The Stranger’s Enigma / Kirkus Review

 

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A Kirkus independent reviewer read The Stranger’s Enigma and issued a report.  The following are excerpts from that review: 
 
A successful neurologist’s bizarre dreams guide him through a series of personal and professional reversals in Villalba’s second book. Dr. Daniel Brandon is a neurologist with a comfortable life …. Married to the devoutly religious Marlene …. As the novel opens, several unusual and disturbing events lead Daniel down a path of self-discovery. It begins with a series of dreams featuring a man Daniel calls Sonie. Unlike the responsible Brandon, Sonie is joyous and carefree, enjoying a life of adventure and sexual conquest. The dreams coincide with a decline in Daniel’s relationship with Marlene. Daniel’s marital woes aren’t his only worries: A patient he saw only once has reemerged years later to file a malpractice suit against him. As Daniel’s problems multiply, Sonie blurs the lines between Daniel’s reality and fantasy by introducing him to a beautiful woman named Julie McIntyre. As Daniel struggles with a failing marriage and fights the malpractice suit, he embarks on a journey to reunite with the mysterious Julie. Told from Daniel’s perspective, Villalba’s novel is a provocative … character study of a man facing a personal and professional crisis. The first-person narration brings immediacy to Daniel’s story and allows readers to have the same wonder and confusion Daniel experiences in his dreams. His romance with Julie adds an extra layer of emotional depth …. Like his protagonist, Villalba has a vivid imagination …