THE EYES OF OTHERS

Boston suffered a traumatic brain injury during a mortar attack while deployed in Syria. Six years later, he sustains another serious head injury in an automobile accident near Washington, D.C.

Following that accident, his dreams begin exhibiting increasingly unusual characteristics. He eventually discovers that some of them are not ordinary dreams at all.

The novel develops a speculative explanation involving Boston's previous injuries, altered neurological activity, and the possibility that his brain can access information stored in other people's memories.

Boston can experience memories belonging to other people. The memories typically emerge while he is asleep, allowing him to experience events from another person's perspective.

These experiences can reveal conversations, secrets, actions, and information that Boston could not otherwise know. That makes his ability potentially invaluable to an intelligence investigator—and extraordinarily dangerous to anyone attempting to conceal information.

Not in the conventional sense. Boston does not simply look at someone and immediately know everything they are thinking. His ability involves accessing stored memories, primarily while dreaming. He initially has little control over which memories he experiences or how much information he retains.

Learning to recognize, recall, interpret, and eventually improve these experiences becomes an important part of the novel.

Not reliably, particularly when he first begins experiencing them. His ability appears connected to people with whom he has interacted, and certain emotionally significant experiences seem more likely to emerge.

However, Boston cannot simply summon any person's memories whenever he wishes. That limitation creates substantial problems because he frequently receives incomplete information without understanding the circumstances surrounding it.

The two men have dramatically different personalities and approaches to solving problems.

Maryland believes in procedures, professionalism, and avoiding unnecessary risks. Louisiana is impulsive, enjoys provoking people, and has very little patience for bureaucratic restrictions.

Their contrasting personalities create frequent arguments, particularly when Boston's situation forces them to make difficult decisions.

Beneath the insults, however, they share an important history of military service.

American intelligence information is apparently being leaked to hostile forces operating in Syria. The resulting attacks have caused significant casualties among American servicemembers and created a growing political crisis in Washington.

As intelligence agencies investigate, politicians begin questioning whether the leaks originated within the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The situation becomes increasingly complicated as political rivalries, institutional reputations, and national security concerns collide.

Explaining that he can experience other people's memories creates an obvious credibility problem. Even people who know Boston struggle to believe his extraordinary claims.

Furthermore, Boston receives incomplete information through his dreams. He suspects that powerful individuals are manipulating events but frequently lacks conventional evidence to support his conclusions.

He worries that surrendering to the authorities before establishing the truth could permanently destroy his ability to defend himself.

Watchtower is a secretive intelligence organization operating largely outside the public eye. Its activities involve national security and counterintelligence operations, and it possesses resources that conventional agencies may not have readily available.

Matt Remsen's involvement gradually reveals that Watchtower is taking an interest in the investigation surrounding Boston.

The organization's ultimate significance becomes clearer as the novel progresses.

The novel incorporates real concepts involving traumatic brain injuries, sleep states, neurological activity, and dream recollection. However, Boston's ability to access other people's memories is fictional.

I researched the medical concepts underlying the story and developed a speculative explanation intended to make the extraordinary premise feel plausible. The book does not claim that modern neuroscience has demonstrated the ability to retrieve another person's memories in this manner.