The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian

 

Lianna Ahlberg is twenty-one and in college, her little sister Paige twelve when their mother disappeared.  Annalee Ahlberg is an accomplished architect with a satisfying life except for one thing.  She is a sleepwalker.  Her husband is out of town at a conference and Annalee goes out in the middle of the night and doesn't return.  Despite searches, nothing is found to give a clue to her whereabouts.  

Lianna leaves college and comes home to wait for the resolution.  She suspects the worst.  One other time she had rescued her mother in the middle of the night.  Annalee had been perched on a bridge about to jump or fall when Lianna finds her and gets her home.  This time no one was there to find her.

Months later the family is still in limbo.  Lianna is running the house, taking Paige to her swimming and skiing practices and overseeing her homework.  She has started seeing a detective on the case, Gavin Rikert.  She is drawn to Gavin but put off by the fact that Gavin knew Annalee, in fact was a friend of hers.  Gavin is also a sleepwalker and he and Annalee met and formed a support group or at least that's what Gavin says.  Was there more there?  Did Annalee fall into the river or did she meet a murderer while out wandering?

This book is a slow moving story that quietly builds tension and ends with a surprising climax.  The reader will learn much about the phenomenon of sleepwalking and its various forms.  The love story is interesting and gives more clues about the unwinding of the mystery of Annalee's disappearance.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.