I'm still not sure what just happened, awesome, but my thoughts are all jumbled. I'll be digging out my old doll and be sleeping with a nightlite tonight most likely. ( )

The Sleepwalkers by J. Gabriel Gates is a very creepy, atmospheric read. Caleb Mason, newly graduated from high school in California, has practically forgotten about his early childhood when he went by the name Billy and he lived with both his parents in Hudsonville, Florida. At his surprise graduation party, however, it all comes back to him when he receives a cryptic letter from his former best friend, Christine. Wanting to help Christine and suddenly realizing that he hasn't heard from his Hudsonville father in years either, Caleb enlists his buddy Bean to join him on an impromptu trip to Florida. There they encounter mysterious even after mysterious event. Why does it look as if no one has lived in his childhood home for years? Where is Christine? What has happened to put her mother over the edge? What's going on with all the clocks in Gabriel's father's attic? Just what exactly is the Dream Center? And...don't look behind you now...but what's up with the army of children who look like they're sleeping but...aren't?

Gates' novel unfolds piece by piece, with readers and Caleb slowly coming to realize what--and who--is behind some of the things that are happening in the sleepy Florida town. The end doesn't quite answer every question, but it does satisfy most. A fun book to read in the dark by flashlight--or maybe not.... ( )

Book Title: "The Sleepwalkers”
Author: J. Gabriel Gates
Published By: HCI Publishing
Age Recommended: 14+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

Review: WOW! What a book! This book really had me enthralled from beginning to end. When Caleb Mason receives a letter from an old childhood friend, Christine, on the day after his graduation from High School, he is disturbed and a little worried. For some reason he is compelled to travel to his childhood home in Hudsonville, Florida and forego his plans of a summer of traveling abroad and helping with catastrophic causes in foreign lands.
What Caleb does not realize or even begin to understand, is he is headed into a far greater catastrophe than he could ever imagine. His hometown has become a desolate wasteland of nightmarish caliber and as memories begin to come back from his childhood, so does a voice from the past he thought he’d never hear again. Caleb is forced into a position that requires him to face his fears and figure out how to save not only his childhood friend but the entire town… and even his own father.
With a surprise twist of an ending and plenty of heart-pounding moments, “The Sleepwalkers” by J. Gabriel Gates, truly delivers! ( )

Finally! I don’t know how long this book has been sitting around on my kindle waiting to be read. Let’s just say that it has been way too long. I can’t even say it’s because I thought that I wouldn’t like it – I knew that I would. I could come up with some excuses as to why it took so long, but that part doesn’t matter. What matters now is the fact that I have read it and I loved it. If I had any sort of complaint it would be that the ending didn’t feel like complete closure. It is one of those that leaves some things to be interpreted by the reader, which means that it could be left alone and never touched again or Gates can write a second book and continue it. While I definitely wouldn’t mind another Caleb/Christine adventure, I would have liked a more definite ending. That being sad, I still loved this book! I still would recommend everyone to go out and read this book. Now on to the good stuff.
The beginning was awesome as an introduction to the creepiness that would later become more prominent. It immediately grabbed my attention and made me wonder what was going on. There seems to be so much that is bubbling right under the surface waiting for its time to get out. I love knowing that something is wrong and not immediately knowing what it is. Christine is in what is essentially a refurbished insane asylum, but if she was lucid enough to send the letter then maybe she’s not that crazy. I really liked the way that Caleb’s character progressed throughout the book. I loved the fact that he is a high school graduate with the aspirations of nobleness- he wants to go to Africa and make a difference. How often do you really see that type of character in a high school student in a YA novel? Caleb is not just a good kid; he is a good kid with the dream of changing the world from the beginning.
He doesn’t know that he is already destined to do great things and face an oppressive evil. How do you not help evil when you don’t know what evil is asking you to do? Christine surprised me –she really was crazy, a little. But she was strong enough to overcome the loss of her twin sister, her witch of a mother and the fact that something was done to her brain. There was strength in her that I didn’t expect to find. I liked that the heroes had their own pasts to overcome, and that they all stepped up even though they didn’t think that they could. I can't forget about Bean, truly the trusted sidekick. I love his humor and know that he's cracking jokes even on the ethereal side. And yea, this is going to contradict my first opinion of the ending (sort of). The ending wasn’t a happy ending; it was a well-deserved break for the heroes of the story. It didn’t necessarily provide the closure that I wanted, but it provided hope for any future adventures. Because whatever they face next, they can say that they survived the end of the world – this time.

Recommendation: I think that if you have not had a chance to read this, you should put it on your TBR list. It is definitely worth reading.Go get a copy today!!

A copy of this galley was given to me, free, in exchange for my honest review. ( )

Full, non-spoiler review courtesy at Book & Movie Dimension a Blog

The Sleepwalkers was some horror novel! When Caleb returns to his hometown of let's say country people or southern folk this novel gets way stranger. This is a story with lots of mystery that has to do with a small town involved in some disturbing behavior. A while back in Caleb's hometown children began disappearing and everyone just turned their back on it all. A mistake really since now there are white cloaked, freaky, creatures hunting the town's inhabitants. Behind these figures exists a darker design at work. Caleb ,our main male lead, finds on his return to said town his childhood friend, Christine, and his own father is missing pushing Caleb to uncover the madness surrounding these "Sleepwalkers". By then the story gets actually terrifying with the inclusion of these twisted and vicious Sleepwalkers. The flow of the story is a smooth force that has this heady, desperate sense that is likable since it comes off to scare you. For though this is a horror/mystery novel it definitely has its own romance moments which are obvious from how devoted Caleb is to save Christine, the girl he finds himself increasingly thinking about.

The characters in The Sleepwalkers are really interesting characters. Told from a male point of view which has an intriguing storytelling to it. With Caleb being such a strait-laced guy which is refreshing. Christine, Caleb’s love interest, is a pretty determined, opinionated, and all-around charismatic character as well. Then there is Caleb’s best friend Bean, he brings in lots of comedic relief in how he is very frank and just plain goofy. All the chracters are good in their own way. The book sets a lilting tone of obscurity that is complementing on the whole.

This is one novel to be on the lookout for, if your a horror/mystery fan with its surreal tone of voice that is a worthy of uncovering by any reader.
Overall: Amazon read!
Genre: Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Young Adult, Occult, Psychological ( )