Dreamrunner by Clare Jay

Leo is a 6-almost 7 year old boy, living with his parents in a suburb of Lisbon, Portugal. He is the centre of his parents', Olivia and Carlos',  world.  Gentle and loving by day, Carlos begins to suffer nightmares, violent, explosive nightmares that send him leaping and fighting around the house. When the nightmares happen, Carlos heads straight for Leo's bedroom and, when Olivia tries to stop him, he hits her or throws her out of the way. Terrified for the safety of herself and her son, Olivia has to choose between her husband and her boy.

Carlos's tale is told in flashbacks. He is 7 years old and has a secret friend, a street orphan of whom his rich and well connected father disapproves of strongly. Carlos' mother is dying and his aunt (his father's sister) sleep-walks into the kitchen and eats her way through the contents of cupboards and the fridge.

Clare Jay gradually and delicately compares Carlos the man with Carlos the boy, showing us the parallels between his boyhood and manhood. The story of his boyhood friend is mirrored in the presence of a street beggar in his adult life; his aunt's sleep-walking and his own nightmares and so on, and we come to see how Leo's 7th birthday is the catalyst for Carlos' dangerous behaviour. We learn about Leo, as his child's mind tries to process the strange things that are happening around him and his quest for resolution through the 'magic' of dolphins, a quest that takes him into even greater danger.

The secret that Carlos has kept for 30 years - the reason for his nocturnal violence - is revealed in the final chapter and is as shocking as anything that Olivia imagined.

This book is an exploration of family life, of the power of the unconscious and the damage that parental  manipulation can cause. Beautifully written, almost poetic in places, Clare Jay has a light touch and a rare insight into the minds of children.

With the touch of a thriller, a mystery and a generational family tale all rolled into one, this book is well worth a read. I kept turning the pages long after I should have turned out the light.