When a nine-day cruise aboard a three-mast sailing yacht departing from Suva, Fiji gets caught in a storm, the passengers are shipwrecked on an island.
Conflict and tension leads the passengers to split up and Victor Emriche heading off in a different direction – alone. He doesn’t get very far before he is joined by a woman who he doesn’t remember from the cruise at first, but who seems vaguely familiar. As the passengers regroup once again, they recollect the presence of a total of three ‘extra’ people in the group that helped them survive on the island, yet no one knows who they are or where they came from.
Author Robert E. Bonson creates high suspense in this action filled esoteric mystery. Bonson’s descriptions bring the desert island and the growing tension, suspicion and paranoia of the passengers to life with tight, sensual writing: “ a gut-busting scream that told the world the pit had worked.”
Bonson’s characters are, for the most part, quite realistic and sympathetic. Their growing struggle to maintain perspective in their survival mode is well portrayed and there is a good range of personalities that create tension between one another. Typos and inconsistent grammar are more evident in the dialogue that interferes with the fast pace of the story: ”He fell in the trap and scarred them off!” Also, typos in the expressions in foreign languages “Madre de mios!” and “comprende vous” impede the progress of the storyline.
Though the concept is intriguing, the conclusion is undeveloped and too easy. A title that is more specific to the mystical theme that unfolds, could also serve to better ground the hypnotic story.
Despite the need for some polishing, INCREDIBLE REALITY is an absorbing read for those that have an affinity for adventure and the metaphysical.
Reviewed by Maya Fleischmann for IndieReader