Plot or Premise

A man receives a photograph in the mail and starts having weird dreams and compulsions to go to the spot in the photo, even though he has never been there.

What I Liked

The story has some interesting elements — a mysterious past dealing with hypnosis, suggestion, regression, etc. Equally, he’s a man trying to “recover” his life a bit, as his daughter starts to push back wanting to know more about her absent mother. Finally, there are rumours of “gold in them there hills”, stories of old wars, native tribes, miners, and tunnels. He is searching for a treasure that he feels compelled to find, but he doesn’t know why.

What I Didn’t Like

There are hints in a few places that are partly about memory, or perhaps even past lives, and as such, it seems like they’re about to reveal that he’s the reincarnated version of someone. I probably would have thrown the book across the room for the cheesiness if it had, but there are other parts that are almost as bad — a finale with a series of weird action scenes that don’t fit the characters, interactions with individuals that should be more compelling and urgent yet instead come off as “wait and see”, and false and inaccurate tensions with snow storms.

The Bottom Line

Love John Dunning’s prose, but not as good as his book mysteries.