Books to Borrow Williamsburg Public Library Recommends

The world of dreams is fascinating. Charlie Crabtree was so enamored by it he wanted to live there. He would do anything to escape the real world to live in the dream world. No price was too high. Sacrifice. Murder. And, because of his dark imagination and what others believe he may achieve, grisly murders continue to happen so others can join him.

Paul Adams knew Charlie as part of his outcast friend group. We meet Paul as a teenager, being taken in for the murder of a friend. We meet him again 25 years later as an adult. His mother being ill is the only thing that could draw him back to the place he left so many years before. Returning home is overwhelming to say the least.

Slowly, Paul has rebuilt his life. As much as he does not want to, he knows he has to return after all the years he spent staying away. Soon after his homecoming, things begin to go wrong. His mother insists he should not be there and more than once she tells him something is in the house. He does not know what it could be, only that he has to try to solve the mystery that began in his youth once and for all. Not only has there been another copycat killing, but people from his past begin turning up dead as well. Paul has also noticed someone following him, which reminds him of something stressful from long ago. It wasn’t just the murder - afterward, Charlie was never seen again. Could Charlie still be out there?

In the present, two adults, towns apart, are revisiting the 25-year-old murder for different reasons. Detective Amanda Beck has a new case to solve, while Paul is facing the demons from his past. The two story lines mesh together perfectly, with Detective Amanda and Paul edging closer together as they close in on solving the murders. The past and present come together as well, a piece of the truth revealed with every flashback.

Alex North knows how to throw readers off and bring them back with one twist after another. A horror story at its core, it is full of suspense, dark and creepy, and teeters on the edge of supernatural vs. natural. It may keep you up at night, with its talk of lucid dreaming and nightmares. Sweet dreams.