The Experiment of Dreams

By: Brandon Zenner

Narrated by: Jim Tedder

GoodReads Summary: Benjamin Walker’s lifelong career of testing experimental drugs and medicines, as well as participating in fascinating sleep-related studies, has come to an end. A new and lucrative job opportunity is offered to Ben, working on a project named Lucy, a machine capable of reading and recording a person’s dreams in intimate detail. All is finally going well for Ben . . . until strange dreams of a town named Drapery Falls begin to plague him, and memories once hidden begin to reveal themselves. The doctors and staff onboard team Lucy are not who Ben thinks they are, and Mr. Kalispell will stop at nothing to keep Ben’s emerging memories buried for good. Ben is put on a collision course that will bring him to the brink of total insanity, and perhaps even death. At the heart of it all, Ben’s worst enemy is his own mind, and he must confront his past in order to save his future. The twist and turns in The Experiment of Dreams will keep you guessing, down to the very last line.

This book repeatedly appeared in my recommendations on every site: Audible, Amazon, GoodReads, ets. So after reading and re-reading the summary, I think I purchased it when it was free something like a year and  a half ago. I still didn’t find the urge to sit down and read the thing.

Then I found it on Kindle Unlimited with narration. So, ok, I borrowed it and dove in.

Just like all the other three star and below reviews, I was very interested in the very beginning. Even with Ben sort of shrugging his shoulders at the hinky stuff and pressing the accelerator without too much introspection and curiosity, I was kind of ok with that. I mean, you have to put aside your disbelief sometimes, right?

The machine itself, Lucy? Well, scientists have been trying to build something like that for a while now, especially since those things have appeared in several movies over the past 50 years or so. I can wrap my mind around it easy.

So the first half of the book is beautiful, aside from the easy way Ben has of sliding into this strangeness in the first place. The descriptions are surreal, just like the cover. I liked it.

However, it starts flailing around the second half where suddenly we’re in the middle of so much exposition it felt like an historical text. I did like the twistiness of the end, but probably could have done without the character monologues telling me what happened.

So I’m hovering right about three stars despite the fact that I love the premise. Because who needs to make themselves finish a book when you’ve already figured out the ending and all the characters are doing is telling you in a very long winded fashion that you’re right?

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