Read it or Weep

Will Bear lives off the grid and travels across the country with his 60-pound Pitbull named Flip. Will works as a ‘fixer’ in order to clear his and his terrible mother’s debts, and his jobs are most often illegal ones, like assisting with black-market adoptions and cleaning up murder sites and sometimes worse. Will goes by at least six other aliases and carries multiple burner phone in order to stay untraceable, and he micro-doses LSD daily in order to cope with his PTSD – which makes the line between the reality and imaginary more than a little fuzzy for him.

It is between gigs when Will receives a call from a young woman named Cammie, who claims to be his daughter. Will, a one-time prolific sperm donor, wants to believe that Cammie is the real deal, but also thinks that his boss, a shadowy organization that he distrusts, might be trying to lure him to his demise. And how would Cammie, a stranger, have access to one of his burner phone numbers anyway?

Set in a near future where implants monitor the country’s population and an ecological disaster has left New York City underwater, this unconventional buddy road trip and adventure novel makes for a dangerous and rough ride. Though not for every reader, Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon is a mix of dystopian, crime and literary fiction that stars a big-hearted contract killer who is desperate to make a real connection. Don’t miss this unusual, compelling and unforgettable read by one of my favorite Ohio authors.

-Carol