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Aerospace engineer and technical writer Plautz enters the fascinating genre of dream literature in this suspense novel of interest to both adult and new adult readers. When Robert "Bob" Parker, an aerospace engineer about eight years shy of retirement age, is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, his surprise illness spurs lucid dreams of Ron Pritchard, a senior engineering student at a Cleveland college.
Advised that he has about six months to live, give or take, Bob hides his illness from his wife and grown kids as long as possible, but he discusses his puzzling dreams with his neurologist. Bob’s physician brushes off the dreams as simply a phenomenon caused by the brain tumor, but Bob is not only stunned by how detailed and real the dreams seem but also by their content. He feels he’s viewing the future of someone in his family, and though the dreams are lucid, he has no control over them or interest in learning how to do so, even though dream control is often a goal of lucid dreamers.
As Bob and his family struggle to make peace with his terminal illness, the dreams also carry on. The tale and its story within a story have sufficient tension and conflict to keep readers turning pages. The grounding in reality of Bob’s dream world has a compelling mystery-crime appeal and a plot arc that carries the story.
Ron, Bob’s dream alter ego, lives a fairly normal life as a college student in Cleveland (also Bob’s city of residence) until he discovers that young women at his campus are being systematically drugged, raped, and deposited on their dorm or apartment doorsteps afterward. Local hospitals aren’t well-equipped with rape kits, and though local law enforcement is aware of the problem, not much has been done to solve the perplexing crimes. Ron soon discovers, when his new girlfriend Sue has a near-tragic encounter at a fraternity party, that the perpetrator may be an assistant football coach who clearly has significant access to young women.
As Bob falls into a coma and his wife Sarah chooses to maintain his life support despite his doctor’s advice to spare Bob the discomfort of his damaged brain and failing organs, the vivid dreams continue unabated. The story shifts its focus upon Ron’s life in Bob’s dream world and on Sarah’s struggles with single life and her wishes and prayers that Bob will be miraculously healed. Bob’s doctor learns of an experimental drug that brings some temporary consciousness and clarity into Bob’s limited life span, but he soon relapses.
The psychological intensity of the plot lines in Ron’s world maintains reader interest as his relationship with Sue evolves and his sleuthing begins to pay off with expected and unexpected results. Ultimately, the intertwined tales reach a dramatic impasse, with one couple’s loss becoming the dream couple’s gain, though the effect feels somewhat anticlimactic as Sarah’s reality seems to override all of Bob’s dreams despite the realistic drama of Ron and Sue’s lives. The richness of the dream characters’ lives makes one hope that a sequel to this book somehow featuring them will soon be forthcoming.