Nelson Cheng’s The Mattress Factory follows Elliot, a former mattress salesman who receives a peculiar retirement gift from his former boss. Sleeping on it takes Elliot to an enormous factory where every mattress opens the door to another life. He can become a professional football executive one night and wake up in an entirely different occupation the next, with memories of experiences that feel astonishingly real. But these possibilities take a sinister turn when Elliot finds himself targeted by someone determined to kill him, repeatedly. Each death sends him back to the life he knows, leaving him searching for answers about the factory and the rules governing his journeys. With Nathaniel offering cryptic explanations, Elliot must figure out who is pursuing him and why, before the next opportunity becomes another trap.

Nelson Cheng’s The Mattress Factory is excellent speculative fiction, with Elliot’s renewed appetite for living giving his predicament a human quality. Cheng leans into the idea that when somebody has rediscovered a reason to live, the possibility of losing it becomes downright terrifying, turning Elliot’s encounters with a pursuing assassin into suspense that feels personal. The mystery is absorbing as well, with Elliot’s determination to uncover the truth giving readers another reason to invest in him. Claire, the neighbor who helps him investigate, is resourceful, especially when their search for surveillance recordings takes them to the mattress shop. This inventive storytelling brings extraordinary circumstances into everyday life. Readers who like unique fiction along the lines of The Midnight Library and Dark Matter are in for a treat. Very highly recommended.

The Mattress Factory by Nelson Cheng tells the story of Elliot, who has worked for years as a salesman in a store selling mattresses. However, just a little before his sixty-fifth birthday, the new manager lets him go. Known locally as Mr. Mattress, Elliot’s life falls apart. He lives alone, is almost broke, and without his work life, holds little hope. He prepares to kill himself. But then a new mattress is delivered as a parting gift. Awakening the next morning, Elliot finds himself in a whole new world, one which answers his wildest dreams and ambitions. But as always, there is a catch. He must survive a complete day, and someone is out to kill him. As he experiences one fateful day after the other in a variety of jobs, he is desperate to not only discover who the assassin is, but why anyone would want to kill him. Although estranged from his son and grandson, he cannot think of a single person who would wish him dead.

What a delightful book. The Mattress Factory combines a thrilling story with deeper issues of love, redemption, second chances, and the real meaning behind life itself. Elliot is bounced from one life to another with the idea of choosing what he could have been if all the options had been open to him. As we read about his life falling apart, an extra dimension is added with him meeting his next-door neighbor. There are several tense moments as a very relatable hero who steals your heart fights not only for his survival, but also to discover the truth. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it as something a little different, curious, and thought-provoking. I look forward to books by Nelson Cheng.