Where Memories Sleep

Music plays in the mind's ear of a writer, Adam Mallino, who in the process of researching his novel, recalls a traumatic night that changes his life. Adam can dismiss a happening or catch the ordinary off guard with music that plays in his head, but can't release himself from a bizarre dream that continues to haunt him. Desperate to finish his book, deceived by his lover, and pressured to complete his novel, Adam accepts his literary agent's offer to use his Cape Cod beach house, where he meets an alluring young woman - and begins a journey of self-discovery. In the shifting settings of the story - Boston, Cape Cod, New York City, and Hollywood - Adam is drawn back to an alley in a small town. An alley that was a playground to the boys who called themselves The Alley Kids - and a passageway that holds a tormenting secret. Where Memories Sleep is a novel with a virtual soundtrack, scored against the high pitch of ambition, the disruptive rhythm of change, and the ceaseless voice of memory that invites the reader to put the story to his or her own kind of music. Enter into a world of characters in discord. A young woman finds love alone isn't the remedy for the uncertainty that beleaguers a writer's psyche. Adam's mentor, who shared the cauldron of the alley with him, has enduring scars of his own. The seething jealously of a woman scorned draws her rival into a malicious current of lies. A husband seeks reunion with his troubled wife and reconciliation with a vindictive father, who refuses to give up custody of his grandson and reunite with his estranged son and daughter-in-law. A Hollywood studio executive is eager to facilitate Adam's career, but knows what she wants and will not settle for less. An unforgiving father threatens to destroy a family and becomes the victim of a cruel vengeance. Enigmatic images in Adam's dream compel him to face the truth that he has suppressed since his boyhood. But is it too late? Life-altering events have dramatically transformed the landscape - and changed everyone. The climax of this original and often funny novel spins, twists, and entices, and finally, like a breeze through a wind chime, releases an unexpected song. Listen to the mind music of love and hate, obsession and revenge. You'll remember the characters. Where Memories Sleep may awaken memories of your own.