Berkley
Published April 14, 2026
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
They can’t sleep. No matter what they try, they just can’t sleep, so late at night they go online to chat with one another until one of them suggests they meet in person once a week at a Manhattan all-night diner. Sybil drives in from New Jersey, where she’s at loose ends after her children headed off to college and she discovers her husband is having an affair. Zeke, who lives in a luxurious high rise penthouse nearby, is a talented Mets pitcher sidelined by an injury. Julian, who called them together, lives in Queens and owns a candy store, but is mourning his dead wife, his absent daughter, and a previous career that obsessed him. He invites Betty, the waitress who works the night shift, to join them at their table. She’s tight-lipped and wary, holding a secret close to her chest. Nevertheless, they are soon fast friends, enjoying their late-night companionship, until tragedy strikes and Betty finds a note on the diner’s back door: RUN. Though they don’t know what she’s running from, the Insomniacs set out to find her since they don’t want her to face it alone.
There is a mystery, here, painstakingly unraveled by members of the weekly group as they delve into what might be driving Betty’s panicked flight. There is also the development of a found family, and a slowly-developing romantic attachment between Sibyl, whose warmth knitted the group together, and Zeke, whose entire existence revolved around baseball and his famously powerful arm but who isn’t sure if he’ll recover – or if he even wants to. As it turns out, Betty isn’t the only one with secrets, but the only way for them to help her is for all of the truth to come out.
The story unfolds from four points of view, with each character growing deeper and more complex as the reader pieces things together and as the group’s connections grow stronger. This is very much a character-driven novel, but also well-plotted as the search for answers accelerates. Ultimately, it’s about how we define “family” and whether our identities are governed by other people’s demands or by our own choices about who to love and how to live our lives.