The Dreamers

Starred review from October 8, 2018
Walker’s richly imaginative and quietly devastating second novel (after The Age of Miracles) begins in a college dorm in an isolated town in the hills of Southern California, where a freshman thinks she is coming down with the flu. In fact, she has a mysterious disease that causes its victims to fall into a deep, dream-laden sleep from which they cannot be woken, and which sometimes leads to death. The disease spreads slowly at first, then more rapidly, and soon the whole town is under a quarantine. The perspective moves smoothly in and out of the minds of several of the college students and town residents, drawing back to look at the entire situation from a detached but compassionate point of view and then plunging back into the minds of those attempting to deal with the escalating problems. Among the characters are Mei, a lonely college freshman; 12-year-old Sara, who copes with an unhinged survivalist father; Sara’s neighbors, a faculty couple with a newborn baby; and aging biology professor Nathaniel. As the majority of the people of the town fall victim to the disease, neuropsychiatrist Catherine Cohen, separated from her family by the quarantine, tries desperately to find its cause, until arson at a library that’s being used as a makeshift hospital has unintended results on the state of some of the dreamers. The relatively large number of central characters makes it likely that some will succumb to the disease, upping the suspense of the story. Walker jolts the narrative with surprising twists, ensuring it keeps its energy until the end. This is a skillful, complex, and thoroughly satisfying novel about a community in peril.

Cassandra Campbell delivers an elegant narration of this audiobook, a character-driven story sprinkled with elements of science fiction. A mysterious disease strikes a college town in Southern California. The infected fall asleep and remain in a deep, dreamy state of unconsciousness. While some die, most remain alive but unable to return to consciousness. As the disease continues to spread, the ensuing events unfold through a kaleidoscope of shifting perspectives. One moment, Campbell sounds detached but not unkind as she reads passages from an omniscient point of view. The next, she's inhabiting the mind of any of a number of well-drawn characters and realizing their most private inner world. Her impressive balancing act renders a complicated story structure into a smooth and satisfying listening experience. A.T.N. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine