The Therapist (Fairlight Moderns)

By Nial Giacomelli

A strange epidemic is sweeping the globe. Little by little, each victim becomes transparent, their heart beating behind a visible rib cage, an intricate network of nerves left hanging in mid-air. Finally, the victims disappear entirely, never to be seen again. In this bittersweet and hauntingly surreal tale, a couple struggle to connect while the epidemic creeps nearer. ‘I dreamt we were at sea,’ she says.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fairlight Books
• Release date: Aug 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781912054916

Nial Giacomelli

Nial Giacomelli grew up in a small village in Yorkshire, England but he spent most of his teenage years living in Chicago, Illinois, before moving back to the UK. Nial works as a software developer and lives near Portsmouth. The Therapist is his debut novella.

Reviews for The Therapist (Fairlight Moderns)

[auntmarge64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novella is hard to pigeon-hole. On it's surface it's about two on-going events: a couple suffers through the loss of their 6-year old son and, at the wife's urging, begins to see a strange marriage counselor some distance into the country from where they live in Chicago. Meanwhile, a bizarre plague has broken out in Oregon, killing rapidly after a day or two of strange mental activity, at which point the body sheds first its skin, then bones and nerves, and finally disappears. While barely managing to go on with the their lives, the couple watch on the news as the plague moves across the country. The story is told from the husband's perspective. There are indications that not everything he perceives is real, or occurring during his waking hours. Normally, this kind of plot would deter me from reading the book, but I found the story compelling, all the while wondering if the husband himself was sick and hallucinating the whole thing. I never did figure out exactly what was going on, but in the end that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the tale, so I'd have to definitely recommend it.