Sleepwalk
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.5
(85)
Dan Chaon
Sleepwalk is a high speed and darkly comic road trip through a near future America with a big-hearted mercenary, from beloved and acclaimed award-winning novelist Dan Chaon.“[Chaon] does madcap well and likes his characters, even the killers—especially the killers.”—The New York Times Book ReviewA New York Times Book Review Editors’ ChoiceAn NPR “Book of the Day”A USA Today “Must Read”Sleepwalk’s hero, Will Bear, is a man with so many aliases that he simply thinks of himself as the Barely Blur. At fifty years old, he’s been living off the grid for over half his life. He’s never had a real job, never paid taxes, never been in a committed relationship. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation he’s never troubled himself to learn too much about. He has lots of connections, but no true ties. His longest relationships are with an old rescue dog that has post-traumatic stress and a childhood friend as deeply entrenched in the underworld as he is, who, lately, he’s less and less sure he can trust. Out of the blue, one of Will's many burner phones heralds a call from a twenty-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She says she’s the product of one of his long-ago sperm donations; he’s half certain she’s AI. She needs his help. She’s entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will’s employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he is working for and the people he’s running from. With his signature blend of haunting emotional realism and fast-paced intrigue, Dan Chaon populates his fractured America with characters who ring all too true. Gazing both back to the past and forward to an inevitable-enough-seeming future, Sleepwalk examines where we’ve been and where we’re going and the connections that bind us, no matter how far we travel to dodge them or how cleverly we hide.
Science Fiction
Thriller
Humor
AD
Buy now:
More Details:
Author
Dan Chaon
Pages
320
Publisher
Henry Holt and Company
Published Date
2022-05-24
ISBN
1250175216 9781250175212
Community ReviewsSee all
"3.5– Sleepwalk is wacky and unforgettable. The main character is one of the most quirky protagonists in recent memory, and the plot takes some truly crazy turns. However, I feel like the novelty of these aspects wears off a bit somewhere past the midpoint of the novel. Still, the book is undeniably unique and one that I might recommend just to someone looking for a fun, unexpected read."