The Nightwalker by Sebastian Fitzek
Author : Sebastian Fitzek
Title : The Nightwalker
Published : 28/07/2016
Pages : 352
Genre : Mystery Thriller
Publisher : Sphere
As a young man, Leon Nader suffered from insomnia. As a nightwalker, he even turned to violence during his nocturnal excursions and had psychiatric treatment for his condition. Eventually, he was convinced he had been cured - but one day, years later, Leon's wife disappears from their flat under mysterious circumstances. Could it be that his illness has broken out again? In order to find out how he behaves in his sleep, Leon fits a motion-activated camera to his forehead - and when he looks at the video the next morning he makes a discovery that bursts the borders of his imagination. His nocturnal personality goes through a door that is totally unknown to him and descends into the darkness...
The Nightwalker is the third novel by Sebastian Fitzek that I read, for me, it's been a game of two halves. I enjoyed the second The child much more than the first. So it was with a bit of hesitation that I picked up this novel. I hoped that I would enjoy it as much as the fore mentioned book. What I think made me pick this up more than anything was the premise of doing something in your sleep and having no recollection of it the morning after. Is it, in fact, possible do something truly horrendous and simply walk away, Or does it, in fact, require something buried deep inside all ready to do something bad in your sleep.
For me Leon was not the easiest person to figure out, I felt easier connecting to him because of what happened to him rather than who he was, But in this case, it didn't detract from the story for me. I got locked into the claustrophobic world Leon inhabits as his world starts to tumble down around him. I felt this was one of the stands out things this novel shows off is the writer's ability to take you and his characters and pull your realities together. It is easy to get lost in Leon's way of think and as his ability to tell what is real and not get more screwed up. With this book, he takes it a step further and my thoughts as to whether Leon was capable of killing his wife changed more than ones.
When I came to the ended of this book I am starting to realize I prefer this author's stand-alone books far more. There are moments when it felt more like it was straying into a horror story and away from a simple murder mystery. It is not often a book will give me a sense of foreboding and creepiness, but with this story, it crept into my mind and gave me a real sense of uneasiness. There is a lot going on throughout this book and it likes to keep you on your toes. It is with some relief for me that by the time I got to the end I was given the answers I was desperately seeking. For me this is not a book to read in the daytime, it is far better suited to night time. Maybe in part, this is down to the premise of the book. For our hero his terror comes from his fear of sleeping, it is something we all rely on to put our minds at ease. I felt the author did an amazing job of showing what it's like to take that safety net away from us.
As so much of this book is wrapped up in the mystery of Leon's nocturnal activities I can really talk too much about what the plot entails. Needless to say, if you are looking for a book to make you not want to sleep this is the one for you. It is not so much a bogeyman around the coroner but something much more primal. And that foreboding sense stayed with me after I had finished the book.
The Nightwalker is the third novel by Sebastian Fitzek that I read, for me, it's been a game of two halves. I enjoyed the second The child much more than the first. So it was with a bit of hesitation that I picked up this novel. I hoped that I would enjoy it as much as the fore mentioned book. What I think made me pick this up more than anything was the premise of doing something in your sleep and having no recollection of it the morning after. Is it, in fact, possible do something truly horrendous and simply walk away, Or does it, in fact, require something buried deep inside all ready to do something bad in your sleep.
For me Leon was not the easiest person to figure out, I felt easier connecting to him because of what happened to him rather than who he was, But in this case, it didn't detract from the story for me. I got locked into the claustrophobic world Leon inhabits as his world starts to tumble down around him. I felt this was one of the stands out things this novel shows off is the writer's ability to take you and his characters and pull your realities together. It is easy to get lost in Leon's way of think and as his ability to tell what is real and not get more screwed up. With this book, he takes it a step further and my thoughts as to whether Leon was capable of killing his wife changed more than ones.
When I came to the ended of this book I am starting to realize I prefer this author's stand-alone books far more. There are moments when it felt more like it was straying into a horror story and away from a simple murder mystery. It is not often a book will give me a sense of foreboding and creepiness, but with this story, it crept into my mind and gave me a real sense of uneasiness. There is a lot going on throughout this book and it likes to keep you on your toes. It is with some relief for me that by the time I got to the end I was given the answers I was desperately seeking. For me this is not a book to read in the daytime, it is far better suited to night time. Maybe in part, this is down to the premise of the book. For our hero his terror comes from his fear of sleeping, it is something we all rely on to put our minds at ease. I felt the author did an amazing job of showing what it's like to take that safety net away from us.
As so much of this book is wrapped up in the mystery of Leon's nocturnal activities I can really talk too much about what the plot entails. Needless to say, if you are looking for a book to make you not want to sleep this is the one for you. It is not so much a bogeyman around the coroner but something much more primal. And that foreboding sense stayed with me after I had finished the book.
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