NOD cover art

NOD

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

NOD

By: Adrian Barnes
Narrated by: Tim Beckman
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

Shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award.

Dawn breaks over Vancouver and no-one has slept the night before, or almost no one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand can still sleep, and they've all shared the same strange, golden dream. A handful of children still sleep as well, but what they're dreaming remains a mystery.

After six days of absolute sleep deprivation, psychosis will set in. After four weeks, the body will die. In the interim, panic ensues and a bizarre new world arises in which those previously on the fringes of society take the lead. One couple experience a lifetime in a week as he continues to sleep, she begins to disintegrate before him, and the new world swallows the old one whole...NOD.

©2013 Adrian Barnes (P)2014 Audible Studios Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Fiction
All stars
Most relevant  
Sometimes difficult to imagine his world. Concept of world that couldn't sleep but character's story confused me.

A little confusing at times

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a bit of an underwhelming book; I'm not sure if my expectations were misguided, the synopsis was exaggerated or it was just pitched at a younger reader. At any rate, I didn't find it very appealing or engaging beyond the premise.

A few times in the book, Barnes has the protagonist Paul reference that what we're reading is his memoir that he's writing in his final days. Given that it's kind of a diary written by a character, some of the stuff included in describing elements of the world and their experience that a reader would normally let go through to the keeper stands out as gratuitous at worst, and illogical to include at best.

The premise of nearly the whole planet not being able to sleep is a really cool one, and it was a determining factor for me to get the book. I feel like Barnes has missed the mark a little on this, but the premise carries a lot of the other issues. The book turns into a post-apocalyptic societal re-build which doesn't land completely because I just couldn't believe that the planet would completely collapse so quickly.

Tim Beckman read the audio edition for me, and it was a great performance. Nod is a good way to escape reality for a few hours, because it felt very far from reality in my mind.

I waited for a zig, it zagged. I wish it hadn't

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unenjoyable and unimaginative. A really great premise but failed to deliver with the storyline. .

Not worth it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.