The Nightwalker

By Sebastian Fitzek

Review

A 2023 Top Rated Read

Leon and wife Natalie move into their dream apartment and can't believe their luck. However, marital problems soon force a badly beaten and terrified Natalie to flee. Believing the violent sleepwalking episodes he suffered as a young man have returned, Leon seeks help from his old doctor. 

To record what happens during the night when he should be sleeping, Leon buys a motion activated head camera. He's astonished at what he discovers when playing the recording back. As his life spirals out of control, his waking and sleeping hours blur and merge. Is he going crazy or is something much more sinister happening?

OH WOW, I thought this book was fantastic and I couldn't put it down. It was scary, gripping, suspenseful and totally surreal — exactly the kind of story I love. Trying to piece the parts of the puzzle together was impossible and I was hooked. A growing sense of unease gradually intensified as Leon was thrown deeper into his own psyche and forced to confront his worst fears. Never really knowing what was real and what was not, it was an exceptionally clever read. I highly recommend it.

★★★★★

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sphere
• Publication Year: 2016
• Author: Sebastian Fitzek
• Genre: Psychological Thriller

Synopsis

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 movement 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....