The Insomniacs by Allison Winn Scotch: When sleepless strangers become unlikely allies

In The Insomniacs by Allison Winn Scotch, releasing April 7, 2026, four strangers find themselves drawn together during the quietest hours of the night, gathering at an all-night diner in New York City to talk through the worries that keep them awake. What begins as a series of late-night conversations gradually turns into a fragile friendship—until one of them disappears, turning their insomnia-fueled support group into an amateur investigation.

The setup is appealing right away. Sybil, a recently empty-nested mom; Zeke, a professional baseball player sidelined by injury; Julian, a reserved retiree trying to repair his relationship with his daughter; and Betty, the guarded diner waitress who serves their endless coffee, couldn’t be more different from one another. Yet insomnia—and the strange intimacy of late-night conversations—creates the space for them to open up in ways they can’t with the people already in their lives.

That premise is the novel’s strongest element. There’s something inherently compelling about the idea that people who would never normally cross paths might form a connection simply because they all happen to be awake when the rest of the world is sleeping. In that sense, the book reminded me of something like a study abroad trip: a group of people who start as strangers, then quickly bond because they’re sharing an unusual experience together.

Anyone who has ever gone on one of those trips knows the feeling. By the end, it can feel like you’ve known those people forever, even if you met only weeks earlier. But in my experience, once everyone returns to their regular lives, the connection often fades. You try to get together again, but eventually you realize that the only thing you truly share is the memory of that trip.

That’s where the premise of The Insomniacs began to lose me. The novel asks readers to believe that these four wildly different people would remain deeply connected long after their late-night diner conversations end. For me, that stretch of believability never quite landed.

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The story also blends genres, functioning partly as a mystery thriller and partly as a romance. When one member of the group disappears, the others dive into an investigation inspired by the true-crime podcasts Sybil loves. In theory, that shift should add urgency to the story. In practice, the pacing sometimes drags, and the tension doesn’t always build the way you might expect from a thriller.

The romantic subplot didn’t quite work for me either. The pairing that eventually emerges felt especially hard to believe, and that sense of improbability kept pulling me out of the narrative. Ultimately, believability is the biggest hurdle the novel faces. As Mark Twain famously said, “The difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction must be absolutely believable.” Even when a story is imaginative, the emotional and relational logic has to feel real. For me, The Insomniacs never fully reached that level of credibility.

That doesn’t mean the book is without appeal. The late-night diner setting is cozy and atmospheric, and the concept of strangers bonding over insomnia is genuinely intriguing. Readers who enjoy character-driven stories about unexpected friendships—or who like a little romance woven into their mysteries—may still find something to like here.

For me, though, The Insomniacs ultimately landed in the middle: an interesting premise with some warm moments of connection, but a story that occasionally drifts and never quite convinces. If you read The Insomniacs when it releases on April 7, 2026, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Did the friendships feel believable to you, or did the premise stretch a little too far?

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Related Content

• Book review: The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch (Chaos is a Friend of Mine)
• Allison Winn Scotch’s favourite second chance romances (The Nerd Daily)
• How writers revise: Allison Winn Scotch and creating a career on your own terms (Fox Print Editorial)

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