Author: Tom Sniegoski
Publisher: Razorbill
Copyright: 2006
ISBN: 9781595140524
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 6-10
Genre: Adventure/Thrillers--Action Adventure
Reader’s Annotation: Is Tom a mild-mannered invalid with a rare form of narcolepsy or highly-trained killing machine?
Plot Summary
Tom, 16, has lived a highly regimented life of doctor’s visits, pills, exercise, and sleep in an attempt to control his highly unpredictable illness. Tom has a rare form of narcolepsy that can send him to sleep for days at a time. He lives with his parents, is homeschooled, and has little contact with the outside world. Madison has just moved in next door to Tom—she is staying with her aunt and uncle while her parents work out their acrimonious divorce. She and Tom become interested in each other just as Tom is beginning to figure that there is more to his life than he knows. When Tom has narcoleptic episodes, his alter ego, Tyler, takes control of his body. Tyler is an assassin of unmatched skill and heartlessness, trained as part of a secret government program. It’s been taken over by the corrupt project leader, who plans to sell his weaponized children on the black market. When Tom learns the truth about his doppelgänger he must also come to terms with the fact that his entire life is a lie. Everyone around him, including his supposed parents, has been manipulating and using him. In order to save himself and Madison, he must figure how to use the skills that his body knows from its training as Tyler without letting Tyler’s monstrous personality take over.
Critical Evaluation
Sleeper Code’s greatest assets are its imaginative premise and action-packed plot. It is deficient in characterization, imagery, and language. The characters range from thin to cartoonish. Tom and Madison are typical teenagers—athletic good students who just want to have normal lives. In other words, they are as bland as can be. Brandon Kavanagh, the corrupt government agent, gleefully goes over to the dark side in an unintentionally humorous scene of self-reflection: "Kavanagh had always seen himself as one of the good guys but knew it wasn't a long journey to the other side. ... Wasn't evil all a matter of perception anyway? ... His desire to see the bad guys win had always been his own little secret" (p. 111-112). Tyler, Tom’s alter ego, is evil personified.
Throughout the novel the figurative language is childish to the point of being humorous. At one point Tom describes emotional pain at betrayal as feeling like being stabbed in the gut with “the world’s biggest knife.” Also problematic are the “scientific” details—attempts to explain what goes on in Tom’s brain invariably sound ridiculous. The worst instance of this is when Tom experiences a conversation with a dead scientist that has somehow been implanted in his brain and later activated by visiting a web page. The mechanics of this episode do not make sense. In spite of all this, Sleeper Code is a relatively inoffensive page-turner.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas
What if someone else lived inside your head—someone who scared you?
Describe what Tom experiences when he has a narcoleptic attack.
Challenge Issues: Violence (mild)
In the defense file, I will include my library's selection policy, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, ALA's guidelines on free access to libraries for minors (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/freeaccesslibraries.cfm), and ALA's strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm). I will also include my library's reconsideration form, in case challenges to this book cannot be defused with "tea and sympathy." I will also include the positive reviews from School Library Journal and VOYA along with the fairly positive review from Kliatt. This last review notes that the book has little to no "literary merit" but its appeal to reluctant readers is strong.
About the Author
THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His YA fantasy series Fallen was adapted into a trilogy of monstrously successful TV movies by ABC Family Channel. His other books for teens include Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, Legacy, and Force Majeure, as well as the series The Brimstone Network. The author's first adult novel, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, developed into a series of novels about the character Remy Chandler, including Dancing on the Head of a Pin, Where Angels Fear to Tread, and A Hundred Words for Hate.
Sniegoski's work for younger readers includes the Billy Hooten: Owlboy series and the fantasy quartet OutCast, which he co-authored with Christopher Golden. OutCast is in development as a film at Universal. Sniegoski and Golden have also collaborated on the adult dark fantasy series The Menagerie, and multiple creator-owned comic book series, including The Sisterhood, which is being prepped for a feature film by InterMedia, and Talent, currently in development at Universal after a major bidding war.
As a comic book writer, Sniegoski's work includes Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, a prequel miniseries to international hit Bone. Sniegoski has also written the Bone: Quest for the Spark novels. Sniegoski collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the prequel, making him the only writer Smith has ever asked to work on those characters. Sniegoski and Golden also wrote the graphic novel BPRD: Hollow Earth, a spinoff from Hellboy.
Sniegoski was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their dog, Kirby.
http://www.sniegoski.com/bio.html
Why is this title included?
Although this book's primary appeal is to middle school readers, it is engaging enough to draw in reluctant high school readers, as well, as its selection as a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers attests.