Nocturnal Book Reviews

Egalley thanks to ChiZine Publications
So, I opened this book expecting a light superhero's story. Not so much.

I would never ever look at or think of people who are stuck in a permanent vegetative stage in the same way I used to look them. And that's what this powerful heart wrenching book did to me.

Westlake is a former golden boy, talented surfer and a charming person generally loved by all. He's got a girlfriend whom he loves deeply and who he thinks is his future Mrs. Soul. He's got his best friend, his cool dog Hub and his family. Until an accident on a surfing board damages his brain to the extent where he slips into a coma and becomes a vegetable.

What it would be like if your soul and brain, your subconscious could astral project all over the world, if you could feel everything and read people's thoughts but could not physically express any of yours? A permanent hell, that even Westlake's cheerfulness can't overcome.

He's been like this for two years, travelling all over the world with his mind, speaking with animals, especially with his dog and fighting Dr.Quietus which I presume is his definition of death, but now his parents decide to switch off his life support which means his feeding tube is taken out and he slowly starves to death.

It's excruciatingly painful and Westlake has only up to 2 weeks of life left to try and come back or he is going down.

I was nearly sobbing by the end, he was so beautiful, our Mr Soul! His perception of people around him, his nurses or caretakers, his grief stricken parents and their tearful goodbyes were almost too much to bear.

The end... The end leaves you on the edge of desperately trying to believe in miracles. I really don't know what happened beyond the last sentence and I'm not sure I want to know.

This is one of those books that stays with you forever. Beyond amazing. Tearful. Grand.