Author: Marcus Low
Publisher: Legend Press
Publication Date: 15 April 2019
Pages: 139
Format: eBook - EPUB
Genre: Fiction
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
Barry James is detained in a quarantine facility in the blistering heat of the Great Karoo. Here he exists in two worlds: the unforgiving reality of his incarceration and the lyrical landscapes of his dreams. He has cut all ties with his previous life, his health is failing, and he has given up all hope. All he has to cling to are the meanderings of his restless mind, the daily round of pills and the journals he reluctantly keeps as testimony to a life once lived.
And then there’s an opportunity to escape.
Asylum is in some ways a difficult book to rate. I enjoyed the psychological aspects of the tale and the dystopian situation in which the story was set, which presents a world that could all-to-easily become reality. However, I felt the pacing let things down. The opening was very slow and meandering, and the action only really picked up about two thirds in. I'm glad I read it, as it raised some interesting points and offered a fascinating psychological study of someone in a difficult position. However, the plot and characters never gripped me and the ending fell a little flat. I would give Low another try if he writes any future works, but Asylum is not one I'd want to reread.
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