Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Caleb Mason is graduating from high school, is one of most popular kids in his school, is dating Amber, also in the popular club, and is best friends with Bean, who is a likable jokester who complements Caleb perfectly. Caleb is taking a year off school, where he is planning to study journalism and become an investigative reporter, to go to Africa and work in the Aids community. At his graduation party, though, all that changes when he gets a very cryptic letter from a childhood friend back in Hudsonville, Florida, the little backwater community he lived in until he was 8. He has a bad feeling about this, so he takes Bean and heads back there to make sure Christine is okay. That is when life as he knows it changes completely, and he finds himself embroiled in discovering the truth to a terrible, deadly secret that the town is hiding.
I loved this book! It was delightfully creepy and suspenseful, and once you start it, trust me, you will not want to put it down until you reach the very last page! The writing is superb, the characters are very well fleshed out and three dimensional, and the big secret is a doozy indeed. This is a YA book, and as such there are only a few quick mentions of sex, basically in passing, and the cursing is kept to a minimum. There was nothing that I found offensive at all.
You really find yourself pulling for the characters, but you know that there is not going to be a happy ending for some of them, which is another thing that keeps the suspense level up.
In summary, I am giving this book 5 out of 5 stars because I loved everything about it, and I don't say that often!! As soon as this book is released, Get It!!!" --Julie
Julie Witt
Review
"The sleepwalkers is an eerie, creepy tale filled with mystery and some very horrific characters and images. While it was definitely a page turner, I did have some issues with this book. The most predominant being that the beginning read more like a movie script than an actual novel. And, because of this, I really had a hard-time fully connecting with these characters in the beginning. I did feel a change a quarter of the way in though, and really started to get into the story.
Although Caleb was the main character, his best friend Bean really stole the scenes. Bean is this funny, snarky, often crude but deep down great guy. He is full of personality and just fun to read. They really are a great team, but on his own Caleb could have used a little more personality.
The relationship between Caleb and Christine was perfect, however. All to often in YA fiction you have these characters that fall madly in love within the first few pages and it is so unbelievable and quite frankly insulting. This relationship however, is very real and very natural. There could be some argument that the relationship is not believable due to the length of time these two were apart, but I disagree. I for one have had childhood friends who I have been estranged from over the years, who I have reconnected with and it felt as though we had never been apart. These are true connections - the ones that really matter. This is what Caleb and Christine have and I loved that.
I really feel that this book could easily be adapted to film and do very well. It is a very visual book. In the end, although the ending was somewhat predictable and slightly anti-climatic, I would recommend it. If you are looking for a creepy, bone chilling, page turner? You will find it within the pages of The Sleepwalkers. I am interested to see where the author, J Gabriel Gates, goes from here."
--Tracy H.
NetGalley
Review
OK, I usually don't get too excited over books. I like some, I love some, I even hate some, but I usually don't get excited about them, so I was surprised that this YA book has done just that! I am usually a romance/thriller book junkie those have been my favorite forever.. until now! I am offically a YA fan.
In "The Sleepwalkers", J. Gabriel Gates spins a thrilling tale that is made for YA's. Why didn't I know about this author sooner? I guess it's because I just assumed that YA books were dull and filled with immature, little kid things. I know, that makes me sound old and sad. J. Gabriel Gates is a terrific writer and is better then I could have hoped for. I didn't need blood, guts, gore or anything of the sort for this book to grab my attention. What I needed, and this book provided so well, was its ability to make me feel like I was part of the story. The characters were believable and acted as I would have in the same given situations. "The Sleepwalkers" was riveting and had me hooked from page one. J. Gabriel Gates is now an author I will be looking for more from.
"The Sleepwalkers" takes its readers through the thrilling tale of Caleb and his best friend Bean. They have just graduated High School and are deciding their future when Caleb receives a letter from an old friend letting him know that she hasn't forgotten what happened in their youth and needs his help. Caleb puts his plans on hold and takes Bean to Florida where he grew up and a dreadful thing happened. They try to uncover what is going on and why Caleb's father has disappeared. Along the way, they find out many disturbing things and learn what has happened during all the years Caleb has been gone. This book is well written and a real page turner, even if you happen to be, like me, much older than the normal YA book demographic. You will love this thrilling tale.
I give "The Sleepwalkers" by J. Gabriel Gates 5 of 5 stars.
--sweepingme.com Tracy H. - NetGalley
Review
Caleb is celebrating his recent graduation with his best friend Bean when he recieves a letter from a childhood friend who he hasn't seen in many years, asking him for help. When Caleb and Bean arrive in his childhood home in Florida, they find that many members of the community have disappeared, including Caleb's father. At the center of the strange happenings in the town is the Dream Center, an establishment where people get admitted, but never come out.
I was given the great opportunity to read this book through Netgalley, and I'm really glad I did. This book, to be blunt, totally kicked ass! It was an absolutely perfect blend of being terrifying and intense. The characters all felt very real to me and I had my breath held for so long while I was reading, just hoping everything would turn out alright for them in the end. There were many twists and turns while helped move the story along, and the writing was so descriptive and downright scary.
And the ending was just...chilling. That's all I will say here, because I don't want to give too much away! I really enjoyed reading this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a thrilling scary story.
--Rebecca Foulks sweepingme.com - NetGalley
Review
The story starts of with a dream. From the past or just a random dream? That was my question. It was disturbing and made me wonder what kind of Sleepwalker am I going to encounter? It is obviously not the normal kind.
Beware that there are words / scenes rarely written in YA. If you are a YA reader, this might come to you as darker than usual and bolder, braver. That being said and as an adult reader I love the Sleepwalkers. It is already creepy enough that Caleb's childhood friend Christine, who he hasn't talked to in ages since he left Hudsonville suddenly wrote him a letter with a mysterious message. Going there with his best friend Bean to venture the unknown, I think it is fair to expect creepier scenarios. Then mix it up with an adult named Ron who seem to came out of nowhere but is heading to the same direction as Caleb and Bean and to top all of that there seem to be a deranged doctor/directro in the Dream Center named, Barnett DeFranklin, who seems to know what is happening this is creepy small town; the plot thickens.
Sleepwalker took me to a world where no YA has taken me before, scary enough to render an 7/10 horror scale in my book. My nerves were rattled, I kept wondering what the hell is going on? Too much psychological play. Dreams, hallucinations, satanic rituals, kids with pale faces in dark tunnels, and more. Is is a super natural element or images from a deranged mind of the characters? If you do not mind getting confused and love challenging yourself to find out what really is happening in this book, this one is perfect for you.
--Pat Ortin Rebecca Foulks - NetGalley
About the Author
J. Gabriel Gates is a Michigan native and a graduate of Florida State University. He has worked as a professional actor, written several Hollywood screenplays, and coauthored the teen fantasy series The Tracks. Visit his website <"">.
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