Poor Alex is stuck in a hospital bed, able to hear and feel all that’s going on around him while everyone believes he is in a persistent vegetative state. No one really tells him what’s going on but he learns he has fallen from a great height while rock climbing and is not expected to recover. After two years his family and girlfriend are beginning to accept it may be best to let him die.
Gradually he gathers the police are investigating his fall, and it was not an accident. He is desperate to stick around until the truth is uncovered and to protect his girlfriend from harm, although his ability to do so is obviously limited.
This is such a cleverly constructed book. It conveys the horror of being locked into your body, able to feel pain and emotion but unable to communicate either, utterly at the mercy of those charged with looking after you. Each of the nurses and doctors attending him and even the man who cleans his room have such power over him, and they use it for good or evil. His silence and immobility inpire confession from some of his visitors while others berate him. Some spend their time bickering in his presence. He is a silent witness to the best and worst of human behaviour and can only piece together what’s going on from fragmentary information. To form a genuinely good thriller with the main character in this state is quite an achievement. All praise to Emily Koch for this very clever debut and look forward to reading more of hers.
