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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Dallas Public Library | LARGE PRINT - BOHJALIAN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | LP Fic Bohjalian, C. 2017 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | LP FIC BOHJALIAN | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
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 leave her bed only when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where was 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.
Author Notes
Chris Bohjalian (born on August 12, 1962 in White Plains, New York) graduated from Amherst College and worked as an account representative for J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in New York in the mid-1980s. Bohjalian is an American novelist and the author of 15 novels, including the bestsellers Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls. His first novel, A Killing in the Real World, was released in 1988. His other novels include Water Witches, The Law of Similars, Before You Know Kindness, Skeletons at the Feast, and The Night Strangers. Past the Bleachers and Midwives were made into Hallmark Hall of Fame movies and Secrets of Eden was made into a Lifetime Television movie. He won the New England Book Award in 2002. He also contributes to numerous publications including Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine and the Burlington Free Press. Bohjalian's The Guest Room is a New York Times bestseller.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in Vermont in 2000, this stylish fusion of mystery and domestic thriller from Bohjalian (The Guest Room) explores the aftermath of the inexplicable disappearance of a woman prone to sleepwalking. Annalee Ahlberg's two daughters, 21-year-old Lianna and 12-year-old Paige, attempt to find some kind of closure after their beloved mother-who has experienced bizarre sleepwalking episodes in the past-vanishes from her home in the middle of the night. The mystery deepens when Lianna and a detective, who may have had an intimate relationship with Annalee, become emotionally connected. Powered by brilliantly rendered characters, an intriguing topic (parasomnia), and a darkly lyrical narrative that captures the melancholic tone of autumn in New England perfectly (red maples in their "death throes"), this novel has only one weak point-its highly improbable conclusion, which may leave readers unsatisfied. 10-city author tour. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Bohjalian's latest considers the impact of a sleepwalker's disappearance on her husband and children.Lianna Ahlberg, Bohjalian's 21-year-old protagonist and first-person narrator, drops out of Amherst after her mother, Annalee, a known sleepwalker, disappears one night. Lianna takes over the running of the family's Victorian home in the fictitious village of Bartlett, Vermont. The family and police fear her mother may have fallen, or jumped, off a bridge into the river belowa somnambulating Annalee had been wrestled off that bridge before, by Lianna. Her father, Warren, a Middlebury College professor, copes poorly, dosing himself with scotch and passing out every night in front of the TV. Preteen sister Paige, the only athlete and brunette in the family (causing some to doubt her parentage), bridles under Lianna's supervision. Lianna is drawn to Gavin Rikert, the police detective investigating the disappearance. Gavin, 12 years her senior, is equally interested in her. A sleepwalker himself, Gavin had maintained an avowedly platonic friendship with Annalee after they met in a sleep clinic. Italicized segments preceding each chapter are narrated by a sleepwalking insider, presumably Annalee, who claims to suffer from "sexsomnia": a rare condition wherein sleepwalkers turn sexually voracious. If they're in bed alone, as Annalee was on the night she went missing (Warren was at a conference), they'll go in search of a partner and/or victim. Alarmingly, it turns out that Gavin also has that proclivity, which doesn't bother Lianna as much as it should, especially after they begin sleeping together. The problem with the novel is primarily one of shape. The first two-thirds of the book are spent wondering whether Annalee is missing or dead. Once we find out, the pace picks up, but the only reason the ending is a surprise is because most of the clues seeded in the first two-thirds prove to be red herrings. Sensational subject matter aside, this thriller is a sleeper. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
One night when her professor husband is out of town, and while her teenage daughters sleep in their rooms, Annalee Ahlberg walks out her front door and heads toward the river. She is never seen again. The fact that this loving mother had a history of sleepwalking influences her family's and the community's reaction to her disappearance. Is she still wandering somewhere in a fugue state? Was she murdered? Kidnapped? Or did she drown in the Gale River's icy waters? Detective Gavin Rikert pursues the case with a less-than-objective interest: he and Annalee were once treated at the same sleep clinic and bonded over the peculiar way in which their disorder manifested itself. While Annalee's older daughter, Lianna, tries to reassure her younger sister, Paige, and buoy her father's spirits, she also puts her life as a college student on hold to conduct her own investigation, which brings her into ever-closer contact with Rikert. Best-selling Bohjalian (The Guest Room, 2016) raises essential questions of identity and heredity, sexuality and desire, bringing the Ahlberg family conundrum into focus with a didn't-see-that-one-coming powerhouse ending.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2016 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Annalee Ahlberg is missing, but given her history of sleepwalking, her loved ones hold fast to the possibility of her return. While the investigation remains ongoing, the family adheres to some semblance of normalcy: husband Warren retreats to his work as a professor, 21-year-old daughter Lianna delays her final year at Amherst and assumes a caretaker role at home, and 12-year-old Paige continues to excel in her various school sports. When Det. Gavin Rikert reveals that he not only knew Annalee but that the two had shared something akin to a sleepwalking support group à deux, -Lianna's determination to know what happened grows into a relentless quest for answers. With easy assurance, Cady McClain voices this novel, moving convincingly among ages and genders. Her narration is intermittently interrupted by Grace Experience (Bohjalian's daughter), who reads in short bursts. Unfortunately, her youthful, uniquely cadenced recitation feels miscast here as the identities of the interludes' narrators become clear. VERDICT Despite potential flaws in the aural incarnation, libraries will still want to meet the demand of Bohjalian's vast fan base clamoring for his latest. ["Will captivate readers who crave an edge-of-your-seat page-turner": LJ 12/16 review of the Doubleday hc.]-Terry Hong, Smithsonian -BookDragon, Washington, DC © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.