The Sleepwalker; An Audible Book Review

I am having a love affair with Chris Bhojalian, it seems.  I just finished listening to his latest release, The Sleepwalker.  This novel was narrated by Cady McClain and Grace Experience.  Grace Experience was also the narrator in the last Bhojalian novel I listened to, The Guest Room.

This was a little disconcerting for me at first.  I thought that Experience was perfect narrating a young girl who was forced into sex slavery in The Guest Room. I had a hard time reconciling that voice with the voice of the Sleepwalker in this novel. Of course, in true Bohjalian style, it all came together at the end and it turns out that Experience, once again, was a great choice.

This is the story of Annalee, a wife and mother of a daughter home from college and an athletic tween.   Annalee suffered 5 miscarriages between these girls and they mean everything to her.  Annalee suffers from parasomnia, commonly referred to as sleepwalking.  This sleepwalking only occurs when her husband is not at home with her. In the past, her eldest daughter, has found her spray painting the hydrangea bush and once rescued her, naked, from a bridge over the river.  It was after this scary bridge incident that Annalee attended a sleep clinic and appeared to be cured.  Her husband, decides to attend a work related convention while the eldest daughter is home during a break from college, when Annalee disappears during the night.

Thus starts this novel that immediately grabs you and pulls you kicking and screaming through all the twists and turns that make up a Bohjalian novel.  This author never fails to surprise me.  I thought that I had this novel figured out several times, and I came close, but I was still surprised at the end.  If you love mystery/suspense stories, this novel will not disappoint.