WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN This review is a part of Outset Books Review Program. The title What Could Have Been by Luke Melia itself suggests that we all tend to resort to some sort of a illusory perception, a dreamlike image, or a mirage which runs in parallel with the world we live in--- the world where the persistent boredom of our dreary and futile existence conceals the 'other' world that should have been and could have been just ours. On a holiday in Greece, Dale and Suzanne plan to go on a boat trip, where the former happens to meet Heather. However, as the "tips of her fingers brushed the palm of his hand", everything went "pitch black". The author's use of such a brilliant narrative technique is completely in tune with the use of time, memory and nostalgia. Just as their reality went dark in an instant, a spark of imagination or the 'other' reality seems to ignite a space of their own--- just the two of them, creating innumerable possi