Michael Boswell is a married scientific researcher with a mind full of dark fantasies. An opportunity to get some additional hours at work leads him to research requiring him to talk to a catatonic patient. These extended monologues grant us deeper access into his character and provide Michael with a confessional-type space under the guise of triggering a reaction in his patient.
Catatonic Dreams is an interesting read told from the perspective of a complex main character. There is a dichotomy between what Michael’s perceptions and the events around him that creates a really unsettling atmosphere. From early on I thought Michael was creepy and was left out of balance by the narrative. Throughout I was considering whether what I was reading was imagination or something more sinister, and this question lingers at the back of your mind as you read. Information is slowly and subtly sneaked out to the reader through the story. It’s a credit to the way the narrative is constructed that the more you learn, the more questions you have: about Michael, his life and colleagues and about the fate of Maria. A sinister psychological thriller indeed.
Michael Boswell is a man in the shadow of a nightmare. Married to the woman of his dreams - Laurie. He works a comfortable job as a scientific researcher, while living a life, so routine, he’s in danger of sleepwalking through it - if not for the fictions of his mind.
Yet, he is unable to keep his dreams from spilling over into something else, something less desirable. Then an opportunity at work comes along and gives him a confidant he never knew he needed. Setting him on a path to fulfil his wildest dreams, and become the man he was always meant to be.
And there’s nothing he isn’t prepared to do to get there.
