Review; Insomnia by J. R. Johansson

Grade: 4 Butterflies

Name: Insomnia (The Night Walkers #1)
Author: J. R. Johansson
Source: ARC won off of giveaway
Publisher: Flux
Pages: Paperback, 360 pages

Goodreads Summary

It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?

I won this ARC of a giveaway on the author's website and I was really exited to read this book. It looked great!! This summery basically promises that the main character is going crazy and it look like a really dark book. So, I went into the book with those expectations and it delivered everything with a bag of chips! It was great!!  There where some things that annoyed me, but overall I loved it!!

This book opens with are main character, Parker, going into a person dream. In this dream the dreamer recalls himself killing his wife. Yah, the creepy part of this book started right away. And Parker could feel himself dying with lack of mental sleep. Like the summary says, he goes into the dreams of a girl who's dreams allow him to sleep. And he starts getting this crazy need to make eye contact with her so he can sleep. This is where the darkness begins.

Parker starts is going crazy in the beginning and the author did this perfectly!! I love how in the book she flawlessly weaves a very dark tone to it. And it was fantastic to read! I've never read anything remotely close to this kind of thing. It was so great and creepy!! Although I wish in the beginning the author spent a little bit more time making you sympathize with Parker, because when he's slowly going crazy he doesn't admit it to himself. And he justifies scaring the crap out of Mia and by then you don't have much sympathy left.

The story line was also great!! It also freaked me out so many times! It starts out with that darkness in it, but then before the half-way point it goes away for a while. It comes back before the end and I'm glad the author did that, because like I was saying up there you don't sympathize with Parker. And this allowed the author to make you like Parker again. The plot was also fast paced, the pages just fly's through your hands. I loved it!!!

And It's the perfect set up for the series. It sets up the plot for the rest of the books, it gives you the info you need, but it's not just that, it also had it's own plot. The whole thing wasn't just setting up for the next books and I am really grateful it was like that, because nothing annoys me more then when the first book is just a set up book.

I also really loved how the author did the Dark Side guy. I really loved that, she did it wonderfully. Although I do wish He was explained a little bit more, because I just wanted to know more about him. But I'm hopping she'll do that in the second book.

The only little thing I wish was different was that there was a little more investigation considering the ending. There wasn't any clues and the ending felt like it was just placed there because the author wanted that ending. It wasn't anything major, the climax just felt off. Although the way ending, the falling action (I think that's what it's called) was great!! I loved how the author at the last minute threw that little nugget in there to, not only set up for the next one, but to also add a tone of mystery to get her readers to come back.

Overall, I loved this book. The author blended the perfect mix of craziness and sanity, darkness and light, in this to create a book that will keep you up all night! You'll fall in love with the characters and the dark tone that the author flawlessly weaves in the story. I would recommend this to any paranormal fan!

This book got...

 4 Butterflies

Beloved, This is a really good book.

That's my review, read it now.

Happy reading