Sleepwalker - Karen Robards > Reviews (1)

Coming out of a recurring nightmare about the night her mother was killed, Micayla (Mick) Lange discovers she's again been sleepwalking, something she's experienced since that terrible event. As she returns to her bedroom Mick then discovers her nightmare isn't over but is only just beginning. She's house-sitting for her Uncle Nicco whilst he and his family are away for the New Year holiday and on hearing a faint noise, she discovers his safe is being robbed and as if that wasn't enough, after a tussle with one of the burglars whilst trying to make an arrest, Mick and the burglar see incriminating photographs of her uncle's involvement in the recent killing of a local Detroit politician and his family. As a cop, Mick knows that what she's seen is enough to sign her death warrant and she has no option but to escape her uncle's house along with the burglar.

Like everyone else, I've read my fair share of so-called thrillers which didn't truly deserve the name, where most of the thrills were just about nonexistent and the most exciting thing about them was managing to keep awake long enough to reach the end. That certainly isn't the case with Karen Robard's latest offering which truly does deserve the epithet of thriller. This is a tautly crafted story which is delivered at a fast pace and will keep the reader on the edge of their seat and turning the pages right to the end. In fact, it kept me reading until the wee small hours.

From the very first chapter, I found myself on a roller coaster ride of epic proportions. The excitement never lets up for a moment and the compulsion to just keep reading is absolutely overwhelming. This was one of those stories where half of me wanted to reach the end of the book to discover just how Mick and career criminal, Jason Davis would extricate themselves from their predicament, whilst the other half was enjoying it so much I simply didn't want it to be over. Not only is the plotline well crafted but the characters are fully rounded and believable.

The pairing of a cop and a robber running for their lives may not be totally original but it manages to add an extra layer to the story by demonstrating that nothing in life is ever entirely black and white and that maybe Mick and Jason are simply two sides of the same coin. They’re certainly evenly matched with regards to intelligence and Mick is only slightly less able to keep up when it comes to the more physical aspects of their escape, after all she’s in her nightclothes and it’s a snowy New Year’s Eve in Detroit.

Karen Robards keeps a tight rein on the story as it unfolds, telling Mick’s back story as the book progresses but maintaining an air of mystery about Jason who remains something of an enigma throughout most of the book. These are two very appealing characters and despite the undoubted criminality of Jason, there’s something about his refusal to be contrite about his chosen profession, as well as his insouciance in the face of almost insurmountable odds that makes him a very attractive personality.

Frankly, of the two, Mick is more difficult to like. It isn’t that I have any prejudice against the police but her intractable belief that turning to them is the only way she and Jason will survive, comes across as extremely naïve especially given that we all know from both real life and watching American cop shows that they tend to shoot first and ask questions later! However, her stubborn nature is balanced out by her ability to think clearly in a crisis and both she and Jason never do anything totally foolhardy, making both their characters far more believable. Mick's blind faith in the ability of the police force to solve all problems may, of course, have been a deliberately intended part of her character by the author because some of her less than sensible actions do actually impact on the story as it progresses.

Mick’s naïvety also extends to her uncle. Though not a blood relative, he’s her father’s best friend and has always been in her life but mention is made in the book that various cop colleagues have hinted that he has Mob connections and yet she’s always discounted these as being a joke. Maybe it would be hard to think of someone you’ve known since childhood as being a criminal but I do feel that given her suspicious nature and police training, she’d have given more credence to these stories, but perhaps that’s just me being picky. Jason, on the other hand, makes no bones about being a thief, albeit one who doesn’t hurt women and though he carries a gun, doesn’t consider himself to be a murderer. He’s always gone for bimbo girlfriends in the past but during their escape, he discovers that he rather likes strong, independent women. Criminal though he may be and against his better judgement, Jason fancies the pants of Mick whom he regards as ‘A pretty, delicate-looking, big-eyed thing with a to-die-for body and the soul of Elliot Ness. What the hell was he thinking?’ And, despite that cop’s soul, the attraction is mutual.

This attraction didn’t seem out of place either, despite each not having known of the other’s existence only mere hours before. They’re going through desperate times and they’ve become the most important person in each other’s lives, all that stands between them and death. When people face death the need to reaffirm their lives is a well documented fact, so even though the sexual attraction between the two may seem to be over-egging the pudding on the face of it, it isn’t beyond the realms of credibility. Having said that, once the pair have given into their sexual attraction, the story did flag very slightly before picking up again for a grand finale.

The story takes place over a very short period of time, beginning in the early hours of New Year’s Eve and ending only a matter of a few days later and the shortness of the timeframe greatly adds to the intensity of the story. Karen Robards began her writing career producing the cheesiest historical romances imaginable but since turning her hand to thriller writing, she’s really come into her own.

The story is told in the third person and mainly from Mick’s perspective but we also get to see Jason’s thought processes, too, which not only makes this a much more even handed tale but also gives the novel a wider appeal. Quite often women writers create male characters who will appeal to women and, quite frankly, are very far removed from how men actually think and behave, tending to be more the way women would like men to be. Jason Davis may be a fictional character created by a woman but in the main, his thoughts and behaviour tend towards realism rather than female wishful thinking, except for the fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous so doesn’t resemble anything you’re likely to see on Crime Watch!

I found this to be a first rate thriller which had me gripped from beginning to end and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a long time since I’ve picked up a book and been unable to lay it down again making this for me, a 5 star read.

Book details

ISBN: 978-1444709995
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
384 pages

I borrowed this from my local library but the book is currently available in hardback for just over £12 and Kindle format for £10.99, but the paperback edition is due for publication in July 2012 and will be much cheaper.