Dreamworld [Paperback]

Jane Goldman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

When it comes to crime in Dreamworld, the sprawling Florida vacation resort might as well be never-never land. That's because the bad things that happen there never reach the press. As an ambitious rookie cop on the community's security force, twenty-five-year-old Sylvia Avery toes the company line, smoothing over disturbances that might tarnish the utopian image of Dreamworld and its hugely popular ImagiNation theme park.

But that flawless facade is shattered when a horrific murder-suicide takes place "on property." Thrown into a company-sponsored cover-up, Avery discovers bizarre and disturbing experiments taking place at Dreamworld's ultrasecret research center. Torn between her loyalty to her new boss -- and lover -- and a need to uncover the terrifying truth, Avery enters the dark and twisted world beneath Dreamworld's picture-perfect surface. Now, in a place where fantasy rules and illusion is everything, Avery is about to come face-to-face with a cold and deadly reality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The MTV audience will enjoy this wild ride of a novel that's a cut above the average pop phenom. In her complexly plotted, edgy debut, Goldman combines suspense with a deft skewering of the kitschy illusions of American theme parks. Sylvia Avery, 25, works as a security officer for Dreamworld in Orlando. Her job is to ensure that any unpleasantness is quickly swept from public view so as not to "break the illusion for everyone else." Since she's a true believer in magic and innocence, and only occasionally jaded with Dreamworld's paradisiacal pretensions, she has no problem protecting the image. That is, until two dead bodies are discovered, and she's promoted by her boss, who's also her lover, to help investigate the apparent murder/suicide. Avery, as she's called, plays along at first with Dreamworld's chilling cover-up scheme, but her sleuthing leads to a research facility where experimental pharmaceuticals are tested on volunteers as part of a program to create the perfect entertainment experience. When she realizes that the lab's practices aren't just fun and games, she must decide whether to keep quiet or expose the truth. Goldman (The Official X Files Book of the Unexplained) makes Avery an appealing heroine, depicting her as gutsy and vulnerable, na?ve and quick thinking. The macabre quality of the killings aptly points up the book's more serious implications. Not least of these is the critique of Dreamworld as a kind of Twilight Zone where the illusion of charm and whimsy belies a frightening, amoral vision, and where public relations supersedes justice. While Goldman's overly clever pop culture references and hard-to-follow prose are sometimes annoying, her tale guarantees that readers may henceforth regard theme parks with a dash of suspicion. Agent, Mary Pachnos. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Jane Goldman is the author of The Official X-Files Book of the Unexplained. She lives in London.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: MTV Books; Original edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671787209
• ISBN-13: 978-0671787202
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,798,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My new favorite mystery, July 9, 2002

By 

S. M. Hyde (NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreamworld (Paperback)

I love mysteries with a twist, and the idea of horrible things happening beneath the flawless exterior of a theme park intrigued me from the moment I read the blurb on the back of this book. The fact that the "Dreamworld" theme park is nearly a carbon copy of Disney World, from the costumed characters to the themed lands and resorts to the "It's a Small World"-like ride where the novel's climactic moments occur, adds a strange level of realism to the story-- as if you're reading a shameful secret exposé rather than a novel. It's not just the unique setting that makes this such a wonderful mystery novel, though. The characters are great, particularly the tough and witty star Sylvia Avery. The plot builds up quite a bit of suspense as pieces of the intricate puzzle are revealed one by one, and most of the twists were very surprising. I suppose it would be wishful thinking to hope for a sequel, but as a standalone novel "Dreamworld" stands above most other mysteries I've read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prose is a little stiff but the story is strong, April 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreamworld (Paperback)

MTV scores with this ambitious novel. I found Goldman's prose a little tough to follow at times (I think this might be due to her being a Brit writing for an American audience) but the story was fast and funny. A good read for the summer.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars art imitating life? goldman knows someone at disneyworld, February 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Dreamworld (Paperback)

the real reason i loved this book as much as i did was because jane goldman's descriptions of everything about dreamworld (from procedure, right down to uniforms and park layout) was complete walt disney world. she even mentions disney SEVERAL times in the book. also, her descriptions of the orlando/kissimee area are insanely accurate (disney world cast members *do* hang out at a bar on state road 192 called the big bamboo lounge). i enjoyed reading a novel that was basically ABOUT the place that i work. if you're looking for a taste of behind-the-scenes at disney world, read this book.