Sleeper

Gr 9 Up—Sarah Reyes isn't having a great year. She has a rare REM sleep behavior disorder that causes her to act out in her sleep and requires that she be tied down every night. When Sarah spends the night with her friends and falls asleep before being strapped down, she almost breaks the neck of one of the most popular girls in school. Now ostracized, Sarah is determined to find a way to move past her disorder with an experimental new drug. As a result of the drug, her dreams become more vivid, but she doesn't move a muscle. Sarah meets an unlikely friend, Wes Nolan, a new guy at school who also has a sleep disorder. While on this new drug, Sarah and Wes can possess the bodies of others under the influence of the drug who don't have sleep disorders. Wes suggests the two of them take revenge on the people who have been making Sarah's life awful. But as Wes starts to make more serious and dangerous plans with their classmates' bodies, Sarah wonders whether it's time to stop. Told from Sarah's point of view, this narrative presents her dreams and reality. Sarah is a sympathetic character, even as she's getting her revenge. The secondary characters are more peripheral, although Sarah's best friend and ex-boyfriend are a little more fleshed out. References to drugs, drinking, and sex make this title more appropriate for older teens. The ending leaves the possibility of a sequel open.