocean and psycho did for showers. Don't read this one alone....

Another fabulous thriller by Jeffery Deaver. All of his novels are based on a single premise - keep the reader entertained and involved and Praying for Sleep does just that.
Deaver's novels stand out from the pack for many reasons - the well drawn plot lines and characters and the plot twists and turns. This one has an ending that you will never forget.
Praying for Sleep will do for dark and stormy nights what Jaws did for the ocean and psycho did for showers. Don't read this one alone....

This is an old Deaver, copyright in 1994. Lincoln Rhyme was probably walking on both legs then, so he doesn't show up in this exciting novel.

Nonetheless, you can tell this is Deaver's work, because the plot races forward and you can never guess what is going to happen next. With Deaver, you never know what's what until you finish. You're sure to enjoy this one.

This book was a real page-turner. The characters were well-developed and the plot was easy to follow without being predictable. I found myself reading faster and faster toward the climax near the end of the story. Another excellent book by Jeffery Deaver!

I recently found this "older" Deaver novel I had somehow overlooked. It is every bit what I have come to expect and love from a Deaver novel. Simply put, the man is a master storyteller. Even by now, after reading most (13?) of his books, and knowing there are plot twists and turns . . . and knowing my head is going to get messed with . . . and knowing I would love to FOR ONCE actually get the twists right . . . I still can't. I still wind up surprised by the fifty different ways the story takes you before the end. Some people call that whiplash; I call it the cure for predictable by-the-numbers thrillers.

The plot does not need repeating here, but this does: read this book. I recommend this, and the other Deaver novels, without hesitation.

After reading Jeffrey Deaver's The Bone Collector, I couldn't wait to get my hands on any Deaver novel. I bought Praying for Sleep with the hope of more nailbiting action. Boy was I sorely disappointed! The slow pacing made me want to to pull my hair out! It took me almost a month-on and off-to finish the book. I could care less if Hrubek was caught or not, he never made sense and the end was too convenient for my taste. I'm supposed to feel bad for Lis Atcheson's plight but in the end, I didn't care either way. The characters were very one-dimensional and I didn't sense any humanity in them. There was no sense of urgency I usually associate with page turner thrillers. If you're looking for really good Deaver books, I highly recommend The Bone Collector and its sequel The Coffin Dancer.

Found this one to be quite tedious. Didn't really feel much for any of the characters. Much longer than necessary and the detail in the tracking scenes was uninteresting. The ending was okay but it all just felt a bit contrived.

I was devouring Deaver's titles, one after another because of his book "Devil's Teardrop". But I was really disappointed by P.F.S. The plot is slow moving. I'm one-third through and I'm not sure what Hrubek wants. I keep hoping for action and it was a big let down one after another--like watching a B-grade horror flick. It's been a month since I bought the book and I'm still unable to finish it. It's simply too tiring. Skip this. It really isn't one of Deaver's best works.

Although a fairly good read I figured out the ending half way thru the book and I never guess right in most mysteries. The character of Michael Hrubeck saves the book as most of the others are not that interesting. Overall it is a fairly average mystery with some good plot twists.

Not up to his usual (ie, the bone collector, etc) but still acceptable. The twists and turns of this novel, had me engrossed in this 'storm' and it's description. The ending, as written, was not expected. A good read.

Brace yourself. You are going to become hunter and prey to such an extent that you will feel compassion for both. Jeffery Deaver seeps up through the floorboards of imagination and creeps into our subconscious strata in this "Look over your shoulder and under the bed" thriller.

Jeffery Deaver has done it again. Praying for sleep is an easy-reading crime-thriller with his usual superb character description and development and a plot which keeps you guessing right to the end!

The refreshing thing about Jeffrey Deaver is that, unlike so many other attorney-authors, he doesn't feel compelled to jump on the Grisham/Turow bandwagon.
The bad thing about this is that Deaver attempts to tackle subjects without burdening himself with proper research.
Only Deaver's well developed gift for wordsmithing keeps this book from a one star rating. The protagonist, Michael Hrubek, while a sympathetic character, is one who is plainly insane, therefore incapable of being identified with. As with much of Hemingway's fiction, there was hardly a character in it that I found appealing or rooted for, including Hrubek, who hardly utters a single coherent sentence in the entire story.
The only other reason why this snoozefest got a second star out of me (aside from the fact that you cannot give half stars) was the surprise ending.
This is plainly not a book to be sequelized and let us thank God for small favors. Deaver was clearly coasting here.

Jeffery Deaver has done it again. Praying for sleep is an easy-reading crime-thriller with his usual superb character description and development and a plot which keeps you guessing right to the end!