Sleepers
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Hugo, a single father struggling to make ends meet, stumbles upon an opportunity to get paid while he sleeps. Lunatech’s simulated world, Slumbervale, runs on the labor of its users—people who have no memory of what they do there, or that it even exists.
From the beginning, something doesn’t sit right. Inside Slumbervale, the rules are rigid, the routines repetitive, and no one else seems to question any of it. When Hugo meets Piper—a rebellious hacker who validates his suspicions—his unease deepens into something much harder to ignore. Meanwhile, in the real world, his life is unraveling. His drinking is worsening, his daughter is pulling away, and the truth about his past is getting harder to conceal. As pressure builds in both worlds, Hugo must decide what he’s willing to face—and what it will cost him if he doesn’t. |
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Praise for Sleepers
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
In Sleepers, J. B. Velasquez introduces us to Hugo, a single father whose life in Tucson is currently being held together by sheer luck and a dwindling bank account. To save what’s left of his world, he signs on with Lunatech to earn money while he sleeps, thereby splitting his life in half. During the day, he’s a guitar teacher drowning in the fallout of his wife’s death and his strained relationship with his daughter, Ava. But at night, he’s a songwriter in a so-called perfect world called Slumbervale. The tension starts when he meets Piper, a cynical hacker who refuses to buy into the sunny propaganda of Level Six spiritual evolution--a corporate ploy to keep everyone happy and productive while they're being used.
Sleepers by J. B. Velasquez is an addictive thriller that functions like a slow-motion car crash you can’t look away from. Velasquez has a skill for taking fascinating sci-fi concepts and showing how they actually tear apart a hurting family in a world that depends on tech to function. The narrative moves at a good pace and avoids the usual genre clichés of robot uprisings, focusing instead on the heartfelt reality of a man whose brain has become a piece of corporate real estate. The other sleepers in Hugo's work group feel like real people caught in a trap, and watching their different reactions to the simulation kept me hooked. Fans of The Truman Show or Inception will love the mind-bending mystery of trying to figure out what’s real and what’s a corporate lie.
-Readers' Favorite
In Sleepers, J. B. Velasquez introduces us to Hugo, a single father whose life in Tucson is currently being held together by sheer luck and a dwindling bank account. To save what’s left of his world, he signs on with Lunatech to earn money while he sleeps, thereby splitting his life in half. During the day, he’s a guitar teacher drowning in the fallout of his wife’s death and his strained relationship with his daughter, Ava. But at night, he’s a songwriter in a so-called perfect world called Slumbervale. The tension starts when he meets Piper, a cynical hacker who refuses to buy into the sunny propaganda of Level Six spiritual evolution--a corporate ploy to keep everyone happy and productive while they're being used.
Sleepers by J. B. Velasquez is an addictive thriller that functions like a slow-motion car crash you can’t look away from. Velasquez has a skill for taking fascinating sci-fi concepts and showing how they actually tear apart a hurting family in a world that depends on tech to function. The narrative moves at a good pace and avoids the usual genre clichés of robot uprisings, focusing instead on the heartfelt reality of a man whose brain has become a piece of corporate real estate. The other sleepers in Hugo's work group feel like real people caught in a trap, and watching their different reactions to the simulation kept me hooked. Fans of The Truman Show or Inception will love the mind-bending mystery of trying to figure out what’s real and what’s a corporate lie.
-Readers' Favorite
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This one was nearly impossible to put down. Velasquez crafted a deeply compelling story, and the alternating settings (or realities) from chapter to chapter made for high, page-turning tension.
It leans sci-fi with a dystopian edge, with The Giver + The Matrix + The Good Place vibes. Within this slightly futuristic (yet uncomfortably realistic) world, the author weaves a deeply human story of love, grief, and loss, alongside the challenges of single parenting and addiction. It’s genuine, emotional, and beautifully executed.
Easily one of the best books I’ve read in 2026.
-Cara Blaine
This one was nearly impossible to put down. Velasquez crafted a deeply compelling story, and the alternating settings (or realities) from chapter to chapter made for high, page-turning tension.
It leans sci-fi with a dystopian edge, with The Giver + The Matrix + The Good Place vibes. Within this slightly futuristic (yet uncomfortably realistic) world, the author weaves a deeply human story of love, grief, and loss, alongside the challenges of single parenting and addiction. It’s genuine, emotional, and beautifully executed.
Easily one of the best books I’ve read in 2026.
-Cara Blaine
Read the first chapter!