Friday, October 16, 2009

Book 58 of 2009: The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton


Lisa Morton's first novella, The Lucid Dreaming, tells the tale of a girl named Spike, a violent paranoid schizophrenic whose condition is currently controlled by a drug called Prolixin. Spike resides in a mental hospital in Oxnard, California, but one day a nurse comes to Spike’s room holding a scalpel, covered in blood, and tells her that she is free. Spike doesn’t wait around to see what the nurse is going to do with the scalpel, and takes off out the door seeing all kinds of horrors around the hospital as she flees. She finds a car and hits the road (despite having never driven in her life). Along the way she meets up with a special boy named Teddy who seems to be affected by whatever is going on. After spending time with him she realizes it's like he's almost in a dreamlike state. She wonders why she isn't affected, but soon realizes it must be the Prolixin she is taking. Spike and Teddy travel through many a state together, but get stopped in Texas by a group of rednecks. Now Spike has to figure out a plan of escape for her and Teddy to get them back on their way and out of redneck hell!

The Lucid Dreaming is one of the best novellas I have ever read. I picked it up one evening and couldn't stop until I was finished. Spike's character has a sassy attitude and comes out with lots of snarky comments that I absolutely loved. The fact that half of the time Spike is leading around Teddy in his sleep makes for interesting moments as well. There were many memorable scenes in the book, but I think my favorite had to be the bathtub scene. That was just a classic moment in the book. I won't say what happened as to avoid spoilers, but it's worth reading the novella just for that scene alone in my opinion. Morton gives the reader a bit of everything within less than 100 pages... action, suspense, thrills, romance, and of course, horror! She's definitely an author to keep an eye out for in the future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations, Violence

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

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