Lucid
Karen Thompson

As credentials for writing horror go, Jay Bonansinga is up there with the best of them as a collaborator on the Walking Dead series. As Lucid evidences, his imagination and creativity are permanently switched on to turbo thrust when he produces books in his own right. Lucid, is a coming of age horror story for its main protagonist, Lori, who just happens to be a ‘lucid’ dreamer, meaning that even when asleep she is consciously aware her dreams are just that.

The storyline, no doubt, is highly original and much credit must be given to the author. He introduces us to a world which few are not intrigued by and which touch us all, and he manages to do so with a story which engages the interest from beginning to end. Although some of his characters are shadowy, for example, Lori’s love interest, it is the protagonist herself, who is something of a Renaissance Woman, and her intelligence, quick wit and trains of thought which greatly assist not only in helping to move the story along but also in maintaining the reader’s interest and keeping them engaged.

Of course, the story doesn’t begin and end with lucid dreams. Lori also gets involved with other ‘lucies’ that are fighting the heroic battle against the bad guys invading our sleeping hours. And, I don’t think I will be revealing too much of a spoiler, if I go on to say that Bonansinga exposes to us the possibility that the portal used by demons to possess unfortunate souls is, of course, via our dreams.

There can be little doubt that the idea behind Lucid, although it initially takes the well-worn idea of dreams, is original and well-presented and as a plot for a horror story goes, this one is entertaining in the extreme. If I have a criticism, it's the writing and how, at least at the start of the book, it has a distinctly adolescent feel to it. This does though, like the heroine, change and develop during the course of the plot, and I found that by the final two chapters it had matured enough to make it a much more interesting read for at least, this particular reader. Yet there can be no doubt that, for most adults, and particularly those who are fond of the horror genre, Lucid will entertain them from beginning to end.