Lin Serfati is not like other women. She runs the Panah, a group of women who secretly live underground, away from the prying eyes of the leaders of Green City and, like her aunt before her, she cares for these young women who provide a special service to the upper echelon men of Green City - non-sexual companionship. She basically runs a cuddling brothel. Sabine is one of the young women who live in the Panah, and she reached out through the Dark Web to the Panah after her mother committed suicide, to escape her inevitable fate. She finds herself rather numb to the whole process and doesn't enjoy the company of the men, unlike Rupa, who relishes being with the powerful Clients. Rupa greatly desires a man named Joseph, but he only has eyes for Sabine, who despises him.
One very early morning, following an evening with Joseph which included sampling some special alcohol (something forbidden by the Panah), Sabine wakes to find it's time to leave. This is odd because normally, Sabine is a hard core insomniac and only sleeps in bits when Lin gives her a special tea to relax her, which she has been doing for some time without Sabine's knowledge. Sabine gets ready to leave and passes out in front of Joseph's apartment, following excruciating pain. When Lin gets a digital message that Sabine has fallen ill, she beseeches her lover and favorite Client, Reuben Faro, to rescue Sabine. Reuben does, but he leaves her bleeding outside of the hospital, although he does work his magic in the computers there, arranging a secret hospital room for her where she can recover. She is discovered by a kind young doctor named Dr. Julien Asfour, who diagnoses the mysterious girl with a serious pregnancy-related issue. How can she be pregnant when sex between the girls and the Clients is forbidden by the Panah? What's more, will Dr. Asfour risk his stellar career and very life to help her? Of course he will, and he might just fall in love along the way.
While Before She Sleeps has a few perilous moments, I don't think I'd classify it as a thriller. It's more of a drama, in my opinion. Also, the concept of powerful men seeking companionship that doesn't involve sex seemed a bit far-fetched to me. These older men don't tend to have wives, since theirs have died from the virus, typically, and they aren't given new ones because of their age. With all of their wealth and power, I don't see them going down to the local hooker bots to get their jollies, when beautiful ladies are brought to their doorsteps. Before She Sleeps had its fairy tale moments between Sabine and Dr. Asfour, but it just didn't really ring true for me. Perhaps it is the cultural differences between me, an American woman, and the author, a Pakistani woman, but the story seemed a bit silly to me and I found it left a good bit hanging at the end for pretty much everyone except for Sabine and Dr. Asfour.
