Haverhill Author Releases ‘Killer Dreams’ Novel Even as he Gives Life Himself

Merrimack Valley Newsmakers

A Haverhill author’s latest novel focuses on loss of life following an accident even as he regains his strength in real life after personally giving the gift of life.

Vincent Donovan has two stories to tell. His new book is called “Killer Dreams,” while his kidney is helping someone fulfill their own dreams. He talked about both during his recent appearance on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program.

“I just sat down to watch the Patriots game last fall and saw a post from my neighbor about her cousin who is up in New Hampshire—a dad with a 9-year-old daughter. I stepped forward, start the long journey. It is a long journey. They put you through so many tests you think you’re going to become an astronaut because they want to make sure you’re healthy enough to do it, but I can’t say enough about the people and doctors and everyone down at Mass. General Hospital. Just wonderful,” he tells listeners.

While Donovan regains his strength from his kidney donation, he is promoting his new fiction “Killer Dreams” a story about Cassie MacLean from Salem, N.H. Her mother was involved in an automobile accident years earlier that killed five people and critically injured many others. Her mother is now coming out of a 10-year coma and life is changing.

“Cassie feels, shall we say, conflicted about the awakening, as well as her dad, who is enjoying a second act with another woman, but after a brush with cutting edge technology, she comes to believe her mom is innocent. Basically, this is a personal quest of hers to try to prove her mother is innocent,” he says.

Donovan speaks about writing the book.

“Basically, this one if my fourth one. It came pretty quick. I wrote the first draft in four months and, like anything, it’s all the rewrites that take an awful lot of time, and working with the publisher. It took about a year afterwards to get it in its final format,” he notes.

Donovan, who earned a bachelor’s in English from Merrimack College and a Master of Business Administration from Rivier College, is a two-time quarter-finalist in the highly competitive Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. His other books are “Only Dead Leaves Fall,” “Chasing Mayflies” and “A Difficult Crossing.”

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