Setting: Contemporary Orlando, Florida
Sensuality: 8

Never comfortable with her fame as an empath, lovely Marlie Keen has led a life free of clairvoyant incidents for several years. But her quiet, ordinary existence is shattered when the unwanted ability to read a murderer's mind returns with a vengeance. Knowing that publicity is sure to follow, Marlie nevertheless tells the police what she knows. Tough detective Dane Hollister first scoffs at her claim that she "sees" the serial killer who's terrorizing Orlando, but it doesn't take long to convince him that she's telling the truth. It takes even less time for him to recognize the attraction between himself and Marlie, but Marlie is incredibly vulnerable to the visions assaulting her and Dane must put his fierce desire on hold while he tries to track down a bloodthirsty madman.

A perfect example of why Linda Howard is a leading author of romantic suspense, Dream Man offers a plot that unfolds with precision, suspense that is taut and spine tingling, passion hot enough to peel paint, and breathtaking romance. This is Howard in top form. --Lois Faye Dyer


From Publishers Weekly
Detective Dane Hollister has a tough life. He hasn't had a day off in a month, a serial killer with a predilection for slashing women to death is on the prowl and now a psychic who claims to witness the murders through the killer's eyes has come forward to share her visions. As far as he's concerned, the psychic is as twisted as the slasher. For her part, from the moment she walks into the Orlando police station, Marlie Keen is sorry she offered to help. Hollister (and everyone else) treats her gift of "knowing" with suspicion, but the detective's investigation into Marlie's past convinces him that her gift is genuine. Hollister moves into Marlie's home, nursing her through terrifying and exhausting bouts of clairvoyance. At the same time the two ease the sexual tension threatening to overtake them-which if it doesn't quite make for good police work, does make for steamy romance. The author (Heart of Fire) has obviously done her homework on the procedure used to develop a serial killer's profile and brings this process cinematically alive. Hollister makes the perfect romantic hero. As Hollister's partner says about him: "He's street-smart, woods-savvy, and sly as a fox. A real throwback. Mean, too. Damn, can he be mean! But he turns to putty where women are concerned." Howard's writing is compelling, especially the murder scenes. If you ignore an insipid epilogue bogged down in psychic overkill, this is Howard's best work yet. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Had she finally met the man she longed for...or was she dreaming? Marlie Keen was trying to lead a quiet, ordinary life. She thought the knowing -- the clairvoyance that allowed her to witness crimes as they happened -- had been destroyed in the nightmare of her past. Then one night it returned with a vengeance, and she desperately needed to find someone to make it stop. Detective Dane Hollister of the Orlando police department had never met anyone like Marlie. He had doubts about her clairvoyance, but there was no doubt how much he desired her. Her soft, sweet scent set his blood afire, and he wanted to wrap her in his arms and chase the sadness from her eyes. To Marlie, Dane was all heat and hard muscle, and he made her body come alive as it never had before. But not even she could foresee where their passion would lead: a hungry quest for the elusive, dreamy ecstasies of love...and a dangerous journey into the twisted mind of a madman who would threaten their happiness and their lives....

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Knowing that she is the key to catching a serial killer stalking Orlando, Florida, Marni Keen reluctantly offers to help the cynical police detective with the case. But not even Marni could foresee what would happen next: instantly, the two are drawn into a wildly erotic affair that takes them on a quest for the ecstasies of love--and on a dangerous journey into the twisted mind of a madman.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly