Phil in SF reviewed Before She Sleeps by Bina Shah
Solid book
4 stars
Content warning minor spoilers
Some aspects of the word-building feel very thin. While I can easily suspend disbelief on a city-state having a virus the decimates its female population, and the government severely restricting the rights of women as a response, things like quiet acquiescence seem hard to sustain. Particularly, the idea of an underground group of women who are prostitutes who don't have sex seems like a hard thing to sustain. There's so few women that men use prostitution bots as a matter of course, and but there are many rich men who just want women to hold them so much they'll pay for the service doesn't seem tenable. The story itself makes it clear that it isn't tenable. But the sexless brothel is already decades past its founding before sex becomes an issue.
Anyway, after a while I was able to put aside my reservations about the setup and enjoy the story, which centers Sabine as she visits her most devoted Client as well as her relationships with other women of the Panah. However, when something goes wrong, the story starts to get into the minds and motivations of a lot of other characters.