Title of the book: The Dead Man’s Mind by Thea Torgersen
With freedom, there must be limits. How far can freedom go when you are your own boundary?
When Katerina “Kat” Thomason learns that she has a mental power that allows her to read and control people’s
minds, she gains the freedom of accessing information from anyone. The legendary murderer Lord Talson and his
group the Silver Shadows ask Kat to join them in order to take advantage of her power, in return that Talson
teaches Kat how to use the power. She agrees to join without any hesitation. The longer she works with Talson,
the more she unravels a deep, dark history between her family and Talson. When Talson plans to seek revenge
against her family by using Kat, she must make the decision between saving her family, Talson, or herself. Not only
that, she must be careful when using her power; if not used properly, she could risk killing herself and the person
she is controlling. Kat unexpectedly becomes her own obstacle as she tries to prevent Talson from keeping his title
as the town’s notorious murderer.
Although the plot is interesting yet somewhat complicated to follow, the characters and plot lack development as
they fail to create a connection with the reader. Concepts are not carried out well throughout the novel, such as
Talson’s definition of defensive power and offensive power. This seemed like an intriguing opportunity for
Torgersen to explore more, yet she fails to follow through explanations, thus creating gaps in the development of
the story. But she conveys a simple message about introspection suitable for the teenaged protagonist Kat. With a
background in psychology, this certainly complements Kat’s character, making A Dead Man’s Mind a nice debut for
Torgersen’s first novel.
