Sway – a Review

Are you in control of what happens in your dreams? If you aren’t, then who is?

In this psychological thriller/horror story, you are taken inside the mind of a man who has experienced horrendous things during his childhood. Now that he is an adult, what toll have these events taken on his life?

He works as a counselor in a local high school. How can he help young people deal with their problems when his dreams seem to be taking over his life and thoughts?

Okay, dreams are not normally that much of a problem. But what about when you have the same nightmare all the time?

This troubled man is the one telling the tale. His night terrors began while he was in an orphanage, Sundance Farms Complex. His mom killed his dad in order to protect him, but that only complicated his life even more. The people in his dreams are as real to him as the people around him every day. He begins to try to figure a way to help the girl in his dreams escape the prison he believes she is being held in.

The author’s descriptions are vivid and full of detail. He is one of the few authors that have written descriptions of horrifying events that actually made me cringe. The subject matter might be hard for some to deal with, but it is very necessary to explain why this nameless main character has such issues.

Is he having these dreams because of something a doctor gave him when he was young? Or is he really on the verge of insanity? This is a wonderfully dark tale that left me wanting to find out whether or not the main character was really losing his sanity.  It could go either way, so I hope there is a sequel for this story sometime in the future.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  If you would like to add a copy of this to your ever-growing collection of books, I have provided an Amazon link below.

Amazon Link: Sway

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Favorite Sentence:
What a stupid, silly thought.  I’m literally looking for the girl of my dreams?

New Word Learned
dulcet – This adjective means pleasing to the ear or melodious. It also describes something pleasant or agreeable to the eyes or feelings, something that is soothing.

Matthew Keith Bio:
I live in Kentucky very close to Fort Knox with my wife of 18 years, our one and a half children (the ‘half’ because one left for college this year to attend the University of Kentucky), and our dog “Elvis”.

Sway is my third novel, a departure from the first two which were both part of a trilogy, Watchers of the Night. The first book in that trilogy, published in April 2013, won 5th place in the annual critiquemynovel.com writing contest, and sold close to 1,000 copies to date. My next project, currently underway and due for release in the spring, is the final installment of that trilogy, The Fall of Astralis.

I have to admit, at this point in my career I have a bit of a nerd-crush on Sway. I enjoyed writing it more than I can say because it really let my freak flag fly, and I feel like I really created someone “real” in the main character. Flawed, angry, cynical–yes. But real in that he is unashamed to share what he is really thinking at all times.

After finishing the Watchers trilogy, it is my intention to head back into darker fiction (like Sway is) and continue to test my boundaries as a writer.

Note: This review was first published a few years ago on The News in Books.