Review: The Sleepwalkers by J. Gabriel Gates

Synopsis:
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:
Before even opening The Sleepwalkers I was mildly unsettled just from the art on the cover. It's very dreamlike and creepy. I think it's a good indicator of what you will be getting once you actually start reading it.

Definitely read this book at night when everyone else is asleep if you really like being scared. If you are slightly more chicken, like me, you may want to make it a daytime read. That being said, my prime reading time is late at night and I was jumping at every little noise.

I was drawn into the story from the very first page. Caleb drags his friend Bean with him as a reluctant detective to help him discover the answer to a few questions from his past. As they go further into the mystery behind the Dream Center, Bean gives voice to what I'm thinking the whole time. Basically for them to get the heck outta there, but of course they don't. There was one scene in particular that had me reading faster and faster as if that would help Caleb and Bean out of their situation any quicker. I had to close the cover of my Nook, turn on some extra lights and the TV just to break the tension.

Even though I am a big baby about being scared I really enjoyed reading this book. I like that the author puts Sleepwalkers firmly in the horror genre, which I haven't seen alot of in YA fiction. He's an author I'll definitely be reading more of.

You can visit the author's website here: http://www.jgabrielgates.com/

Publication Date: October 3, 2011
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Horror
Source: I received this book from Netgalley.