Published by Random House Canada, 479 pp, hardcover

After reading just a few pages of Robert J. Wiersema’s Bedtime Story, one thing becomes abundantly clear. Wiersema, a Victoria-based novelist who also contributes to these pages as a book reviewer, gets full marks for ambition. In crafting the multilayered story of an 11-year-old boy who becomes obsessed with a fantasy novel called To the Four Directions, he actually gives us two books in one. At its best, Bedtime Story manages to seamlessly combine the heart-wrenching story of a father’s love with a parallel narrative that’s an old-school swashbuckler.

After writing a critically acclaimed first novel, Christopher Knox has hit a 10-year dry spell. His marriage is on the rocks and his son, David, is at the age where he’s beginning to pull away. The one thing they like to do together? Read a nightly bedtime story. Christopher yearns to pass on his love of books. He tells us that “the best books are capable of magic—they took me to another world, made me feel more deeply there than I could allow myself to feel in the real world.”

So when Knox discovers an obscure novel by one of his favourite childhood authors, he figures it would make a good birthday present for David. But the book—a Tolkien-ish tale of a young lad’s quest for a stone with mystical powers—turns out to have darkly magical powers that extend far beyond the page.

David begins to develop an unhealthy appetite for the novel. When he has a massive seizure that renders him catatonic, Christopher becomes convinced that his son has somehow surrendered his own life to become lost in the book’s sweeping narrative. From there, Knox embarks on a journey to prove his bizarre theory and save his son.

The biggest risk here? Using alternating chapters, Wiersema gives equal time to the two openly contrasting styles that fuel his double-barrelled narrative. The relationship between Knox and his strangely afflicted son unfolds in a delicate, literary manner that’s both subtle and touching. To the Four Directions goes against that grain, unfolding with the kind of bold, colourful emotions that wouldn’t be out of place in the young-adult section of your favourite bookstore. Some readers may find that this unusual mix requires a bit of an adjustment. But while I found the resolution a bit over-the-top, Wiersema still won me over. Whatever direction he takes, he makes us care.