Just when you thought it was safe to go back to bed ... Matthew Blake on killing in your sleep

Can you commit a crime in your sleep? It seems so. Why Matthew Blake is out to make us think of our nightly habit the way Jaws made us reconsider swimming.

An actual nightmare ... for police, investigating alleged sleep crime is complex.

I’ve always been fascinated by sleep. It’s the one universal experience that connects all 8 billion of us on the planet. We spend around 33 years of our lives asleep. But what really happens in that shadow life? And what are we all really capable of? Could you commit murder in your sleep?

My favourite thrillers tap into universal emotions and fears. People sometimes say that after reading or watching Jaws they never went in the water again. I wanted to write a thriller where after reading it you’ll never sleep in the same way again.

And that is how my debut psychological thriller Anna O was born.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to sleep ... Matthew Blake is approaching our night habit in another way.

Anna O is about Anna Ogilvy who kills two people while sleepwalking and then never opens her eyes again. Dr Benedict Prince, a sleep psychologist, has to try and wake her up so she can stand trial for murder. There are juicy emotional character relationships, lots and lots of twists, mysterious suspects with secrets in their past and all of it is based on real-life psychology. It also has an ending that you will never see coming.

As soon as I discovered the phenomenon of mystery illnesses and sleep-related crime, I knew that was my eureka moment. Sleep has always fascinated me as the one genuinely universal human experience. Since submission, the global response to Anna O has been beyond anything I could have imagined.

The book took four years to write from the first idea to the final manuscript. But my starting point was when I discovered two things: first, the real-life cases of people who commit crimes while sleepwalking; and, second, the mystery illness known as ‘resignation syndrome’ where patients fall into a deep sleep and never wake up.

‘That was my eureka moment’ ... British author of Anna O, Matthew Blake.

The book involved extensive research into sleep crime and resignation syndrome. For sleepwalking, I became fascinated by people doing extraordinary things while their eyes are open but their brains are still technically asleep: taking long car journeys, acting out nightmares and, in some tragic cases … committing murder. One of the most extraordinary headlines I found was a BBC News article entitled: ‘I went driving and motorbiking in my sleep’. Stop and just think about that for a second. How terrifying!

And, indeed, many of these cases have entered the history of criminology with a very grisly end. One of the most famous real-life sleepwalking crimes is the Kenneth Park case from 1987. Kenneth, a 23-year-old electronics worker in Canada, claimed he was sleepwalking when he drove to his parents-in-law’s house and killed his mother-in-law. He also tried to kill his father-in-law. The jury believed him and Kenneth Parks was found not guilty of murder and attempted murder.

But cases of sleeping murder go even further back. Aristotle mentions it in his work and one of the most famous scenes in literature is Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and trying to wash blood from her hands.

Don’t go for a sleepover at her castle ... Lady Macbeth as portrayed by actress Ellen Terry and painted by artist John Singer Sargent in 1889.

Some of the earliest recorded criminal cases come from the 19th century. In January 1859, a woman called Esther Griggs was accused of throwing her baby through a window while screaming ‘save my children!’ at the top of her lungs. Esther claimed she was dreaming about her house being on fire and was trying to save her baby by throwing the child out of the window. Like Kenneth Park, she too was acquitted. Twenty years later, a Scottish man called Simon Fraser also violently killed his child. He claimed that he carried out the crime while dreaming that he was fighting a wild beast.

For resignation syndrome, I studied the extraordinary cases in Sweden of refugee children who have fallen asleep and never woken up, like real-life fairy tales or ancient myths come true. Resignation syndrome is one of the greatest medical mysteries of our age. Google it and see for yourself. The stories are heartbreaking and utterly compelling. It forces us to ask fundamental questions about the link between the mind and the body. Can you imagine closing your eyes and waking up five years later?

‘I’m so excited for readers in Australia to meet Anna’ ... the novel’s cover.

I’m so excited for readers in Australia to meet Anna and find out more about the mysterious world of sleep crime. I dreamt of writing a thriller that resonated with audiences across the world. I hope Anna’s story does just that!

Matthew Blake’s novel Anna Ois out on Jan 31, published by HarperCollins. It’s our new Book Of The Month, which means you get it for 30% off the RRP at Booktopia with the code ANNAO. Only on ISBN 9780008607807. Not with any other offer.

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