Proxy

Dreams of Reality #1

by Gareth Otton

Tad Holcroft doesn’t just talk to ghosts, he lets them live in his head. They pay rent in the form of memories, knowledge and talents.

Tad can do this because he’s a Proxy… which isn’t good news at the moment.

Proxies are disappearing mysteriously all over Britain. As one of the last Proxies remaining, Tad needs to truly test his powers for the first time to figure it out before he or his daughter disappears next.

He also has to deal with a world that’s growing aware of the Supernatural and solve the murder of an old friend, all while juggling the mood swings of a twelve-year-old daughter, the antics of a teenage ghost, and history lessons from Charles Dickens, a ghost two hundred years dead with a chip on his shoulder because that other, more famous Charles Dickens hogged all the glory.

It’s a bit much for a history teacher from Cardiff, but the consequences of failure are bigger than he can imagine.

Genres: Fantasy

413 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 2, 2019

About the author

Gareth is sure he’ll get superpowers one day, but for now, they’re just lost in transit. Until they arrive, he might as well write about the ones he hopes are coming.

He has been reading fantasy stories for nearly twenty years and is always looking for something new. Therefore, his goal is to write books about things he’s never seen before.

So if you fancy something a little different, give this book a try. 

Reviews

[Steve Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.0 stars

I have been friends with the author of this book on goodread for about 6 months before I knew he had written a book. He asked me to read it and see what I thought. He gave me a free copy of the book, however I also have a Kindle Unlimited subscription and this book was also free with that subscription so I don't feel any obligation/conflict of interest with this review because of that fact. Turns out this is the first book that he ever published and I am really impressed. We share a lot of the same favorite authors (Brandon Sanderson, John Conroe, Jim Butcher, etc), so I had general impression of the type of book that he would write.

I was actually surprised with the story as I don't think I have read anything like it before. I am very used to reading about the supernatural/paranormal. That usually involves the standard character types: Angels, demons, werewolves, vampires, etc. This story is about ghosts (sort of) and while I have read books with ghosts included in the story, I have never read one with them being so prominent.

The story follows the main character, Tad, who lives in the UK and is a proxy for ghosts. A proxy is a person that can see and interact with ghosts. Ghosts end up going insane if they don't move on to whatever comes next unless they can find a proxy to bind with in order to keep their sanity in this realm. The tradeoff is that the ghost live inside the Proxy when he sleeps and are able to stay sane in this world (this works out well for ghosts who are afraid to move on or have some unfinished business in the world). The Proxy gets to share in all the experiences that ghost has ever had. One of Tad's ghosts was a musical prodigy and so now he is able to play music just like his ghost. There are downsides as well. The ghosts also get to share all of the Proxy's memories.

Part of what a Proxy can do is give insane ghosts clarity for a short period of time and either allow them to pass on or be destroyed. So even though most people don't know anything about the supernatural world, Proxies are very important. Unfortunately, Proxies are going missing all over the UK. Tad has to now try and figure out what is happening to all his fellow proxies. What makes this harder is all the upheaval in the supernatural world. With more proxies missing, it seems like there are more ghost sightings all the time. The mundane community is starting to notice. Tad also notices that he is able to do more with his powers than ever before. So, can Tad figure out what is happening with the supernatural world, his fellow proxies, as well as keep both himself and his daughter ( a fellow proxy) safe?

Tad comes home from the police station after being picked up for trespassing after dealing with a crazy spirit. He finds the ghost of his best friend Maggie, in his house. He has not seen her in 5 years since she got upset with him for warning her about her husband. She got upset because one of his ghosts followed him and she thought that was a huge invasion of privacy. Turns out, he was absolutely right because he ended up killing her. She wants her husband to gets what is coming to him so she begs Tad to be her proxy. This is a hard thing for Tad to do since she wasn't only his best and only friend, but he was in love with her and she never knew it. He knew she did not feel the same way so he never told her. If he allows her to be his proxy, she will know everything he ever felt/thought. He agrees and tries to help her with her murder. Right from the beginning I never liked Maggie. Everything that was written about her made her seem very selfish. When she dies she thought about Tad because he was always there for her, but it seems like she was never there for him. She was his only friend (which she had to know) and she just dumped him. I really disliked almost everything she did in this story and I felt what Tad did to her in the end was way more that she deserved.

I was on the fence with the daughter, Jen, for a long time. Jen is not actually his daughter but someone he adopted after finding her. She is a Proxy too and her parents were killed. They felt bad when they became ghosts because they didn't believe her about seeing ghosts while they were alive, so they became her ghosts. Tad realized how messed up a situation this was (No kid she have to suffer the memories of an adult - they just can't be ready to understand everything that they see. And to make things worse, it was her own parents!) Tad talked the parents into moving on by saying he would take care of her. So he ends up adopting her. She is now 12 years old and it seems like he has only been her parent for maybe 2 years. Right away there was that typical teenage behavior of not wanting to listen to anything he says and complaining all the time. Jen felt she was old enough to take care of herself and that she should have her own ghost despite Tad saying it would mess her up. I would have felt more comfortable if the character was 14 years old instead of 12. I think 12 is too young of an age for someone to act like that, but I would have no trouble believing that behavior from a 14 year old. I also wished that Tad was her guardian for more than a year or two that was written. Tad kept talking about how much he loved her and wanted to protect her. I would have believed that more if she was with him for a longer period of time. She was being a complete pain in the ass for the previous year.

These were some of the thoughts I had during the first half of the book. Later on though, I started to think about the situation a little more. No matter how old a child is, if they have an ability and are being told not to use it, I can see that child getting frustrated, thinking they can handle anything regardless of age. Once I learned more about Tads childhood and how he had nobody in his life since Maggie dropped him, I can see how he could completely love someone like Jen so quickly despite how she treated him at times.

Stella is another character that grew on me during the story. She was the police detective that kept coming across Tad in all her investigations. She believed he knew something and seemed to hound him every chance she could get. She was completely beautiful and tried to hit on him and be his friend. Tad growing up the way he did, never having many friends or girlfriends, and not being a moron immediately didn't trust her. I wasn't sure if I liked Stella, she was very pushy and only seemed to think about what she wanted. She seemed to hate when guys flirted with her, but felt no compunction about flirting to get whatever she wanted, not caring if she hurt anyone. Once I found out about her backstory though, I understood her better and actually liked her.

The powers that Tad received from his ghosts grew exponentially throughout the story and were very interesting. There was somewhat of a twist in the end which I found enjoyable (twist is the wrong word - there was a misunderstanding of a proxies powers throughout the book that was clarified in the end. Overall this was a very enjoyable read and I would recommend it.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A proxy is a person who can interact with ghosts. Tad lives with three ghosts, and spends his nights sending other ghosts to the hereafter. Somebody seems to be killing off other proxies. He and a policewoman try to find out what is going on.

There's an evil man trying to take over the world, of course.

Pretty entertaining, although explaining the rules took a lot of time.

[NIKKI J ELLISON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. Completely engaging!

Loved this book. Fantastic concept and well developed sort. Didn’t want it to end and can’t wait for the next one! An author to watch.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I didn’t really no what to expect when I started reading proxy but a couple of chapters in and I was hooked can’t wait to start the next one

[Paps · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, for the author first official work it came out good. Enjoyable characters, well stablished pacing and plot.

[Porscha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time with this one. What's the deal with Tad being blind?