A Voice In The Distance

"A Voice In The Distance" is the sequel to last years "A Note Of Madness" and continues the story of Flynn Laukonen. Flynn is, by all accounts, a musical genius but as we discovered in the first of this series he also has a numbr of mental conditions that are classed as a bipolar disorder.

In Flynn's case he switches from a manic state and then when he comes back down he gets very depressed. This book takes up the story a couple of years later where Flynn and Jennah are nearing completion of University and they are living together. Flynn has been taking his prescribed lithium treatments and everything is going fine. However after the summer things start to get worse and it seems as though Flynn is heading towards becoming manic again. Flynn doesn't realise it's happening and Jennah fears that it may just be pressure that Flynn is under and hopes that he will calm down afterwards. However that is not to be.

This book is once again a well written look into mental illness. This time the narrative takes the story from the point of view of Flynn and what he see's and then alternates it with Jennah's understanding of what is going on. It is this second view that really touched me, as someone who has stood on the sidelines with a close relative going through much of this mental anguish it is so hard to know what to do and say - do you continue on as normal, or try and pull them through it, and what do you do when that help gets kicked back in your face? The impotence is expressed well in this book for Flynns friends and particularly his girlfriend Jennah.

From Flynns perspective this book gives an insight into patient care in the psychiatric hospital and how he then faces the big wide world afterwards. The character is perfectly drawn and very believable.

This along with the first book make excellent reading for teens and above, highlighting the very real issue of mental illness in teenagers and young adults. There are very few authors that tackle this subject and Tabitha is someone who has really nailed the insight and the respect for the condition and has also taken into consideration the very real feelings of those who love and care for people who really can be trying to destroy themselves.

The end of the book feels like unfinished business between some of the characters and I would love to see the third novel published shortly. Once again this is a fantastic piece of sensitive writing that deserves to be read by young and old alike!