Over a decade ago, four college students (Lee Peterson, Ella Innes, Brad Cousins, and Honora Brennan) were part of an experiment into "lucid dreaming". The experiment was considered safe as what harm could come from controlling one's dreams. However, on the DREAMSIDE of existence, the quartet began to intermingle and destroy their conscious lives. All four fled in terror from DREAMSIDE and more so from each other in an attempt to obtain peace of mind and regain a piece of reality.
Now, as adults the dreams have returned as frightening nightmares. Desperate, the four seek each other out in a hope that together they can find a solution to the ever-growing darkness of the DREAMSIDE that threatens to destroy each one of them. Unable to be together because of the geometric potency of their combined dreaming, the foursome cannot separate if they are to find hope of escaping this nightmare.
DREAMSIDE is the American release of the debut novel of award winning author Graham Joyce (see THE TOOTH FAIRY and DARK SISTER). The story line is exciting and filled with increasing terror that works because the characters seem real as they struggle to cope with needing each other to survive even as they know that being together intensifies their individual and group fears. Although, a superb novel that showcases Mr. Joyce's talent, the climax seems abrupt and left questions unanswered. Still, this is classic science fiction along the lines of the Outer Limits and Flatliners.
Harriet Klausner