Deprivation

Roy Freirich

Mar 2020 · RB Media · Narrated by T. Ryder Smith

About this audiobook

A gripping psychological thriller from the author of Winged Creatures.

August, Carratuck Island, New York: a silent child is found abandoned on the beach clutching a handheld video
game, and residents and tourists alike find themselves stricken by relentless insomnia. Denied the outlet of dreams—
fears, guilt, and primal urges find other ways to surface. A teenage girl competes in an online game: who can stay awake
longest? The bleary police chief struggles to keep order. The local doctor battles the ghosts of his past to find the cause
and a cure for the epidemic, and face down the violent mob that blames the child. Cut off from the mainland, the
island plunges into chaos, murder, and suicide.

Ratings and reviews

3.5 stars Residents and tourists alike hit the beach of this vacation island. This will be the vacation no one ever forgets. Dr. Sam Carlson gets a call from his office. A young boy has been found on the beach. He won't talk or write and he's dirty. No one seems to know who he is ... where he came from ... where his parents are. He's clutching a handheld video game. Dr. Carlson calls the Chief of Police to see about contacting Childrens Services. The Chief wants to wait until the following day ... he just really dislikes the idea of a young child being put into the system. Dr. Carlson is persuaded to take the boy home ... but Carlson has his own problems. He's battling guilt over a student who took his own life. Ultimately the entire island is consumed by insomnia, unable to sleep at all. Exhaustion impairs judgment, delusions become hysteria, and mob rule explodes into shocking violence. Things turn nasty when the violent-prone people blame the child for the epidemic. The island becomes a very dangerous place to be. This is a well written thriller, almost horror in nature. As an insomniac myself, I was pulled in by the book's description. The very first was a little slow for me, but once it picked up, the story soared with suspense. The complex plot is told by three different perspectives which leads to an unexpected conclusion. Many thanks to the author / Meerkat Press / Edelweiss for the digital copy of this thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Deprivation a new novel by Roy Frierich, describes an insomnia outbreak that occurs over the course of nine days on a small fictional island off the Atlantic coast. A trauma-stricken boy is found wandering the beach of Carratuck Island, where tourists and locals are busy starting their usual summer vacation rituals. Sam is the doctor in charge of the Urgent Care Center, and his typical caseload involves simple accidents and sun-related maladies. This perfectly suits the young physician who wishes to escape a past that includes the mysterious death of a patient in his care while he was still a practicing Psychiatrist. Most of his days are now spent on his boat, enjoying the temporary company of a local waitress and biking around greeting his fellow islanders. When the “Boy” is brought in, Sam enlists the Chief of Police to locate the parents so the child can be released from his care. Filthy, mute and obviously terrorized, the boy grips his hand-held game and gives no clues as to what has happened to reduce him to this state. The book introduces another storyline centering around Cort, the vacationing teen who was supposed to be employed as the boy’s babysitter. Instead, she has been spending her time hooking up with a local surfer, partying with friends and participating in a new social media game that involves pulling all-nighters. The Chief is a third main character, a man who feels solely responsible for keeping the peace but only on his own terms with minimal interference. Sam starts to notice that the people coming to his clinic are all suddenly complaining of the same malady- complete sleeplessness. As the situation continues unabated and some disturbing behavior emerges, Sam reaches out to the mainland for assistance. Is the insomnia due to a contagion of the viral, environmental variety or could it be caused by a mass-hysteria? Sam and the Chief struggle with their own physical limitations resulting from lack of rest as the island begins to devolve into chaos. Carratuck becomes a pressure-cooker of irrational beliefs and desperate acts, exposing the basic animal nature brought about when self-preservation becomes paramount. Freirich’s prose is a bit too elaborate and his phrasing and word choice are often repetitive—which can be distracting and irritating at times. Still, Deprivation does provide a unique perspective on how people react when unable to meet their basic needs and the resulting contagion of fear and paranoia. It is a timely book, published during a real pandemic that tests our own ability to cope with uncertainty and tested solidarity. Thanks to the author, Meerkat Press and LibraryThing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.