A more mainstream series might have been tempted to promote this issue as a jumping-on point. The beginning of Book Two sees a change in perspective, with the previous core cast mysteriously absent in the aftermath of Sing’s confrontation with the Doktor. Instead, we spend the entire issue in the company of an internet journalist, eager to find what exactly has been happening in Heavenside. However, the book stays true to its “serialised novel” perspective, and any curious readers would be advised to pick up the Book One TPB rather than just buying this issue.

With the man possibly known as John Reinhart having made his apocalyptic intentions clear, there’s a sharp movement sideways in the main story. In a book as minimalist as this, the introduction of a new character is a major step, but there’s rather less to Sarah Berlin than meets the eye. Initially she appears to be another of the identikit feisty women that have populated much of Ellis’s work since Jenny Sparks enlisted with Stormwatch. By the time the reader is halfway through the book however, it becomes clear that her blandness is a very deliberate move. She’s purely included to provide an outsider perspective, a necessity in the face of the Doktor’s very idiosyncratic revolution.

There are no mobs on the streets or stirring calls to freedom here. Instead, Sleepless has been gradually driving each element of society towards fulfilling its stereotypical role. The police have become brutalised and totalitarian. The grinder gangs are now a stronger community. Catastrophe Books is back to its rightful place as a fountain of counter-culture. Even more abstract concepts such as disease have been reassigned, with St. Theresa’s Condition restoring the concept of illness to an unknowable plague. The slow pace of the series (and its erratic schedule) means that it can be difficult to appreciate the impact of these changes, which presumably has given rise to the fresh pair of eyes introduced here. The writer is careful not to leave the issue feeling like an insubstantial interlude. Even if the Backmatter had not made it clear that the focus of Book Two will be on Berlin’s researches, there are enough hints here that she will soon stumble across the previously established cast.

Sleepless continues to be Ellis’s best work since Nextwave, and it’s reassuring to see that it appears to have a substantial future ahead of it. Berlin may be none the wiser as to the events brewing in Heavenside, but the readership has been granted a valuable insight on events.