After suffering a catastrophic mental breakdown, J.J. O'Malley volunteers for an improbable government project which has been set up to explore the possibility of using deep coma as a future option within the EU penal system. Brilliantly imagined and artfully constructed, the novel merges science fiction with an affectionate portrait of small town Ireland. Notes from a Coma is both the story of a man cursed with guilt and genius and a compassionate examination of how personal identities are safeguarded and held in trust by loved ones.