The Sleepwalkers

Is it just or recently we have been getting a lot of movies and books in the horror genre of literature?.... Anyways I present before you all the review of The Sleepwalkers by J. Gabriel Gates and thanks to both netgalley and the publishers for providing its galley.

Here is the summary of the book:

A chilling and masterfully crafted teen horror novel guaranteed to keep the pages turning, the mind reeling, and the lamp on any reader's bedside table on long after midnight. Privileged and popular Caleb Mason is celebrating his high school graduation when he receives a mysterious, disturbing letter from his long-lost childhood playmate, Christine. Caleb and his jokester friend Bean decide to travel to his tiny hometown of Hudsonville, Florida, to find her. Upon arrival, they discover the town has taken a horrifying turn for the worse. Caleb's childhood home is abandoned and his father has disappeared. Children are going missing. The old insane asylum has reopened, and Christine is locked inside. Her mother, a witch, is consumed with madness, and Christine's long-dead twin sister whispers clues to Caleb through the static of an a.m. radio. The terrifying prophesies of the spirits are coming to pass. Sixteen clocks are ticking; sixty-six murdered souls will bring about the end of the world. As Caleb peels back layer after layer of mystery, he uncovers a truth more horrible than anything he had imagined, a truth that could only be uttered by the lips of the dead.

William Caleb “Billy” Mason has graduated from school and is about to go for a journalism degree in college but at his graduation party he gets a letter from a childhood friend named Christine Zikry about the strange on-goings of his hometown – people are going missing every time and the authorities could care less. Decided his course of action Caleb and his best friend Bean decide to go to Caleb’s hometown to see what the fuss is all about and to help Christine in whatever mess she has landed herself in.

But reaching these they find that it’s a whole new different story. Something is happening there. Something is going on that has all the town folks scared. The haunted old asylum building where the kids were forbidden to enter has now been reopened as the dream centre; basically a new asylum and the patients at the general hospital are all told to go the dream centre, even if they are not mad.

And to top off all that Caleb’s dad is also missing and there has absolutely been no reports about that or any other disappearances at all. In these troubled situations Caleb’s investigative attitude comes to the foreplay and he and Bean try to do all they can to find the true cause of the horror or the nature of the paranormality that is Caleb’s hometown; but these secrets might just shake the foundation of Caleb and Bean’s world.

The Sleepwalkers is what you might call an atmospheric horror story. Although there are lots many actually points that make it an actual horror saga but yes it is the atmosphere and the strange darkness that surrounds the story that shapes that shapes that jaw-dropping conclusion. The Sleepwalker is what you call an ideal speculative and splendidly written paranormal plot by J. Gabriel Gates.

It is every bit mysterious, strange, dark and apocalyptic as it can get in one single story; that just goes to show the level of creativity and the hard work that went into incorporating all the elements and making it into one cohesive tale. The Sleepwalker is a definite must read for any horror and paranormal reader who love to be surprised.