The Sleepwalker

The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian  304 pages

In his twentieth novel, mega-bestseller Chris Bohjalian weaves his most suspenseful not yet (and heck, I didn’t think he’d be able to surpass his previous novel, The Guest Room). This time he tackles the subject of parasomnia, a sleep disorder category that happens between dreaming and waking. I’m always amazed at the topics Bohjalian chooses for his novels. Get ready to stay up way past your bedtime as you won’t want to put this one down.

It’s the fall of 2000. That time frame is established in Chapter One’s opening paragraph is one of the most beautiful he has ever written…and I have ever read.

When Lianna Ahlberg and her sister, Paige, awake that morning, their mother Annalee has disappeared without a trace. Immediately the girls know what has happened. Their father is out of town at a poetry conference and Annalee has parasomnia. They search their home (Bohajalian always refers to it as “the red Victorian”---I loved that) and their neighborhood with no luck. They even head down to the river where years earlier Lianna saved her mother from falling off the Gale River bridge.

A search party combs the nearby woods and the girls’ father, Warren, hurries home. No luck. Liana blames herself; she knows that her mother sleepwalks when her father isn’t home, but she was sure she’d hear her if she had gotten out of bed. Although the police find a scrap of clothing, the search is called off when a body, alive or dead, cannot be located.

One of the subplots develops when the lead detective has a more-than-healthy obsession with the case. Gavin Rikert has a connection with Annalee and is now attracted to Lianna.

I wasn’t quite sure how much time passed in the novel, but that is the only drawback I can make. I do have to talk about the brief, brief passages that occur before the start of a new chapter. While the novel is narrated by Lianna, I was never clear who was narrating these passages. This added to the mystery and suspense, and it came as quite a shock (in a good way) when readers discover who is behind the voice.

The Sleepwalker receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.