The Dreamers is a science-fiction novel by the American writer Karen Thompson Walker, published on January 15, 2019, by Random House.

[3] Walker's second novel details an ominous sleeping virus that sweeps over the fictional town, Santa Lora, in Southern California.

Walker noted that one of her inspirations for the storyline came as a result of this intense process, as it made her realize how humans "haven't figured out why we sleep and dream.

"[7] Walker claims that what interests her as a writer is how individuals react in situations of extreme disaster,[7] a fascination that allowed her to consider what would happen if sleep became a contagious virus.

[8] Moreover, Walker claims that Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, was a major inspiration that had an immense impact on the way she combined aspects of psychological and emotional realism with speculation.

[8] Walker also noted that what she loves most in literary fiction are, "the characters, beautiful sentences, and the language," which comprises the structural focus of her novel.

Mei calls the paramedics, who rush Kara to hospital, where her heart rate slows down to a complete stop and she is declared dead.

Rebecca's heart rapidly slows and she is deemed unconscious; however, her pulse remains completely stable; her only symptom is deep sleep.

A janitor from the college, Thomas Peterson, who worked on the same dorm floor as the sleeping virus victims, returns home to his two daughters, Sara and Libby.

During a wildfire that breaks out in Southern California, Thomas becomes a victim of the sleeping virus and will not wake up, leaving his two daughters, Sara and Libby, alone in their house.

The doctors say that Henry has a counterintuitive symptom related to the sleeping virus that is not present in the other victims, as he suddenly starts talking, after being comatose for years.

On the morning of this large-scale quarantine, Ben, a college professor, finds his wife Annie sprawled on the kitchen floor with her eyes fluttering rapidly, a victim of the sleeping virus.

Mei also catches the virus, undergoing a form of sleep paralysis, characterized by the feeling of pressure on her chest and her inability to scream out for help.

Thomas experiments with fire and discovers that he can see the flame before he has lit the match, which leads him to the conclusion that he has, in fact, seen the future in his dreams.

Their father, Thomas, reveals that he dreamt that the oceans moved a hundred miles inland and completely covered Los Angeles underwater.

Walker uses third-person narration in order to manage a large cast of characters, including a number of college students, couples, and families.

"[4] Beckermann continues, declaring that the story does not have enough “dramatic tension," as it is obvious to the reader that many of the characters in the extensive cast will fall victim to the sleeping virus, however, through lack of characterization, the reader does not “care enough about which of them will survive.”[4] Despite these criticisms, Beckermann states that there is a “hypnotic quality to Walker’s writing," through her lyrical prose.

He mentions how Walker weaves the fear of the climate crisis into her novel, particularly through the Santa Lora drought and Thomas’ dream about the collapse of one of Antarctica's largest ice caps, leaving Los Angeles underwater.