From the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant 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.Gorgeous, blond, successful, living in a beautiful Victorian home in a Vermont village, Annalee Ahlberg has another side: at night she sleepwalks, and her affliction manifests in ways … affliction manifests in ways both devastating and bizarre. A search party combs the woods, but there is little trace of Annalee and her family fears the worst. Her daughter Lianna leaves college to care for her father and younger sister. She finds herself uncontrollably drawn to Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective investigating the case, and the two become involved. But Gavin seems to know more about Lianna’s mother than he should. As Lianna sifts through the life Annalee has left behind, she wonders if the man sleeping next to her could hold the key to her mother’s mysterious disappearance.
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You never know what you’re going to get with a Chris Bohjalian novel. To date, he has written nineteen of them and every single one is its own unique experience. With The Sleepwalker, his initial thoughts were to write a story about dreams but when he met with the director of a sleep center as part of his research, sleepwalking came up and Mr. Bohjalian was so fascinated with this topic that he incorporated this element instead. I learned so, so much about the subject of parasomnia. I can see why the author himself became so enthralled by it! However, the overall mystery of The Sleepwalker kinda puttered along with moments of intriguing suspicion until the big reveal at the very end…and then the other big reveal at the very, very end. You have to wait for it. The ending had my jaw dropping for sure but I can’t say that it had me overlooking the lengthy-feeling journey there. It did warrant an additional 1/2 star from me, bumping up my rating from a 3 to a rounded-up 4 but that’s about it. After having the full experience, I would recommend The Sleepwalker to fans of mysteries and definitely to fans of Chris Bohjalian. Check it out!
Just finished this one thanks to #Netgalley. I’ve been a fan of Bohjalian’s writing since he did a weekend column in our Sunday paper. Basic premise is a woman vanishes in the wee hours and her two daughters become desperate to learn the truth, particularly the oldest, college-age daughter who suddenly becomes the “mom” to her younger sister. There’s a bit of romance, a mystery, and then the Vermont setting.
Things I loved: The setting, the oldest daughter’s character (Dad was a bit vacant.) The romance between the daughter and detective seemed odd at first, but soon I really liked them together.
Ending was unexpected and one of the biggest reasons to read the book.
This book kept me interested the whole way through. I finished it in a day. Love the characters and the flow of the story.
I just read “The Sleepwalker” by Chris Bohjalian. Another good one by this excellent author!
So many things impressed me in this novel but that balanced with the level of my overall feeling. Overall, it didn’t come together for me, but each of the parts were very well done. Strong characters, polished writing, clear setting. All good. Not sure what was missing for me, but my spine didn’t tingle. My first of his, so will read others, circle back, sometimes several by the same author makes them all make sense.
I think Chris Bohjalian may be my new favorite author. What a wonderful imagination!
I love Chris Bohjalian’s stories. As a native New Englander, I love that most are set in familiar locations. This one was a great read, kept your interest till the end!
Annalee Ahlberg has disappeared and the police and her family suspect the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker and everyone suspects that something has happened to her on one of her nocturnal outings. Chris Bohjalian is a strong writer and always gives the reader something to think about. I learned a lot about sleepwalking and enjoyed this book.
Another twisty, well-researched book by my absolute favorite author. Bohjalian has a knack for opening your mind to foreign experiences (in this case, sleepwalking and other forms of parasomnia), guiding you thoughtfully and expertly through a series of events and details that are leading… anywhere but where you could have predicted! He is a master and I loved every page of this book.
This is one of the types of books I LOVE because it combines mystery, family secrets and the opportunity to learn something new. In this case – it’s discovering the dark, sexual and even dangerous side to sleepwalking. Who knew?
When the novel opens, it’s late summer, and Annalee Ahlberg – a blonde, beautiful and talented architect in her late 40s, and known sleepwalker – is missing. Not surprisingly her two children, 12 year old Paige and 20 year old Lianna, and her husband Warren are frantic. The police are investigating. And to complicate matters, Lianna finds herself increasingly attracted to detective Gavin Rikert.
Chris Bohjalian then skillfully begins to unravel all the secrets, very slowly. Because it turns out that EVERYONE has some, including the detective. It’s a very well written book that pulls you along at an increasing pace so that the last third of this book becomes an intense page turner. A very enjoyable read.
4.5 stars
I often have a hard time writing my reviews since I’m so adamant about not giving spoilers. It’s doubly hard when it’s any sort of mystery or suspense. I like for the reader to come to their own conclusions as the story unfolds for them and not have any sort of influence from anything I say in my review. But I’m going to try my best here.
This is what I’d call a sleepy story. You slowly meander into the narrative, not quite sure where it’s taking you. Although this is about the disappearance of the main character’s mother, there isn’t any real urgency to the beginning. I don’t know that I’m explaining that properly, because of course the characters feel an urgency to finding their mom/wife. But the book is written in such a way that I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, yet I wanted to know more. Possibly because it was written in first person past tense, which took away the feeling of things needing to happen immediately.
As the story goes along, it gets more and more compelling. Don’t like slow moving stories? Hang in there. Once you get to the second part of the story you won’t want to put it down. You’ll have your own theories and thoughts on who, what, where, why, when. That’s the fun of this story. It helps lighten the seriousness of the subject matter. Make no mistake, this is a heavy subject.
There are a number of choices this author made that I wondered about when they first came up that ended up making this a fuller story. I’ll circle back around to my no spoilers mention above…I can’t say too much without ruining it for you. This one is worth the read.
https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/the-sleepwalker-book-club/
Full of love, grief, and suspicion! You also learn a lot about sleepwalkers.
Once again I realize why Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors; he knows how to deliver a good story with an unexpected twist at the end. He also likes to find somewhat forgotten or seldom discussed occupations, topics, or physical or mental problems not in the forefront of our invasive social media: midwives, holistic medicine, water dousing, sleep-walking, etc.
This story is about the disappearance of a sleep-walking mother and the ensuing turmoil her husband and two daughters find themselves in. Both daughters are troubled by the same problem, and struggle with their disease while trying to discover who their mother was.
I love the writing of Bohjalian and the way he weaves his stories. Much like Stephen King or William Kent Kreuger, he just tells a damn good story, and isn’t that what reading books is often about?
Engaging story of family of lovable, engaging, multi-dimensional characters. I read it at lightning speed and wasn’t at all prepared for the unexpected ending. There’s tragedy from the start but the depth of the tragedy isn’t revealed until the end. It seems like a simple story but it’s anything but.