The Second Sleep Audiobook By Robert Harris cover art

The Second Sleep

A novel

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The Second Sleep

By: Robert Harris
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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About this listen

From the internationally best-selling author of Fatherland and the Cicero Trilogy - a chilling and dark new thriller unlike anything Robert Harris has done before.

1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artifacts - coins, fragments of glass, human bones - which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death?

Fairfax becomes determined to discover the truth. Over the course of the next six days, everything he believes - about himself, his faith, and the history of his world - will be tested to destruction.

©2019 Robert Harris (P)2019 Random House Audio
Historical Mystery Political Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense Espionage Fiction
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Critic reviews

“It should be enough that Robert Harris, in his earlier books, makes the lives of Cicero and Caesar even more fascinating, and brings to vivid life the citizens of ancient Rome and 1930’s Munich. With The Second Sleep he cracks open The Time To Come, making his new book a barnburner, leaving the reader wanting only one thing: more, please.” (Tom Hanks)

“In the tradition of A Canticle for Leibowitz, Harris presents an extraordinary and terrifyingly plausible vision of a post-technological future, a novel that’s at once an adventure story and a meditation on truth and faith. You’ll never look at your iPhone in quite the same way again.” (Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven)

“Ingenious.... The historical thriller hinges on an apocalyptic event and induces a shiver of dread in our present times.... When Harris is at his best - and here he is - he writes with a skill and ingenuity that few other novelists can match. In this case, the usual page-turning pleasures are joined by something else: a sense that, through his historical-futuristic setting, Harris has found a unique vantage point to comment on the present.” (William Skidelsky, The Financial Times)

Intriguing Premise • Thought-provoking Concept • Excellent Narration • Believable Worldbuilding • Captivating Beginning
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Story was pretty cool but we were waiting for some clever ending to see things up. Alas. Not so.

Very disappointing ending

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If you like this genre, you’ll probably like this book. Narrator is quite good. Story, not so much. It follows the typical post-apocalyptic formula. The only thing that was somewhat unique was the reason behind the collapse of civilization as we know it. I don’t want to insert a spoiler into this review, and won’t discuss that reason.

I expected more from Robert Harris.

Post-apocalyptic story

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I am a great admirer of Robert Harris. He is fast becoming the best novelist in the historical fiction genre. This novel is quite different from anything he’s written and not as successful; nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile and timely cautionary tale for our world today.

An interesting effort

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I was compelled to read to the end because I could not predict how the story would wrap up, nor who would survive.

A VERY GOOD STORY! Well Written. Well Narrated.

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Very different story, disturbing and compelling. Enjoyed it from beginning to end. I think a pretty accurate picture of our future.

Forewarning. So Robert Harris. Brilliant

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An engaging story, a poignant message and perfectly executed. A very good reader. Loved every bit of it, including the ending - what else could have they done? Every plot and subplot came to their logical conclusion.

A Gripping Cautionary Tale

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This is a fun book with an excellent reading performance. a few of the major events seem to happen too hurriedly rapid; personality changes happening unnaturally quick . The ending was rather abrupt with some storylines unresolved, have the sense there will be a sequel.

Ended too quickly with unresolved mysteries

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Rather hedonistic in nature. We are left at the end to wonder—was there really a more advanced society that was destroyed by their own technologies? Given the ill stated circumstances under which we live at the present moment e.g., the Putin invasion of Ukraine and the authoritarian cloud that hampers Republican thinking, I fear we will destroy life as it was possible without the lowest heathens who selfishly lust after power!

Well Crafted Story

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absorbing story but ending left a little to be desired. would have liked the story to continue. ending was quick like the author got bored.

absorbing

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I found this a gripping story. It is not all at all what it first seems — much more complex, with profound implications for the world today. Yes, The ending could be better. There are quite a number of different scenarios that would have offered a far more interesting way to bring the story to a close, but that weakness didn’t diminish the book much for me. The real fun was getting there.

A real surprise

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