{Review} The Trajectory of Dreams by Nicole Wolverton

ISBN #: 978-1938463440

Page Count: 285

Copyright: March 1, 2013

Publisher: Bitingduck Press

Description:

(Taken from back cover)

For Lela White, a Houston sleep lab technician, sleep doesn't come easy - there's a price to be paid for a poor night's sleep, and she's the judge, jury, and executioner.

Everyone around Lela considers her a private woman with a passion for her lab work. But nighttime reveals her for what she is: a woman on a critical secret mission. Lela lives in the grip of a mental disorder that compels her to break into astronauts' homes to ensure they can sleep well and believes that by doing so, she keeps the revitalized U. S. space program safe from fatal accidents. What began at the age of ten when her mother confessed to blowing up the space shuttle has evolved into Lela's life's work. She dreads the day when an astronaut doesn't pass her testing, but she's prepared to kill for the greater good.

When Zory Korchagin, a Russian cosmonaut on loan to the U.S. shuttle program, finds himself drawn to Lela, he puts her carefully-constructed world at risk of an explosion as surely as he does his own upcoming launch. As Lela's universe unravels, no one is safe.

Charlene's Review:

When a young Lela White witnesses the Space Shuttle explode on take-off, it shapes her future in a profound way. As a sleep lab technician, she breaks into homes and observes astronauts sleep patterns in an effort to stop the horrific catastrophe from occurring again. Misguided by an emotionally crippling mother and a little misinformation, this becomes her day, and night, mission. When a cosmonaut gets a little too close for comfort, Lela slowly begins to lose her focus, and spirals into a terrifying end.

This is a psychological thriller of epic proportions. Lela is a paranoid mastermind of a very strange, parallel reality. Confiding her secrets and seeking advice from Nike, her "talking" cat, keeping her parent's bedroom a shrine, and liaisons with the janitor in exchange for information allow Lela to control her surroundings and continue her studies. The true reality is a far cry from the perfection she works so hard for. Her struggle to control her environment is maddening.

5 out of 5 stars for its crazy twists and exhilarating ending. This is a gripping, disquieting look at mental illness that will cause you to question how well you can truly know a person, especially those with something to hide.


*A physical copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.