(pb; 2023)
From the back cover
“Dreams shouldn’t kill you. If
you die in a dream you should be fine in real life. But that’s not what Elias [Thompson]
learns once he moves in with a girl named Roe who has the terrible habit of
pulling people into her dreams with her whenever she falls asleep. Although
she’s the nicest, coolest, most attractive woman Elias has ever known while
she’s awake. Roe is a complete psychopath in her dreams. She will stop at
nothing to kill anyone who finds their way into her subconscious worlds. But
Elias has no choice but to survive her crazy dreams every night if he ever
hopes to make it in a world that has been torn apart by a global pandemic and
economic collapse.”
Review
Always, a relatively light entry in Mellick’s oeuvre, is pure delight, poking fun at Portland, Oregon, the author’s current city-of-residence while marking the social anxiety of the recent COVID-19 outbreak as well as the uncertainties, cruelty and fickleness of collegiate youth.
The characters are deftly sketched out, fleshed enough to ring as relatable and true, while the fast-moving, often funny and sometimes gory story, with its well-placed (and often quiet) twists redirecting the plot/action into new, distinctly Mellick territory, darkly hilarious with underlying seriousness and a multilayered, disturbing-or-comforting finish, depending on your mood. This is a great read if you’re looking to read a lighter-in-tone, later Mellick work, one of my favorite novellas by him.
No comments:
Post a Comment