Limitless Mind

Samuel Adams has grown from an unhappy boy into an unhappy man. He has memories of a fractured childhood: a sad and troubled mother, a hauntingly destructive sister and a father who stepped in and out of the family's lives with ever-diminishing frequency. He carries his emotions in an invisible world, a world where he stores his greatest sorrows and his deepest fears. Each new pain is quietly stored away amidst the anger, adding to the tragedy of his burden. Samuel functions in life but can't participate, his movements but a slow rehearsal for another life entirely. Unsure of a direction he becomes increasingly obsessed with the father he has rarely seen, fitting together hazy images from his childhood of a distant, elusive, uncaring figure. It is with the death of his mother that the final blow is dealt. With her illness, Samuel's mother becomes less guarded, as if she needs to share some dark secret. His father is seen briefly entering the hospital room on the day of her death: is he trying to prevent her from revealing the truth? Samuel is suspicious. But his suspicions grow to outrage when he tries to collect his mother's ashes only to discover that they are with his father. He is taking them home, he tells the attendant. Samuel is furious. His mother's home is with him in Boston. What right has a man who has neglected his family all of his life to take his mother away? He didn't share his life with her and he has no right to her in death. Driven to action, Samuel hunts for his father in a bid to reclaim his mother's ashes. What he discovers is a shadowy underworld of violence and deception, greed and conspiracies, and a brief glimpse into the life his father has lived and never dared share. A fantastic blend of fiction and fact, this original and captivating psychological thriller makes excellent reading. (Kirkus UK)