The Sleepwalker

November 14, 2016
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.

November 1, 2016
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 below--a 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.

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November 15, 2016
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2016

Bohjalian, who never writes the same book twice, here offers suspense with a twist. Says Harlan Coben, it's "more than a mystery: it's a beautiful, wrenching novel of family secrets."

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