Title: The Dot.
Author: Tim
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1532081040
Pages: 228
Genre: Fiction / Action & Adventure
Reviewed by: Tony Espinoza

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One of the most unfortunate, horrifying, and troubling things a person must have to overcome at one point or another in their lives is trauma. Trauma can take many forms, and can be caused by a lot of different things. From the loss of a loved one to enduring physical abuse, to witnessing a horrific crime unfolding before their eyes; humanity has been faced with trauma throughout all of human history. One of the worst things a person can face trauma is from abuse. As actress Jane Levy once said, “Trauma fractures comprehension as a pebble shatters a windshield. The wound at the site of impact spreads across the field of vision, obscuring reality and challenging belief.”

In author Tim’s The Dot., the author explores trauma through a brutal and visceral account of a young boy’s daunting childhood trauma. After spending a long time locked in a cold and dark basement and enduring unending abuse, a chance encounter with a woman who has faced her own abuse saves him from his captor. Yet this rescue is short lived, as he and the woman find themselves at the mercy of yet another abuser. Dealing with the abuse and the struggle for his will to live, the boy who names himself K takes a journey deep into the recesses of his own mind, seeking a means of regaining some semblance of control over his own life.

There needs to be a fair amount of warning to readers here about this book as there is some much-needed trigger warnings here. The story involves pretty detailed and gruesome accounts of abuse, both physical and psychological, including sexual abuse and childhood trauma. While the descriptive nature of the narrative can be tough to read, the story serves as one of the most needed ways of confronting a past trauma head on, and serves to highlight the overwhelming need to look out for and protect the innocent from abusers. The author captures this sentiment perfectly through an almost stream of consciousness style of writing, allowing the characters and narrative to mesh while focusing intently on the theme and message the author was trying to relay.

This is the read for those who are seeking a story about confronting physical and mental hardships, and confronts the brutality that so many men, women, and children have had to face in our world. The visceral and cruel nature of the boy’s reality is thick with tension and painful imagery, and is definitely not for the faint of heart, and yet faces off with the reality that abusers and criminals come from all walks of life, and the first step to countering the trauma we have endured in our lives is by seizing back the power that was stolen from us so long ago.

A challenging, engaging, and haunting genre fiction narrative, author Tim’s The Dot., is a must-read drama. Filled with dark and twisted realities melding into the protagonist’s mindscape and his journey to confront his horrific life both from inward and from outside forces, this novel shocks the reader with its content yet challenges them to confront the horrors that exist within our everyday lives and inspires us to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.