Coma Confidential by Uvi Poznansky - Simply Amazing!

Growing up, I didn’t care for fairytale characters. The one I disliked the most was Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately, now I’ve turned into one. 

This may sound like vanity, so let me be more precise. I don’t know about the Beauty part, because at the moment I have no idea how I look, and even if I did, I doubt I would like it. It’s the Sleeping part that frightens me. 

I can’t stand the prospect of being trapped here, in this miserable state, in hopes that one day I may be saved, somehow, by a kiss. My life—the little I know about it—is no fairytale, so what’s the point in waiting for magic? Anyway, I refuse to rely on what others do. Whenever Ma hears me say that, she clutches her breast and sighs, because she needs to baby me. I remember the softness of her hand when she runs it over my forehead. Why isn’t she here already? I miss her, but part of me hopes that she doesn’t know I’m in trouble. Helpless is not a good look for me. Neither is confused. 

With the exception of knowing that I’m in a hospital, there’s a thick fog in my brain. I can’t recall my own name, nor can I bring back the name of the man I love. But the memory of his lips on mine does quicken the heart. Even so, the idea of waiting for him to come to my rescue sounds dumb. Doesn’t it? 

I’d rather snap out of this interminable slumber of my own accord. Unfortunately, doubts keep weighing me down. And not only doubts: I’m pinned down by nightmares, too. They always start with me blacking out. Then, in a flash, shadows emerge from the haze around me and back away into it, just before I can figure out who they are. 

From time to time, when I take my eyes off of them, they creep in, and their breaths come alarmingly close to me. After that comes silence. It makes me doubt I’ve heard anything in the first place. 

A shriek rings in my ears. It must have been mine. The air flutters in my throat as one shadow reaches, suddenly, for my neck. “Say you vant me,” demands a hoarse voice, in a heavy Russian accent. His fingers squeeze my vocal cords till I can’t even cry, can’t call out for help. His eye bores into me with a malicious look as I struggle, as I fight for a breath. 

At first, I explain the whole thing away as some odd hallucination, perhaps the result of morphine, or other meds that are trickling—with a slow drip, drip, drip through the plastic tube—into my veins. 

But meds or not, what’s the point in denying what I see? In a blink, a ray of light slides across his temple. The white of his eye, marbled with tortuous veins, becomes incredibly vivid. The thug reaches for my scarf—the scarlet one, which I thought could be used only as a fashion accessory, nothing else. To my alarm, he stretches it across my mouth and tightens it, knotting it around the back of my neck, yanking the ends till I pass out. 

I tell myself, this can’t be real. Can it? Does this moment of terror come from my imagination—or else, from memory? 

I must wake up. Can I? 

Talk about my heart quickening, it’s now at full charge ahead, pounding so hard that it hurts. Out of nowhere, footfalls start playing a rhythm against the floor. They rush towards me.

“Hurry,” says a male voice. “Look at her heart rate...”

The nurse checks the catheter at the back of my hand. It is then that something strange begins to happen. A part of me seems to separate into the air. It floats up to the panels of acoustic ceiling, hovering next to that shiny curtain track. From there, I spot the top of her white cap as she tidies the sheets under me. There I am, crumpled on them, bandaged beyond recognition. I may have the appearance of a mummy, but not the history of one. Without the story of my past, this gauze around me encapsulates a vacant existence.

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Coma Confidential

Ash Suspense Thrillers - Book 1

By Uvi Poznansky

Uvi Poznansky has created an amazing story...like no other! Many have known people who are in comas. Some believe they can hear while in that coma, so talk to their loved one, or plays music... It is the not knowing, the waiting, that taunts each individual. Will she wake up? Is she in pain? Can she really hear us?

The answer for Ashley was unique, perhaps, but, nevertheless, a creative endeavor on the part of the writer to answer the question... What if...

From the very first when she had awakened and listened, she heard the sounds around her and realized that she was in the hospital. She must have tested movement immediately, perhaps to feel if her face, her eyes, were covered... She had no ability to move... But she was totally able to hear, to think, to listen, and to remember how she would normally react... She didn't immediately know names, but she remember her loved ones, wishing they were here. Or, deciding it might be better if they didn't know that she was, actually, perhaps hovering between life and death...

What she did remember, though, was what had happened to her to get her there in the first place. Her nightmares were vivid, she heard him speak, using a Russian accent, and she struggled with him in her mind, if not with her body...

That was to come later...

For now, nobody knew she was alive and thinking in her body. It probably would be a lot easier, if she didn't actually have that active mind...if that, too, had been silenced... Because, soon, among the people's voices she heard, was the man who had attacked her...and more...

Writing from the point of view of the coma victim, Ashley, readers are able to learn about what actually happens, and who is behind it, as Ash listens, and starts putting things together. As visitors start coming in, first her mother, who of course is most concerned, then Michael, who her mother tries to prevent him coming in... 

Her mother was always a shy, quiet woman, but the doctor must have told her that she needed to have people talk to her. Once her mother started, Ash was surprised by all that she was being told. But as she went on, her mother started talking about the power outage both at home and across the town and how it had affected her. Of course, the hospital had backup generators...until they couldn't handle everything...

Michael tried to explain that he had been interviewed by the police and certainly had been found not guilty. It was Ash who was emotionally traumatized seeing the attitudes of those she most loved, who were so estranged. But eventually, Mrs. Winters does leave for him to have time with Ash... After his normal expressions of concern, love and vows to find out who did this, he starts to confess that it might be something that he has done to have caused what happened. Ash figuratively sat up to find out more, but they were interrupted...

Mrs. Winters was arguing with the police guard who had not been there when Michael had come and not stopped him. Michael and Ash knew that their time was ending... Two things were left hanging: A tingle of Michael's lips on Ash's mouth, the first feeling she'd had... And...what had Michael been about to say about possibly causing her assault!?!

I think one of the most enjoyable parts of the book for me was Ash's internal thoughts and/or her "potential" responses to what was being said, if she could speak. Poznansky has created Ash as a warm, caring, and quite humorous woman who, even in this situation, finds the ability to speak back in her mind or to talk to herself about this or that. I don't think I have so quickly learned about the personality of a character, without her speaking one word... Obviously, the writing was exceptionally well done in order to have produced such a response from this reader!

It started with the movement of a little toe...and by the time she is placed into danger, by having her attacker somewhere in the hospital, she begins to learn more as a woman visits who claims to be an old friend...and talks to that attacker at a place where Ash can hear... Ash is kidnapped and forced to move out of her coma state, having lost her connection to the morphine that was keeping her stable while her body healed...

WOW! The latter part of the book moved into so much action, as lights went out in the hospital, Ash is moved out and then on to another location...and, yes... all because of Michael... I read this in one setting, loving every minute of it. Mesmerizing is the best adjective possible, as the power of the mind moves to respond to various emotions that, if awake, most of us would find incomprehensible and unable to deal with. 

I've already read the next book in the series, Virtually Lace, so check out my review. But, for me, I'm anxious to see another novel with Ash as the main character--with her fully alert and ready to move! Poznansky is making a name for herself in her multi-genre sphere. For me, she really has upped her efforts in the romantic thriller genre that will take her quickly to comparable heights of many well-known authors. After meeting Ash in Coma Confidential, I'm a fan of this series!

I have to add that with her skills as an artist, and her book covers, plus her nonfiction novels, Poznansky just might be the most versatile, extraordinary artist/writer you may ever find! Try this book first if you haven't yet read her! Highly recommended.

GABixlerReviews

Uvi Poznansky is a USA TODAY bestselling, award-winning author, poet and artist. Her boxed set, A TOUCH OF PASSION, became the 2016 WINNER of The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards. Her romantic suspense boxed set, Love Under Fire, reached #44 on the USA TODAY bestselling list.

“I paint with my pen,” she says, “and write with my paintbrush.” She received a Fellowship grant and a Teaching Assistantship from the Architecture department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she earned her M.A. in Architecture. Then, taking a sharp turn in her education, she earned her M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.

Uvi writes across a variety of genres: Coma Confidential and Virtually lace (suspense); Apart From Love and Apart from War (family saga); The White Piano (literary fiction), My Own Voice (women's fiction), The Music of Us (romance), Dancing with Air (romantic suspense), Marriage before Death (thriller), Rise to Power, A Peek at Bathsheba, and The Edge of Revolt (historical fiction with a modern twist), A Favorite Son (biblical fiction), Home (poetry), Twisted (horror), and Now I Am Paper and Jess and Wiggle (children’s books.)