Double Visions / N. E. Walker

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Psychological Thriller/ Sci-Fi

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

N. E. Walker lives in Tampa, Florida, with his talented wife Barb and their Persian watchcat Misha, who will growl if someone knocks on the door. Learn more about N. E. Walker at his website Journeys to the Edge of Reality.

For more, visit Walker's website. 

Description:

Two stories in one volume.

Purgatory

“Glen Graves, a successful and wealthy entrepreneur with a beautiful wife and daughter, has only one problem: he's in a coma. And it's a strange hellish coma where Glen can hear, but no one else knows he's in there. His mind soon finds a way to escape from the boring immobility of his hospital bed, as he begins to explore a nightmarish underworld. Struggling to understand the meaning of his disturbing hallucinations, Glen is finally forced to come to terms with the dark side of his personality.”

Nexus

“How Far Should You Go to Correct an Injustice? Joe Nichols vows to expose a movie screenwriter, Benton Sterling, as a plagiarist.” To do this Joe will be forced to dig deep into his past and confront his long-buried obsession to get the proof he seeks. 

Appraisal:

Both of these stories are like reading a script to a Twilight Zone episode. While both stories are very different they both dealt with memories and dimensional shifts in reality. Purgatory, perhaps, can be categorized as sci-fi, but I got more of a paranormal feel from Nexus.

In the shorter story (about 20,000 words), Purgatory, N.E. Walker paints vivid pictures as Glen tries to reconcile the voices from his wife, daughter, and a number of doctors with the nightmarish images he encounters as his brain struggles to put the pieces of his life back together. I found the sources for the imagery believable and entertaining. Mr. Walker has a twisted sense of humor.

In Nexus Mr. Walker spends more time developing his characters and exploits his descriptive prose to its fullest. It is rather disturbing to watch Joe descend into madness. He is a nice guy who feels like he has been wronged and only wants justice. As the plot moves forward reality starts to shift and twist around on itself and the roller coaster begins. Besides getting a little too wordy at times the story moves at a nice pace. This story is original, entertaining, and thought provoking. If you are a reader who enjoys psychological thrillers, I think you will enjoy both of these stories.

FYI:

These stories can also be purchased individually.

Format/Typo Issues:

I found no significant editing issues in Purgatory and a small number of editing issues in Nexus. The most jarring was the character named Rick was called Jack a few times, there was not a character named Jack. 

Rating: **** Four stars