#LiterallyWhatsHot: Should Your Dreams Come True in Ugochukwu Chinye – Ikejiunor’s Sight In The Dark?

I believe the prayer, “may your dreams come true”, should be said with caution. It may be better revised to “May your good and positive dreams come true.” I say this because of Ugochukwu Chinye – Ikejiunor’s “Sight in the Dark“.

By the title, “Sight in the Dark“, it appears the author is referring to one’s dreams as a glimpse into the events of one’s life. These events could be futuristic as is seen in the story. There are people who believe that dreams are mere products of our imaginations. There are others who take dreams very seriously.

The book started on a very captivating note with the protagonist having a nightmare that involved a child. The child reminds him of his son, Jide. He dashes to Jide’s room to ascertain that he is safe. He is, for the moment. He embarks on a work-related journey using a means of transportation that he normally would not use, but which he feels very strongly that he should.

It then becomes surreal when a few hours later, he discovers accidentally that his four-year-old son Jide is in grave danger, like the child he saw in his dream. The risks are obvious, the stakes are high, but he cannot be a bystander. He finds himself racing to save his son.  The journey is laden with many challenges, twists and turns. He is torn between returning home to his heavily pregnant wife and risking his life by crossing into enemy territory in a bid to save his son. At the heart of this story is the strength of parental love. We find the protagonist doing things that ordinarily he may not have done, taking risks that ordinarily he may not have taken because of his love for his son.

The protagonist is a character one can relate to. He is believable and I found myself going on his journey with him and hoping for the best outcome. He matures during his journey and is able to impact positively on the other characters in the book. The writing style is simple and the dialogue flows naturally like everyday dialogue. It is not forced. This made the book easier to read and much more enjoyable.

I enjoyed reading this short, but captivating novel. I was spell-bound as I read about the near misses in the protagonist’s adventure. He finds help in unexpected quarters during his adventure. This is also true in everyday life. We often find total strangers supporting our causes a lot more than people we thought would help us. I am unsure if the ending is totally realistic – a part of it is though. But, revealing anything else would be a spoiler so I will say no more.

To find out what I am referring to, you will need to buy and read the book yourself. The book would have benefited from another round of editing to address some typographical and punctuation errors.

I liked the adventure because it depicts the prevailing security situation in the country, today. There are few angles though, I would have liked the author to tie up for me. Tying them up would have increased the length of the novel though. I don’t know if the author purposely left them unresolved to pave the way for a sequel to this crime thriller, or if he wanted to maintain a certain length for this novel. It was an interesting read and I will gladly read any other book in this series, or by this author.

You can get a copy of “Sight In The Dark” on Okadabooks. Please click here.

Mrs. C.A. Mbadugha‘s debut short story collection “Beyond the Trial” won the 2017 Samuel Ajayi Crowther Award for best Christian Fiction. She tries to balance family and work commitments with book and manuscript proofreading, editing and reviews. She is presently trying to rouse her muse to write a sequel to “Beyond the Trial”. The stories in “Beyond The Trial” are published on Okadabooks as the stand-alone novellas: Erased Reproach, Rude Awakening, and Shadows of the Past.