Sleeping Bear surprises with its gripping and unpredictable storyline involving highly-relatable and despicable characters. It’s an excellent debut novel, with huge potential for more stories.
The thriller revolves around the eerie abductions of campers in Alaska, including Cassie Gale, an Army Veteran and graduate of Ranger School. Her father, sister, and brother-in-law set out to find her. Cassie’s abduction ties into a cold-war Russian experiment to mold warriors into feeling no remorse at the prospect of killing and her father’s mysterious past with Vladmir Putin’s mentor. The elements of espionage, sleuthing and nail-biting tension make this a nerve-wracking experience in a great way!
Sleeping Bear’s characters evoke emotions from sympathy to disgust. Cassie Gale is a badass with brains, brawn and a tragic backstory. With her father, you sense there’s more than what meets the eye and Sullivan’s depiction of his agony as he searches for his daughter resonates. Same goes for her sister and brother-in-law: invoking a strong sense of empathy for the family. The opposite is true for the antagonists, as readers will dread them for their despicable and hauntingly-violent acts towards innocents. This creates a compelling juxtaposition, and a desperation for justice to be carried out.
The book is not too heavy on action, but the short and visceral action sequences include authentic weaponry details and crafty spy tools that feel straight out of the Mission Impossible movies. Sullivan mainly focuses on the cerebral components of the story, as the Gale family tries to save Cassie.
With a cold-war linked narrative that includes unethical-human experiments, relatable heroes, despicable villains and great twists, Sleeping Bear is a remarkable debut and an absolute must-read. It’s absolutely a book worth losing a night’s sleep over. I should know, since I stayed up all night to finish it!
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