The Red Book by Davide Cortellucci is speculative fiction that bends the boundaries of what we think is possible and we are capable of.
About the Author
Davide Cortellucci is a writer and the author of The Red Book. He has spent the last few years working on an unnamed trilogy, friendly referred by him as Little Yellow Rubber Duck. The Red Book is the first book in the trilogy. He was born on the 25th of July 1978 in Belgium, to Italian immigrant parents. He grew up in Belgium, Italy, and in London, UK.
Davide has done several jobs, from waiter to inventories, from sound engineering in shows to events manager, and many more. Davide is a college dropout with a couple of creative writing courses on his back. He has spent many years travelling around Europe, learning about cultures, and keeping an interest in the power of the mind. Davide loves writing stories that awaken the epic feeling within the reader. He now lives in South East London with his partner, he’s curious about life, and he also makes a great pasta sauce.
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About the book
Martin is a young man living in London. His life is suddenly turned upside-down by the death of his best friend, Sofia. He’s destroyed and feels lost. After a few days, he is given a small red book and he decides to go on a solo trip through Europe. In the journey, he meets Chuck, a big and funny young American-Canadian man, and they decide to stick together for the rest of the trip.
Martin experiences strange and terrible events during the trip, and the idea in him that he possesses mental abilities above the ordinary strengths. He starts to link similarities with the story written in the book, and he discovers a hidden message inside it, which takes him to the author of the book, Caesar.
Martin learns that Caesar and Akiko, her daughter, are part of a group of people with out-of-the-ordinary mental capabilities, and he joins them to learn how to handle the powers of thoughts and he discovers how his mind can produce and modify the structure of matter.
Suddenly, the Sinisters, a group of extremely dangerous individuals, capable to induce psychological fear into people and of obliterating matter, appears on his path.
Review
Martin is just a young man living in London with a brilliant best friend and great family. When his friend dies suddenly Martin feels desolate and as if he has lost his place in the world. He can’t see the meaning in life – in his life, so he just ups and leaves to explore the world and find himself again.
Not long into his journey some chance encounters change the way he perceives the world, himself and others. He experiences love at first sight, he meets a travelling companion, and he is given a handwritten journal that changes everything.
One could argue that the traumatic event makes Martin more open and vulnerable to suggestion. If he were to read something mind-boggling and unbelievable, the odds are that he would be more likely to believe it. Enter the unbelievable power of the mind stage left.
Martin starts to believe that he has the mental capabilities to make things happen, think things into existence and when he finds out he is only one of many others, every action and reaction seems to link together to make one complete picture.
‘Your thoughts have been contaminated’ – now that sentence threw a spanner in the works for me. It shrieks of cult manipulation and good old tin foil hat conspiracy theories. On some level, despite the whole good and evil aspect of the story, this made both groups equal. Suspicion, competitiveness, the need to control and manipulate – they have all of these things in common.
It is speculative fiction that bends the boundaries of what we think is possible and we are capable of. It’s all about the power of suggestion and thought. Or is it?
Buy The Red Book on Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Independently published 9 Sept. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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