A Review is In

I will write a full recap of last night’s book launch party later. It was a wonderful night that I will not soon forget. But around 20 minutes before it began I got an email from my publisher containing a review that just came in from Midwest Book Review. As nervous as I was for the start of the launch I didn’t know whether to read it or ignore it until later. After 30 seconds of internal debate I read it. The fact that it was relatively positive helped calm my nerves. I share it with you now…

In A Life of Dreams, Percy Hope’s newfound wealth has elevated him to a life of luxury and achievement that he never could have imagined. Nor could he envision losing it; but when his inheritance fades, so does the illusion of stability and success that came with it. Plagued by nightmares, Percy struggles with the aftermath of a suicide attempt, juggling various forms of success with requirements that both lend purpose to his life and test his resolve and relationships. Between gambling losses and infidelity to eventual divorce and devastation, Percy is left with only the dreams that haunt his psyche with new possibilities and deadly reflections. 

Doug Dunnevant traverses the topics of forgiveness, healing, and redemption. He portrays a middle-aged man whose objectives and approaches to life shift as money comes and goes, love ebbs and flows, and his sense of purpose is altered by death and renewal. Well-developed characters change Percy’s life in unexpected ways that are not all about success and failure, but the gray areas of perception and goals which lie in between. 

However, Percy isn’t the only one under the microscope, here. Beth, too, receives close inspection as viewpoints shift between them. Named chapter headings could have solidified these shifts with more clarity, but most readers won’t become entirely lost over the ways in which Percy and Beth find their lives entwined over family and destiny: “She had often wondered what she would feel at the first glimpse of him. Would there be any recognition? What emotion would flow to the surface: anger, resentment, fear? Nothing had prepared her for love. Her first reaction to seeing the father who had totally abandoned her was an overwhelming desire to run to him. Then, as surprising and unnerving as her first response had been, soon after, all was emotional panic. Could she bear it if he didn’t return her love, or worse, treated her with indifference?” 

The result is a thought-provoking novel of discovery and recovery that is highly recommended for libraries and readers seeking sagas of redemption that arrive with a hint of supernatural influences. These readers will welcome Percy and Beth’s realistic encounters, changing relationship, and the impact of wealth, poverty, and self-awareness on the choices each makes in life.

D. Donovan, Senior  Reviewer, Midwest Book Review