Sleepless Review

Sleepless - Thomas Fahy
*August 11th, 2009 Simon & Schuster

Emma Montgomery has been experiencing nightmares of gruesome murders. In fact, all of the students in Dr. Beecher's secret society have been having terrible dreams and sleepwalking. Now, as their classmates start turning up dead, Emma and her friends race against the clock to find out what's causing them to kill in their sleep.

The teenage years are trying times when it comes to sleeping. But what if you can't control your sleeping patterns anymore? What if you're plagued by nightmares and sleepwalking, but remember nothing when you wake up? What if you're doing terrible - murderous - things whilst asleep?

This is the concept that Thomas Fahy has explored and implemented in his chilling YA horror novel Sleepless. It's definitely a welcome addition to the 2009 collection of YA; especially since there aren't that many offerings in this genre at the moment. Fahy's diction choice and writing style is fairly fluid; the story is definitely easy to get into the swing of, even for reluctant readers.

Size-wise, at 224 pages, Sleepless isn't very thick. For the most part, this works well with the story; it's face-paced, it's got action, it moves along nicely. The suspense strings along the mystery, the two themes harmonizing well. Unexpected twists and seemingly irrelevant details tie in nicely and add a little extra ka-bam. With that being said though, the story could potentially have been lengthened in exchange for a little more character development, a little more depth.

As it is though, although not quite as much intimacy is established, the characters are still relatively interesting. Perhaps Fahy intended it this way - a sort of distance from the characters to keep the audience guessing, to wonder at their next steps, to highlight the idea of how even if you think you know someone, you could be wrong. Deadly wrong.

The alternating perspectives is actually something that Fahy pulls off very well in Sleepless. It enhances the mystery while providing more insight, which is always an impressive feat. Speaking of which, there seems to be a nice balance between horror and mystery as well. It's not actually hardcore scary, so if that's what you're concerned about, it's not something too major to worry about. The twist at the end was very well implemented, nicely executed. So to speak.

With Sleepless, Fahy has crafted a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller. And that is one gorgeously chilling cover.

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