BOOK DESCRIPTION
He is on a journey of change, pushing himself to feel... something.
When he meets Violet, an innocent, life-affirming young woman, he's tempted into being something tame. Something he's not.
Then he discovers George, a sociopathic serial killer.
Both are now in a tug-of-war for his loyalty.
Who will he choose?
Can a criminal psychopath really change?
Dr Raveed Makesh is delving deep into the mind of one of Cardiff's most deadly killers, revolutionising therapy for criminal psychopaths.
Is Makesh successful? Or just another victim of his games?
If you love American Psycho or Hannibal, Dandelion is the book for you. A dark, literary thriller that will have you second-guessing yourself and, in the end, agreeing with a criminal psychopath.
We are all just dandelion seeds in a hurricane
In his debut book Feral Snow, Mark Lowes took readers on a fast paced, thrilling journey across the frozen landscape of Antarctica, in his second book Dandelion, he takes us on a captivating journey into the twisted mind of a killer. A story with a plot that is completely different from the author's first book in every way but is just as intense and enthralling.
The story centre's almost entirely around our main character who is known throughout the entire book as The Patient as he recounts events that occurred throughout his life whilst attending his therapy sessions with Dr Raveed Makesh. The Doctor was hoping that by letting his patient tell his account in full detail, from his own point of view that he won't revert to manipulative techniques and that the sessions would eventually provide the patient with a sense of empathy and understanding from other's perspectives. We learn about the patient's unhappy childhood, his first killing and his interactions with the two characters who would have such a dramatic effect on his life, Violet Driscoll and George Harrison (no not the bloody Beatle) Two people who ended up being the living embodiment of the Angel and devil characters that you see perched on the shoulders of cartoon characters and caused our main character to question his life's philosophies and experience thoughts and feelings that were completely alien to him.It was obvious that our main character suffered from a number of mental health issues from a young age and was most definitely an introvert but did he also suffer from schizophrenia. Did George Harrison who was a seriously twisted individual,had the same total lack of feelings and empathy as a pod person from Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and was most definitely not very likeable actually exist, was he a real person, a figment of the patient's imagination or one of his other personalities? As the story unfolded, I struggled to decide how I felt about the patient, there was many times when I thought he was unlikable but he did have some redeemable qualities and I also felt that it was unfair to pass judgement on him due to his mental issues. I thought it was really clever and ingenious how the author keep the reader guessing by blanking out the name of the patient during the chapters that covered the therapy sessions.
Scattered through the book was extracts from Violet's diary in which she gave the reader a insight into her thoughts about the patient, the reasons why she was so fascinated with him and kept instigating encounters between the two characters. Violet was a really likeable character who was so lively and full of life, every time she appeared in the story I wanted to reach into my kindle,give her a good shaking and tell to run away as far as she could.
The plot of this thought provoking, dark, spine chilling and at times intense story covers some realistic issues including mental health, the question of if therapy actually works or not and the age old issue of nature v nurture. It's a fascinating,thrilling and intelligently written exploration into one or more twisted minds. The characters were a mixed bag of vivid, realistic individuals, some likeable,some not so likeable. I really really loved this mesmerising story and would give it far more than five stars if I could. This Author is very talented and I look forward to reading many more of his books in the future.
AUTHOR BIO
Mark is the winner of Litopia's Pop-Up Submissions and of a pitch contest at the Cardiff Book Festival.
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