From Publishers Weekly
A real Sleeping Beauty comes haltingly to life in this slick but topical New Age thriller, the second novel (but the first to be published here) by British writer Mawson. When Alison Heywood evicts her husband, Jack, from their Cambridge, England, home for sleeping with his secretary, 12-year-old Ben has to take over the chore of walking his seven-year-old sister, Frankie, to school. After ducking into a store, he emerges to see her and her playmate Isabelle struck by a van; the accident kills Isabelle and leaves Frankie in a coma. The Heywoods decide to send her to the Perlman Institute in Virginia, run by charismatic Dr. Lizzie Chase, who occasionally has success reviving comatose patients with such controversial methods as sexual stimulation, recreational drugs and heavy metal music. The metaphor of indulging kids rather than censoring them is laid on thick in this emotionally manipulative narrative. So are the digs at the self-righteous types (led by a senator whose son died at Perlman) who try to close down the Institute. Meanwhile, Frankie's family and Lizzie's clique of friends are exceptionally clever and compassionate in their fight to keep the Institute operating. Mawson hits all the bases by weaving in whatever hot issues come to hand: alternative medicine, the "right to die" and the problems of medical bureaucracy. Yet he dilutes the climax by setting it in a dim dreamscape where hypnotized Ben fights to return Frankie from "the other side." The contemporaneous, real-world abduction of Frankie and Ben from the authorities who have occupied the Institute provides a showcase for Mawson's considerable strengths: witty dialogue, savvy characters, surprise developments and rapid pacing. Naturally, by the time the little girl comes back to life, her mum and dad have patched things up, and this three-hanky resolution may well justify the novel's pre-publication interest. Agent, Christopher Little; editor, Francesca Liversidge; Literary Guild main selection. (Aug.) FYI: Bantam bought The Lazarus Child in a preemptive, "seven-figure" bid.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Seven-year-old Frankie Heywood lies comatose in a London hospital after being hit by a car. Her older brother, Ben, who witnessed the accident, blames himself and becomes emotionally distant. His detachment increases as Frankie's lingering condition and his parents' marital difficulties compound the family tension. Finally, the Heywoods turn for help to an American neurologist, Elizabeth Chase, whose pioneering efforts with young coma patients provide renewed hope for Frankie's recovery. Behind Dr. Chase's extreme dedication to her work, and adding to the drama, lies a childhood experience similar to Ben's from which she has never fully recovered. Risk and controversy surround Dr. Chase's experimental methods, and local protesters obtain a court injunction to close her clinic. Frankie's treatment is interrupted, counter-measures are taken, and suspense builds in the competing race for her welfare. However, a couple of gratuitously explicit sex scenes (which transform readers into voyeurs) and a few bizarre chapters depicting epic travels through consciousness do little to advance the story. Recommended for larger fiction collections.
-?Sheila M. Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DCCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
