The Resurrectionist Book

Part classic noir thriller, part mind-bending fantasy, The Resurrectionist is a wild ride into a territory where nothing is as it appears. It is the story of Sweeney, a druggist by trade, and his son, Danny, the victim of an accident that has left him in a persistent coma. Hoping for a miracle, they have come to the fortresslike Peck Clinic, whose doctors claim to have "resurrected" two patients who were lost in the void. What Sweeney comes to realize, though, is that the real cure to his son's condition may lie in Limbo, a fantasy comic book world into which his son had been drawn at the time of his accident. Plunged into the intrigue that envelops the clinic, Sweeney's search for answers leads to sinister back alleys, brutal dead ends, and terrifying rabbit holes of darkness and mystery.

O'Connell has crafted a mesmerizing novel about stories and what they can do for and to those who create them and those who consume them. About the nature of consciousness and the power of the unknown. About psychotic bikers, mad neurologists, and wandering circus freaks. About loss and grief and rage. And, ultimately, about forgiveness and the depth of our need to extend it and receive it.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio

…Sweeney buys time to spend at Danny's bedside, reading aloud from the boy's beloved Limbo comics. The band of heroes in this sadomasochistic series, the Goldfaden Freaks, have been abandoned by their carnival owner, cast adrift in a hostile world. As Sweeney recounts the bizarre adventures of Chick the chicken boy, Jeta the skeleton, Antoinette the pinhead and the rest of their forlorn troupe, O'Connell introduces us to the "real" freaks in Quinsigamond—notably the Abominations, renegade bikers trafficking in human tissue, and Dr. Peck, who needs this contraband for resurrecting the brain-dead patients he calls "sleepers." Before long, the two sets of characters are interacting, and their respective genres are melding into a meta-narrative with common themes: love and loss, death and redemption, and the eternal devotion of fathers for their sons. Despite the fabulist flair of his surreal style, O'Connell is just retelling the old story every boy wants to hear.