Book Description:
The past is never far away.
Michael Tate has not had an easy life. With his father in prison, and his mother dead, Michael was sent to Woodside Children’s Home.
Now an adult, Michael wakes up from a coma in hospital suffering from amnesia and paralysis. Confused and terrified, he is charged with the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend, Becky. He also learns he attempted to end his own life.
Detective Inspector John Carver is determined that Michael is sent to prison.
With no way of defending himself, Michael is left in his hospital bed awaiting transfer to remand.
But then strange things begin to happen and his childhood comes back to haunt him.
Can Michael ever escape the past?
Will he ever discover the truth about Becky’s murder?
And why is DI Carver so eager to make him suffer?
The Abattoir of Dreams is a bitter sweet story of murder, innocence and abuse.
My Thoughts:
I picked up this book without having read the description so had no clue what I was going into. To start with I thought it was going to be a supernatural type of story as the main character Michael, has outer body experiences by reliving memories from his past leading up to present day in hospital. I would say the first 30 or 40 percent of the story flicks like that between the hospital and Michael being taken down the tunnel to different events in his past. After that the story pretty much stays in the past which leads up to the present day.
Carver is an absolutely horrible character. Right from the start I really disliked him. The further into the story I got the dislike was swapped to loathing. The way he was treating Michael scared me never mind poor Michael. He is truly one sick and twisted individual and I kept hoping someone would walk into the hospital room and catch him in action and see what an evil person he is.
I know I mentioned that I thought that the story might be supernatural, well it isn’t. It’s a story that covers domestic abuse as well as other forms of abuse. I won’t lie, this will not be everyone’s cup of tea due to the nature of the story line as some parts are uncomfortable as well as heart breaking. Saying that though, it is an absolutely brilliant read and one I highly recommend reading.
With Michael to start with I felt pity for. I had no idea whether he was guilty or not but I knew he didn’t deserve to be treat the way that Carver was treating him. Through the tunnel he starts to learn more about himself and his past. After reading the novel I can’t help wishing he hadn’t. He has to deal with things no child should ever have to. I have to mention briefly Michael’s relationship with his childhood pet Oxo as well as Liam who he befriends in the boys home. These relationships moved me to tears and are ones that will stay with me for a long time to come.
Having read A Suitable Lie by Michael J Malone, I never thought another book would provoke such emotions within me. Well Mark Tilbury has succeeded in doing that with The Abattoir of Dreams. This is a story that will mess with your head as well as your heart. I felt like my heart had been shattered into millions of tiny pieces and I wanted so badly to be able to take away the hurt and uncertainty that Michael as well as Liam goes through.
Shocking and heartbreaking, The Abattoir of Dreams is without a doubt one of my outstanding reads so far.
bytheletterbookreviews 