Customer Reviews

Sleepwalk

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Once a quiet New Mexico town, Borrego has become a prime target for a local madman, Greg Moreland, and his associate, Paul Kendall. They intend to run a massive experiment on some of the town's troublemakers--Reba Tucker (a high school teacher), Heather Fredericks (a high school student), and Frank Arnold (a refinery worker), just to name a few. Their goal is to "realign the minds of the nation's youth" by injecting them with pseudo-flu shots that contain mind-controlling transformers. And it's up to three people (Jed Arnold, Judith Sheffield, and Peter Langston) to stop them before they infect the whole town.

Although the synopsis on the back of this book pinpoints teenagers as the main victims, there a lot of adults who also receive the shots, primarily ones who work at Borrego Oil and are seen as future problems. So, if you're expecting a teen-oriented book, this is not what you're looking for.

"Sleepwalk" kind of reminded me of Dean Koontz's "Midnight" in the sense they both took me several months to read, and their plots and book covers resemble each other--a sociopath tries to change the world by experimenting on a small town, and there's a silhouette of a bird on both covers. In my opinion, neither book is worth reading again, even though I'm fans of both Saul and Koontz. This book is excruciatingly slow for about 300 of the 449 pages. The ending does improve, but it's not worth wading through all those pages to get to it. So, unless you're already a fan, I'd skip this one. It's not one of Saul's best.

I like John Saul's books a lot. He's my 2nd fav. author. Dean Koontz takes the boat as the best. This book is very typical of other of Saul's books, the teens get the "axe"--so to speak. I liked it, but the end was often hard to follow, maybe it's just me...good friendly read overall. One scene was so detailed (when Jed is crawling through the tunnel) that I had to stop reading, and stretch out my legs for I have a small case of claustrophobia.

To me it took me almost half way through before things really started picking up. it was real slow to me at first,but after that it was great!

I've had such a good time reading lately that I haven't realized I was falling behind on my reviews so here we go...

This particular title from good ole' Saul was a fun little romp that crossed a suspense thriller with a sci-fish mystery, I found it at my local library in the beginning of December - the shiny brand new copy beckoning to be read so I took it, somehow it was almost forgotten but in the end I saw it again two weeks later by my bed and just picked it up, I was glued to the page and engrossed the whole time, not the best book I ever read but kinda cool, who knew? Saul is well known for his suspense mixed with a bit of terror, and that's certainly what he delivered here, I saw the reviews were mixed about this one but I just read it with an open mind one page at a time, and I all ready knew that if I hated it all I had to do was stop, but somehow the book asked to be picked up so I personally liked it, not exactly pulled together at the end but it was fun for an early Saul, prefect library rental as I call it.

A small and quiet New Mexico town is the perfect set up for this story; Borrego seems pretty ordinary at first but upon closer look something is going on, this is no sleeping town; something is brewing under that dry sand and heat. Located near an oil refinery with an Indian reservation close by it seems very boring until someone decides to shake things up, the teens are restless and up to no good and something or someone finally decides to take the matter into their own hands and deliver justice as it seems fit. Girls walking off the cliff, teens and adults meeting early and unexplained deaths seem connected to a plan that doesn't want to be solved. When Judith Sheffield comes back this time as a grown up and as a teacher to escape all the violence and noise of LA she has no idea that she has stepped into a bigger pool of pain and fear than the one she was trying to escape. Along with some old friends and new students she is plunged into a situation that tries her sanity and in the end her life, she was a great character that made the book so fast moving, her interaction with Jed and his father propelled the story right into my head and I had a hard time putting it down. Personal and professional lives at stake, the town is starting to feel a strange push, flu shots don't even seem safe as a controlling force is clamping a dark hand on anyone living in Borrego with a purpose, its up to our friends to find out what is going on before being deleted from the equation by the very forces they are trying to uncover. The ending was pretty awesome and intense even though it didn't wrap all the ends. Fun read, like I said not perfect but enjoyable.

- Kasia S.

This book was the best I have ever read. It is about a person who hates teenagers. He hates them so much he wants to kill them. All of them. Just when you think you know whats going to happen everthing changes. Jon Saul is the best horror/suspense writer yet I think. He really keeps you turing pages

Sleepwalk was the first John Saul novel I read. The cover called it a 'terrifying' novel. The back cover described a maniac who hates teenagers. I thought it would be the perfect no-brainer horror novel. I was half right. This is not a horror novel. There is nothing scary, nothing graphic, nothing that makes the skin crawl. At best, it's a cheesy mystery.

The book did explore some interesting themes: the power of nature over man-made environments, the need to belong to a group and a family. But past that, the book offered very little. The prose was so-so at best. The characters were of the typical stereotypical fare:
...the troubled teen forced to grow up immediately and saves the world.
...the lonely teacher looking for a place to succeed after her futile attempt at teaching in the inner city.
...the aged Native American capable of seeing events prior to the occurence.

My opinion is the book offers nothing that can't be found in a million different novels with better plots and more intersting characters. Iwas not expecting much, but it would have been nice to get the advertized product.

Borrego, New Mexico is a peaceful little desert town. There's just one thing, someone hates teenagers. These trouble makers have to be controlled. Silenced. Forever. He has discovered a way to get back at them. In the night, in their waking hours, whenever. He is a madman with terrifying powers. Soon....he'll draw the children of Borrego beyond the brink of night......

To say that this is a horror novel would be inaccurate because it is in many ways a mystery novel. More precisely put, this novel is a combination of both mystery and horror, mixed with a little mysticism, romance, and some social commentary.

Nevetheless, just because the novel doesn't fit exactly into any of the established genre doesn't make it bad. In fact, this is a an excellent story that will keep you away from doing anything else but finishing this story. It certainly did for me.

The novel does go into certain length to introduce the characters and set up the background, which tend to leave the reader hanging. But once the story pick up, you'll love it. Just have the patience to read the first several chapters, and everything will fall into place afterward.

I absolutly loved this book. I had never even heard of Jhon Saul before, and there I was, at my schools book fair, buying this book. I read it and at once became mezmerized. I could not put the book down. My teachers yelled at me during my classes becasue I was reading Sleepwalk under the table. I read it during lunch instead of hanging out with my friends, I hardly got my homework done, I was so intent on finishing the book and finding out who done it. I stayed up late into the night reading, and read while eating breakfast... all the time. When I finally finsihed it I saw my grades had dropped tremenously, but I fixed all that. This book is A must read!

Martie

This is the second John Saul book I read the first was the Right Hand of Evil. This book was very interesting and not at all what I was expecting when I read the title of this book. Very good read I highly recommend it.