Rating: 
Summary: Too calculating to be moving
Review: Sometimes writers and publishers can just try a little too hard. Reading this book which I hoped would be a searching exlploration of a potential human tragedy, I became inceasingly uncomfortable with its frequently ham-fisted attempts at manipulation. I don't know if the author has suffered through anything like the events his novel describes, but on this evidence I doubt it.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: The story's premise is fascinating, and for that reason I saw it through to the end. But I found the characters a bit too stock, the research into consciousness non-existent (for example, the author routinely confuses unconsciousness and dissociation), the editing and structure sloppy and choppy, and, as someone else pointed out, the ending wholly unsatisfying. As for the dream sequences, the author would have been advised to leave that kind of thing to Stephen King and to not jump back and forth between the dream world and the conscious world. It also would have been a much stronger book had the author maintained a single point of reference with just one character.One highlight of the story was the grandmother. Her character was another reason I stayed with the story. In the hands of a skilled scriptwriter, the story could be transformed nicely for the screen and I vote for Dame Judi Dench as the grandmonther.
Rating:
Summary: Great potential, but short on both substance & style
Review: The story's premise is fascinating, and for that reason I saw it through to the end. But I found the characters a bit too stock, the research into consciousness non-existent (for example, the author routinely confuses unconsciousness and dissociation), the editing and structure sloppy and choppy, and, as someone else pointed out, the ending wholly unsatisfying. As for the dream sequences, the author would have been advised to leave that kind of thing to Stephen King and to not jump back and forth between the dream world and the conscious world. It also would have been a much stronger book had the author maintained a single point of reference with just one character. One highlight of the story was the grandmother. Her character was another reason I stayed with the story. In the hands of a skilled scriptwriter, the story could be transformed nicely for the screen and I vote for Dame Judi Dench as the grandmonther.
Rating:
Summary: I was disappointed, given all the hoopla re the book.
Review: There seemed to be a lot of interest in this book, so I ran out (actually bought on amazon). The subject matter was interesting, but executed in a too-slow, too-schmaltzy manner. There are lengthy dream sequences that were pure torture to read. I suffered through them, only to reach a completely unsatisfying ending. Blechhhh.
Rating: 
Summary: a great escape
Review: This book had a great beginning but as it wore on, it became slow and predictable. The last few chapters we unclear and confusing to some degree. More times than necessary, some sections discussed a particular character without saying who the character was.
Rating:
Summary: Not on my top ten list
Review: This book had a great beginning but as it wore on, it became slow and predictable. The last few chapters we unclear and confusing to some degree. More times than necessary, some sections discussed a particular character without saying who the character was.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Live Up to Its Potential
Review: This book had the potential to be a great emotional powerhouse. Here we have the Haywood family in total disarray: young Frankie is hit by a bus, Ben is wracked with guilt and denial, the father Jack has been kicked out of the house for having an affair and his airline business is tanking, and of course the mother Alison is caught up in the middle. This potential drama is spoiled by Mawson's subpar writing. Of particular note is Mawson's uncanny ability to skip over the most intense moments. Instead, Mawson skips ahead, then backtracks through dialogue or a couple skimpy paragraphs. The ultimate example is at the end where at the end of Chapter 17, the kid is coming out of the coma, then the story skips ahead to weeks or months later. The whole story was building towards Frankie coming out of the coma (and I'm not spoiling anything for you, fair reader, since the book is titled the LAZARUS Child), and then Mawson glosses over the climax. You can call it inexperience of a guy writing only his second novel, or if you're less generous, you would say it's purely lousy storytelling. Either way, Mawson's poor writing takes a potential 3 or 4 star book and drags it down to 2 stars. The plot itself is pretty average and predictable, but the characters are fairly well developed. I did find Mawson's hypothesis of a neural network being able to bring people out of comas to be interesting. However, like everything else, it was poorly executed. I would not recommend this book, but it certainly was not awful either. I can't say how much I paid for it, but it was low enough where I have absolutely no guilt about paying to read it. My advice is to check the bargain bin of your local book store (like I did) for this and if you got cash to throw away, go ahead.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Live Up to Its Potential
Review: This book had the potential to be a great emotional powerhouse. Here we have the Haywood family in total disarray: young Frankie is hit by a bus, Ben is wracked with guilt and denial, the father Jack has been kicked out of the house for having an affair and his airline business is tanking, and of course the mother Alison is caught up in the middle. This potential drama is spoiled by Mawson's subpar writing. Of particular note is Mawson's uncanny ability to skip over the most intense moments. Instead, Mawson skips ahead, then backtracks through dialogue or a couple skimpy paragraphs. The ultimate example is at the end where at the end of Chapter 17, the kid is coming out of the coma, then the story skips ahead to weeks or months later. The whole story was building towards Frankie coming out of the coma (and I'm not spoiling anything for you, fair reader, since the book is titled the LAZARUS Child), and then Mawson glosses over the climax. You can call it inexperience of a guy writing only his second novel, or if you're less generous, you would say it's purely lousy storytelling. Either way, Mawson's poor writing takes a potential 3 or 4 star book and drags it down to 2 stars. The plot itself is pretty average and predictable, but the characters are fairly well developed. I did find Mawson's hypothesis of a neural network being able to bring people out of comas to be interesting. However, like everything else, it was poorly executed. I would not recommend this book, but it certainly was not awful either. I can't say how much I paid for it, but it was low enough where I have absolutely no guilt about paying to read it. My advice is to check the bargain bin of your local book store (like I did) for this and if you got cash to throw away, go ahead.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Best
Review: This book kept me on the edge of my seat. It has a complimentary mix of James Bond, The Hobbit, and The Saturday Evening Post. Ben's scenes under hypnosis were a bit melodramatic, though. I definitely look forward to more by Mawson.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: This book was soooo unrealistic. The only thing I enjoyed about it was "Lizzie" and Janet Catchpole". The story seemed to focus more on Ben and not enough on Frankie. The chapters of Ben's dreams were terrible. The only reason I finished the book was to see the outcome of Frankie. I was so disappointed that there was not much said about Frankie or Lizzie in the end.
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