Marianne Macusi, Moongazer

Moongazer

Marianne Macusi

Dorchester Shomi, Aug 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 9780505526957

New York computer programmer Skye Brown fears going to sleep even with her boyfriend Craig sharing her bed as she worries that she may be losing her mind. Every night she vividly dreams that she is the freedom fighter Mariah Quinn living in a devastated post apocalyptic world. When she awakens from her nocturnal activity in her "cozy" apartment, Skye feels exhausted as if she lived the events she dreamed of.

However, as the dreams turn even more frightening and somehow realistic if possible, a stranger insists that this other fantasy realm is her real world and she is the stranger in New York; whereas Skye claims not so and that New York is her home. The man further asserts Mariah betrayed her people when she fled; her people need her back leading the fight for freedom or they will certainly fail.

This tense scary thriller asks the question what is reality. Skye is a terrific protagonist who holds the tale together for the most part with her terrified first hand accounts of her dreams vs. her mundane life working in Soho and living in the Upper West Side. Inside a complex action-packed story line, fans will wonder along with the beleaguered programmer whether she is insane but as Skye or perhaps with a Twilight Zone twist as Mariah. This is a superb one sitting character driven tale as the heroine ponders how realistic the wasteland that haunts her is.

Harriet Klausner