Our dreams can be forgotten. But our nightmares will haunt us forever.

Sam Fulford is living a perfectly normal life, except for one little thing: a strange sleep condition that causes him to roam in the night and occasionally become violent.

So when Sam wakes one devastating morning to discover his wife dead beside him and his baby daughter missing, his whole world implodes. Did he accidentally kill his wife during a night time episode? If so, where is his baby?

#TheSleepwalker #LCGeorge @inkubatorbooks @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour

Just as Sam begins to accept the possibility that he is guilty, he finds a photograph that makes him realise someone else may be involved, that he may be innocent and might yet find his missing daughter.

But there’s a complication. Sam has a dark secret that he just can’t allow to surface. And it’s soon made clear to him that if he presses on with his quest to find out what happened that terrible night, his secret will be revealed to the world.

Leaving Sam wondering whether it might be better to confess to a crime he’s not even certain he committed. Faced with an unimaginable dilemma, Sam begins to wonder: would it be better for everyone if he was guilty?

My Review

A book like no other – at least not for me. I have heard of parasomnia but never read a novel in which it featured. I do, however remember a case in 2009 when a husband was acquitted of his wife’s murder.

A “decent and devoted” husband who strangled his wife while he dreamt she was a intruder has been cleared of murder after the Crown Prosecution Service accepted he had not been in control of his actions but was not a danger to anyone else. (The Guardian)

There have been others.

Sam Fulford wakes one morning to discover his wife Tess dead in the bed next to him and baby Cora not in her cot. He searches frantically but she is nowhere to be found. He calls the police but they of course suspect him. It’s usually the husband or partner isn’t it? The trouble is, because of his parasomniac episodes, he can’t be sure that he didn’t kill her, but if so where is Cora? Sam could try therapy, but has always resisted in case his terrible childhood secret comes out. Now may be the time.

The book flips around various points of view, including Sam (now), his wife (going back to when they met until now) and another character who will become clear part way through. All three of these characters come to life in the author’s skilful hands (or should it be words), particularly the third one who becomes increasingly bonkers and delusional. I love a good she/he descended into madness in true Shakespearean fashion.

It’s highly entertaining and a great read. I learnt a lot about Sam’s condition, but that still wouldn’t prevent me from being scared to fall asleep in the same bed.

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

After spending her working life searching unsuccessfully for a fulfilling career, Laura George found her passion for writing psychological thrillers whilst on maternity leave with her first child. She took a leap of faith and didn’t return to work, instead running with her dream of continuing to write.

Now a mum of two, she lives with her children, husband and springer spaniel, Dougie on the beautiful Devonshire coastline. In the little spare time she gets, she loves nothing more than writing twisty thriller novels for the reader to untangle.

She spends most of her days with her children, in soft plays, on the beach or jumping in puddles, grateful that no one can see inside the corners of her mind as she conjures up the next dark character and plots their fate.

Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100052597013465
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84321337-the-sleepwalker
Buy Link – https://geni.us/L8WCsA