You wish that you could remember their faces when you’re awake. But they dissolve. They become indistinguishable, the faces on the deck of a great ship as it pushes away from the port. You are aware mostly of their arms waving.
Lianna is home from college for the weekend when her mother sleepwalks away during the dead of night and doesn’t return, leaving the young woman to blame herself for not having predicted the likelihood of it all, and to assess how undone her 12-year-old sister, Paige, is becoming behind the courageous mask she wears. When the police conduct a thorough search of the surrounding land that unearths nothing more than a torn piece of cloth that matches Annalee Ahlberg’s nightgown, and canvassing the bottom of the river near the Ahlberg’s home determines no further trace, Lianna’s confidence that the detectives will solve her mother’s disappearance falls apart.
If you haven’t read a good mystery in a while – or even if you have – Chris Bohjalian’s The Sleepwalker is a flabbergasting brain-twister that will leave you scouring through Goodreads for another one like it, scanning reviews for key words and phrases such as “shocking” and “guessing till the end”. Bohjalian has you lurking in every corner trying to piece the clues together except the one where they actually fit.
As the aftermath of Annalee’s Ahlberg’s disappearance winds down to a guessing game that no one in the family’s small Vermont town can make sense of, time filters out the possibility that she is still out there, sleepwalking her way home. Lianna puts college on hold so she can help her father and take care of her kid sister. Warren Ahlberg, who was out of town on business when his wife wandered off in her sleep, is initially the chief suspect – as husbands usually are. Suspicions against him aren’t high for long since he has a solid alibi and no motive beyond the speculations of small-town gossip, although Lianna worries about her father’s omission from scrutiny as she dives into her own investigation of her mother’s personal life, which harbors unsettling secrets and raises hard questions that Lianna can’t shut out.
Upon discoveries of her parent’s marriage – which was more complex than she realized – that beg for explanation and understanding, Lianna begins interrogating her mother’s friends and seeking morsels from those with a propensity for gossip. There’s also the curious link between her mother and Gavin Rikert, the handsome young detective who’s investigating the case and taking an overt interest in Lianna. He’s straightforward with Lianna about his friendship with her mother, but after rifling through her mother’s emails, Lianna is bothered by her mother’s deliberate secrecy. Why had she never mentioned him?
Despite reservations, Lianna is inexplicably drawn to Gavin and can’t resist his romantic gestures, even as she wonders if his friendship with her mother was really just that. He seems sincere, but Lianna can’t shake the feeling that he’s concealing a trunk-load of secrets – specifically from her.
As Lianna gets closer to the truth, her fears become walking nightmares. We’re rapidly turning the pages, collecting hints that may or may not factor into Annalee Ahlberg’s disappearance. But the most obvious ones fly right over our heads. The Sleepwalker blindsides and then rattles to the core as Chris Bohjalian masters a jaw-dropping conclusion that will leave you sitting in bewildered silence long after you’ve read the final page.
Purchase through Barnes & Noble here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/the-sleepwalker-chris-bohjalian/1123775087?ean=9780804170994
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