Sleepless

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY APR 27, 2015

The high school students in Dr. Beecher's "secret society" (a group that traveled to New Orleans to build homes after Hurricane Katrina) have been sleepwalking and experiencing violent nightmares. When their fellow students begin turning up dead and one member of the group is witnessed murdering another student in her sleep, the teens trace the possible origins of the disturbances to the unusual events that took place in New Orleans, which they all swore to keep secret. The present-tense narrative alternates between Jake, a pot-smoking mechanic, and his love interest, Emma, as the group bands together (taking turns sleeping) in an effort to avoid another murder. A few chilling images pepper the story one sleepwalker repeatedly fills the kitchen sink with water and screams into it; another sets himself on fire but most of the scares are on the tame side, with the murders largely described through dream interludes. Fahy's (The Unspoken) intriguing premise doesn't fully materialize, resulting in a story that feels skeletal. Ages 12 up.