Alexander Monroe lives in Grasspatch, a town so small, the founders couldn’t even be bothered thinking up a proper name for it. He works at the newsagency/post office, where his duties include ordering newspapers and magazines, printing Lotto tickets, and delivering the mail. One morning he has to deliver a parcel to the mysterious Mr Christian O’Neill, who lives in an oddly-shaped mansion on the outskirts of town. Not much is known about Mr O’Neill, although there is certainly an abundance of rumours -- a faded rock star, a media-shy actor. Alexander can’t wait to find out the answers for himself. Rather than being odd, Christian turns out to be the most interesting person Alexander has ever met. In fact, he asks to come back, and with each consecutive visit, he learns more and more about Christian, and about the power of the mind and the wonders visualisation can bring. But even as Alexander learns how to get what he thinks he wants, he loses Christian. Is it too late to find him again? And if he does, will what they had still be there?

Cool Blue

Contained within the book was an account of his travels around the world with a focus on the mystical and spiritual. The bulk of the book was about his time in Bhutan and the spiritual gifts bestowed upon him by Dorji. As well as the visualisation skills Christian had taught Alexander, there were other, more complex, mind skills.


One evening, after he had been re-reading a few of the more complicated passages and was lying in bed watching the shadows play on the walls, he had an idea. He would write his own book. It wouldn’t be stealing. After all, Christian was writing about something he had been told by someone else. Why couldn’t he do it? He’d write it in relation to his experiences and no doubt his writing style would be different. He had nothing to lose.


Chapter 22