From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest Room comes a spine-tingling novel of lies, loss and buried desire--the mesmerizing story of a wife and mother who vanishes from her bed late one night.
When Annalee Ahlberg goes missing her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. Once, she merely destroyed the hydrangeas in front of her Vermont home. More terrifying was the night her older daughter, Lianna, pulled her back from the precipice of the Gale River bridge. The morning of Annalee's disappearance, a search party combs the nearby woods. Annalee's husband, Warren, flies home from a business trip. Lianna is questioned by a young, hazel-eyed detective. And her little sister, Paige, takes to swimming the Gale to look for clues. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective, continues to call, continues to stop by the Ahlbergs' Victorian home. As Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee's disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Why did Annalee only leave her bed when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where is the body? Conjuring the strange and mysterious world of parasomnia, a place somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness, The Sleepwalker is a masterful novel from one of our most treasured storytellers.
When Annalee Ahlberg goes missing her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. Once, she merely destroyed the hydrangeas in front of her Vermont home. More terrifying was the night her older daughter, Lianna, pulled her back from the precipice of the Gale River bridge. The morning of Annalee's disappearance, a search party combs the nearby woods. Annalee's husband, Warren, flies home from a business trip. Lianna is questioned by a young, hazel-eyed detective. And her little sister, Paige, takes to swimming the Gale to look for clues. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective, continues to call, continues to stop by the Ahlbergs' Victorian home. As Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee's disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Why did Annalee only leave her bed when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where is the body? Conjuring the strange and mysterious world of parasomnia, a place somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness, The Sleepwalker is a masterful novel from one of our most treasured storytellers.
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Publisher:
[Toronto] : Doubleday Canada, [2017]
Copyright Date:
©2017
ISBN:
9780385681988
Branch Call Number:
FIC BOHJA C
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Add a CommentFascinating and creepy, unpleasant and intriguing at the same time. It made me wonder if this is a real condition, because I would be frightened to know someone who has it.
Writer Bohjalian returns to a medical subject like his earlier ‘Midwives’ and builds a story of troubled family relationships caused by an unpredictable disease. Interesting subject matter. Not among my favorites from this author.
Story about about a sleepwalker who winds up missing and the efforts of her two daughters and a detective to find her. This story is about certain forms of somnambulism, one being the insatiable desire for sex while asleep and how it can be inherited - ( I know just a little bit hard to believe for a premise for a story). From there, secrets, forbidden desires and lies pervade the story. For me, the story has too many holes: too slow a pace, undeveloped secondary characters ( they seem like they were just added in as fillers with no real depth), and an ending that was hashed at it seems, at the last second to satisfy the reader. The one thing I can think of that it has in its favor is that it is well written. Other than that, I couldn't recommend; it was a waste of time (for me at least).
Captivating but shallow. I gave out stars because the captivation was akin to a summer beach read. Really? Three of the 5 main characters all had severe parasomnia? Not a literary novel I'd say.
This was not up to the standard I expect from Chris Bohjalian. I listened to the audio and if I had the book, I would have skipped parts. I found it boring and too long to get to the point of the story. The ending was an anti-climax. It could have been half the length that it was.
I hope his next novels are more exciting and in line with his previous works.
It was hard for me to get past the inappropriate relationship between the main character and the police detective.
Wow! Awesome book by a superlative writer!
Five plus stars!!!!!!!!
For me, this story dragged on and on and the mystery was resolved in about 5 pages. This could have been written as a short story and been more successful. Only the main character was well developed and there were too many contrived situations. It's too bad because normally I really like this author's works.
Story takes forever to unfold. Not a detective story. Not a ghost story. Borders on the edges of a romance novel. Not my cup of tea.
Wow, this is a suspense novel that had me going until literally the last line!
The set up: college student Lianna is home for the semester break, helping to take care of her twelve year old sister, Paige, while their professor father is going away for a conference.
Their mother, Annalee, has been a sleepwalker in the past, but only when the father is away.
Lianna awakes to find her mother gone, and as she and her Paige search for their missing mother, both sisters must face troubling suspicions about their father and the detective assigned to investigate the case.
Great character development, wonderful pacing.