The Dreamers

Thank you, Random House and NetGalley, for the free digital copy to review. All opinions are my own. 

I love a book that can capture you from the first page and hold your attention until the very end. I couldn’t put THE DREAMERS by Karen Thompson Walker down!

From the book jacket: In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned. 

What made this book enjoyable for me was the author’s writing style. Clear and concise, there were no wasted words. Told from various points of view, the mystery of the illness kept me reading to find out what was behind the mystery. Unfortunately, as I neared the end, the story didn’t truly develop past the point of introduction. I was left with so many questions – what caused the illness? How did people become infected? What happened to the people while they were asleep? Some of these issues were touched on, but not fully developed so that left me mostly confused and frustrated. There were almost too many characters and had the author left a few of the secondary ones out, she may have been able to develop the essence of the story more. 

Even after considering the things that didn’t work for me, I still enjoyed the story. As mentioned above, I couldn’t put it down so that definitely says something. Had the ending summed it up a bit better – tidied up the loose ends – it would have been a much more memorable read for me. If you’re looking for something quick and easy to read, pick this one up and give it a try…I have no doubt it will be one of the books that gets the most buzz this winter!

This book releases on Tuesday, January 15, 2019!