Customer Reviews

Sleeper

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I picked up this book at 9pm thinking I'd read a chapter or two before bed. Didn't happen. I stayed up all night reading it. SLEEPER is the perfect book for people who like a monster/horror story that scares you silly but makes you think. If you liked (Preston and Childs') RELIC you'll love SLEEPER. But in my opinion it does a much better job and is a much tighter read than RELIC. Furthermore, the climax and ending do not cheat the reader. This tells in gory detail exactly what would happen if a supernatural monster was let loose in the Pentagon - without any cheap tricks. Even more eerie is the fact that this supernatural monster is less fantasy than most people would want to believe: SLEEPER is a good yarn, but it makes a chilling statement about battling an enemy that trains its soldiers to be monsters. Fans of Aliens, Rosemary's Baby and Thomas Harris' thrillers will not be disappointed.

Steven Harriman (aka Steven Spruill) has written a tight, original and suspenseful thriller in SLEEPER. Although there are a couple of lengthy sequences that tend to distract the reader, he provides us with some three-dimensional characters that one can identify and empathize with: Dr. Andrea DeLuca, a brilliant herpetologist, more involved in the creature's background than she can imagine; Ed Jeffers, a conscientious and loyal member of the Pentagon, whose own disability haunts his life; and the macho Terrill Hodge, the SEALS commander with an agenda of his own.
Harriman blends these personal crises into the horror of the story very well, and there are several scenes of bloodcurdling terror. This novel isn't as good as Matt Reilly's action books or as exciting as "Jinn", but it is a good read and would like to see more of Harriman in the future.

This is an incredibly well-crafted thriller, one that avoids stereotypes and cliches to keep you on the edge of your seat. As I think another reviewer said, this one is at least as good as, if not better than, the Relic.

The characters are well-developed and the structure and culture of the Pentagon are effectively woven into the action. The story makes good use of history, including certain aspects of modern history I was not familiar with. And the "monster" is anything but a cliched, rogue product of the paranormal or geological isolation.

I can't believe this book hasn't gotten more attention.

I picked this title up with the thought of just using it kill time between wanted book shipments. I was pleasantly surprised to find it exciting and interesting. I found myself rooting for certain characters and hoping for an early demise for others. The book links events that happen toward the end of WWII and rear thier ugly heads in the present time. There is not really much in the way of suspense here but I enjoyed it just the same. This has good character development and I enjoyed the style of prose very much (some funny discriptions in here still have me laughing). While the plot stumbles along at some points I don't think you'll be disapointed if you go in with an open mind like I did. I wasn't looking for Willam Peter Blatty and I didn't find him. I was looking for a fun exciting read and was very pleased to have found it.

Okay. For real, I bought this book just for a quick fun read and boy I don't think I could have been anymore wrong. I could not stop reading it, and have told my friends that I will lend it to them afterwards but if they lose it I will do to them some of the things described in the book- and I usually am not a book keeper. I don't want to give away plot details here, but I will say this: the main thing that works is Harriman's research into Everything in the book. With detailed analysis of the Pentagon, Navy SEAL POV's (the scene in the red office and the Frazetta paintings is just fantastic- Harriman seems to enjoy becoming Terrill as much as we enjoy reading it!), the habits of both frogs AND druids, and Nazi breeding habits which leads me to believe that Harriman has definitely read Adam Parfrey's Cult Rapture chapter titled "The Sex Economy of Nazi Germany"- Emera is a walking example of that! I think that perhaps Harriman thought the plot a bit too ludicrous and went overboard in factoids to bring the story to the real - and it's good, and it works. By the last chapter you'll love every character, which makes the suspense unbearable!!! Note to Mr. Harriman: I know an artist hates to hear this, but please bring back Tall, Dark, and Scaly for a sequel, no matter how implausible, and I promise to buy three hardcover copies myself! Best pop book I've read in a very long while, and the theme underlying it elevates it into what could possibly become a fan favorite in the meanwhile.

If Dean Koontz wrote Alien, and set it in the labyrinthine halls of the Pentagon instead of an industrial ship in outer space, the result would be pretty much this book.

In the midst of basement bedrock repairs in the terrorist-damaged Pentagon of post-9/11, a worker uncovers a cannister from WWII Germany's Abwehr. The cannister contains what he first believes must be an alien body, but turns out to be something more immediately lively - and deadly. The worker becomes the first in a string of abductions and fatalities, as something starts making short work of the Pentagon's staff.

What is the thing working its way through the air shafts and the underwater streams of the Pentagon? Is it an alien? Some kind of dinosaur? An early recombinant DNA experiment of the Third Reich? Or something altogether more startling? A crack SEAL team, an expert herpetologist and the Pentagon's chief administrator become their own Intelligence team to find out, before whatever-the-thing-is can wreak more havoc, possibly extending beyond panic among the staff and actually becoming an international incident.

This clever thriller reads very much like vintage Koontz, with likeable and credible characters sleuthing-out an unknown nasty that turns out to be a great deal more surprising than even the most avid thriller/sci-fi/action-adventure fans are accustomed to. It's reminiscent of Koontz's Watchers, Preston and Childs' The Relic, and the aforementioned Alien, but manages to be its own ingenious little piece.

A short, easy read, but a satisfying one.

You first thought while reading 'Sleeper,' will be something like "Oh no! Yet another humanoid reptilian monster creeping around in the basements of a huge building and eating people as a pastime." And, to be honest, you wouldn't be wrong. It seems that scaly creatures with dubious DNA have superceded great white sharks as the inhuman villain of preference. The nastier and smarter the better.

A sealed tank is accidentally discovered in the deepest foundations of the Pentagon, bearing the stamp of the German Abwehr. A workman unknowingly opens it, and becomes the first in a string of 'lunches' as a terrible breeding experiment of World War II stalks though the Pentagon, seeking to carry out the sabotage for which it was originally created. Toss in a beautiful research scientist, an attractive building superintendent, a stuffy general, and a rebellious Navy Seal, and you pretty much have the entire story.

The good news is that Steven Harriman is several notches better than the average hack horror writer. As a result, what could have been a predictable potboiler turns into something that can hold a readers interest. All of the characters have some flaw that reflects the monster they are hunting. In fact, the creature shares many of their human characteristics as well as the tragedy of being denied the access to normalcy by its creators, who could see it only as a tool.

While this is by no means a great work of literature, it has its own satisfactions, full of the little twists of insight that make this story more than a hack and slash rerun. If you like this kind of creepy horror (as I do) then you will likely find 'Sleeper' a few hours of pleasant entertainment.

In the bowels of the pentagon a creature is unleashed and goes on a killing spree. I'm glad I gave this thing a chance. Upon first glance I thought it was just some political thriller, but right as I was about to put it back I noticed those were claw marks on the cover and so took the time to read the summary and ultimately decide upon a purchase. Years later I finally got around to reading it despite expecting a lot of political and terrorist nonsense, but no. What we have here is a nice action packed monster-on-the-rampage story that just happens to take place in the pentagon with very little politics involved. The creature himself (sort of an anthronewt) was pretty cool too and I grew quite fond of him as the story progressed.

It lurks beneath one of the nation's largest and most powerful buildings. Underneath the Pentagon, a creature has been awakened. Bloodthirsty, intelligent, with an agenda all its own, it begins to kill...and kill...and kil...

Teamed together to stop it are Ed Jeffers, who "runs" the Pentagon; Dr. Andrea Deluca, a herpetologist who may know more than she's letting on; and Terrill "Terror" Hodge, a SEAL who is uniquely fearless, and thrives on danger. Together, they must stop this creature before it is too late...

Alright. An interesting, but not exactly unique, plot. A creature that is again interesting but entirely scary. Characters that are (yes) interesting, even realistic, but not ones who're likely to become your best friends for a couple days. "Sleeper" seems destined to be a forgetful horror/thriller novel...which is unfortunate. Steve Harriman obviously has talent, as this novel moves along at a reasonable pace (save for the flashback scenes). My only real beef with Harriman is his frequent rants about al-Quaida, and how horrible and terrible they are; not that I disagree--I happen to believe he has a valid point--but a fiction novel isn't the place for such thoughts, which seem to come out of nowhere.

Still, "Sleeper" is definitely a novel you'll want to read, if you were a fan of "The X-Files," or just enjoy a good horror/thriller. Not entirely unique, and not the best book ever written...but good enough. Yes, definitely good enough to warrent re-reading.

I think the title of my review says it all - Fantastic!