n his latest thriller, Deep Sleep, Charles Wilson returns to one of his favorite themes: murder and mayhem triggered by a foreign invasion of the mind. The author of several best-selling scientific thrillers, Wilson has a knack for crafting riveting plot lines around kernels of scientific fact. In Deep Sleep, he focuses on treatment for sleep disorders, and ventures into a mysterious world of mind games played with hypnosis, Cajun voodoo and hallucinatory drugs. Wilson has chosen the South Louisiana bayou country as the setting for this absorbing tale of local culture with a 21st century face.

The action begins when a local deputy sheriff discovers the body of a young girl raped and beaten on the grounds of the South Louisiana Sleep Disorder Institute. The macabre scene reads like something by Edgar Allan Poe an antebellum mansion shrouded in mist rising from surrounding crocodile-infested mangrove swamps and partially obscured by hanging moss. When the victim is identified as a patient, Senior Deputy Mark French locks down the institute and takes a closer look at its fantasy fulfillment program, one that recreates wealthy patients’ dreams and fantasies with enough realism that they are recalled as true experiences by those undergoing the treatment.

French soon establishes that another patient is missing and may have stolen a car. Other suspects include a grotesquely deformed boy and his hardscrabble parents eking out a primitive living on the edge of the swamp, the institute’s sinister director and several members of her staff with violent criminal records. While tracking the missing patient through the steamy swamp, the deputies come across two more sadistically murdered victims whose deaths suggest that a second psychopath may be on the loose. The pace accelerates as French closes in on at least one of the killers. The stormy night scene of the hunters racing through a lightning-laced swamp with flashlights reinforced by a helicopter’s searchlight equals Hollywood’s best. Wilson is even able to weave a thin but appealing romantic thread into the violent tapestry that makes Deep Sleep a memorable reading experience.

John Messer writes from Ludington, Michigan.

t voyeurism if the voyeur, the watcher, has permission to watch? Television shows like Survivor reel in huge audiences by giving viewers the sense that they have a secret window to the participant’s personal, private moments. But if someone knows they are being watched, in fact, invites the viewing, perhaps the table turns, the exhibitionist holds the cards, and the mesmerized voyeur becomes victim to the exhibitionist. David Ellis uses this seductive cat and mouse game to the hilt in his tautly crafted, provocative first novel, Line of Vision.

The protagonist, Marty Kalish, is a successful investment banker who has been to law school. He knows enough about law, lawyers and police matters to make him either smart enough to get away with murder or too smart for his own good. We’re not sure which. This is because the story is told in first person and while Kalish is devilishly fascinating, he may not be the most reliable source for helping us determine his guilt or innocence. For one thing, he lies.

For another, he seems to have an inability to accept responsibility and achieve fulfilling relationships, even with close family members. (In a sense, he became an unwitting “voyeur” as a child, and a witness to a haunting secret he harbors deep inside.) And finally, he’s an outright Peeping Tom lurking outside Rachel Reindhard’s house in the cold and dark, waiting to see her in the window. “A grown man sneaking outside a married woman’s house. Pathetic. Depraved. Perverted. All of the above?” he asks himself and we are not sure of the answer, having become voyeurs ourselves watching him watch her! Deciding whether Kalish is a hero or a hedonist is part of the intrigue of this novel, and Ellis does a remarkable job of keeping us in suspense on all fronts until the final, riveting pages.

Line of Vision is a legal thriller, complete with lawyer wrangling, questions of evidence and a hair-raising courtroom drama, but it is also a character study in which the mystery of Kalish the man is as spellbinding as the mystery surrounding the murder. An action-packed page-turner, this book will not only make you wonder “who is watching whom?” but force you to question the morality of looking just because there is something titillating to see. Is it sometimes wise, we must ask, to limit our own “line of vision”? Linda Stankard writes from Cookeville, Tennessee.

Reading a novel by Sharyn McCrumb is like listening to the movements of a symphony: separate themes are introduced, explored, and expounded upon, until they come together in a melodic whole. The insistent note McCrumb sounds in The Ballad of Frankie Silver is the story of a young woman who killed her husband, and the justice that awaited her in the town of Morganton, North Carolina, in 1833. It is a true history that relies on the novelist’s art to make the theme of poor defendant versus upper middle class society resonate for our times.

Sheriff Spencer Arrowood, recuperating from a gunshot wound, has been invited to attend the execution of a man whom he arrested for two gruesome murders in the 1970s. To pass the time until the state electrocutes convict Fate Harkryder, the sheriff delves into the case file of Frankie Silver, a 19th-century woman tried and hanged for killing her husband with an ax. The connections he draws between the two defendants lead Arrowood to question his judgment about the Harkryder case. By the time Arrowood discovers further evidence that may exonerate Harkryder, it is almost too late to plead for the prisoner’s life.

McCrumb’s subtle storyline passes back and forth in time, as Arrowood reads of Frankie Silver’s miserable destiny in the writings of a clerk of the court that convicted her in 1832. Unlike most modern mysteries, the plot does not rely on a pool of suspects to lead the reader with clues. Instead, the building suspense is driven by Arrowood’s initial curiosity and gradual obsession with Frankie’s case, an obsession we follow as the novel slips between the centuries. Without a hint of preachiness, McCrumb leads us to consider the terrible toll of domestic violence, the assumptions rich and poor make about one another, and the barbaric anachronism of the death penalty. It is to her credit that these solemn issues never get in the way of a good story.

Nelson DeMille hit a home run with readers in 1990, when he released the mob novel The Gold Coast. Starring an attorney, John Sutter, whose life – and marriage – changes forever when a Mafia don moves into the house next door, the novel was an unusual blend of action and midlife crisis story. On October 28, DeMille continues the story of wry, capable everyman Sutter with The Gate House. Ten years after the events of The Gold Coast, John and his ex – wife, Susan, have both returned to that same Long Island enclave. Their former neighbor is long gone, but his son has unfinished business with both Sutters – and there just might be some unfinished business between the exes, too. The Gate House promises trademark DeMille suspense and excitement.

Katherine Neville thrilled audiences in 1988 with The Eight, an intense debut novel that drew comparisons to Umberto Eco and became a major bestseller. The book interlaced the stories of two women – Cat Velis, a computer expert in 1972, and Mireille de Remy, a nun – in – training in 1790 – with the legend of a chess set that, when all the pieces are reunited, gives the user unlimited power. Neville has since published two other novels, but never returned to the characters from The Eight. On October 14, fans can read The Fire, a sequel starring Cat’s daughter Alexandra. When her mother goes missing, Alexandra realizes that someone is again in pursuit of the famous chess set. Her search for Cat takes her around the world, and uncovers more details about the chess set’s intriguing history.

Once Pocket Books stepped up to the table with a whopping two million dollar deal for Margaret Cuthbert’s first two novels, the talk began that her debut, The Silent Cradle was certain to be one of the “hot” books in 1998. Happily for all concerned, The Silent Cradle actually lives up to its advance billing. Dr. Rae Duprey, vice-chairman of the prestigious OB/GYN Department at San Francisco’s Berkeley Hills Hospital, is passionate about her work, her patients, and most of all, about babies. But Berkeley Hills is losing so much business to the new Birth Center across the street that the hospital’s Board is making plans to close down her department.

Run by Rae’s vindictive former lover Dr. Bo Michaels, the Center is an upscale pastel haven for low-risk deliveries. Any sign of a problem and the expectant mothers are delivered to Rae’s doorstep. And lately, there seem to be a few too many “bad babies” coming Rae’s way and she’s getting the blame. Someone is out to destroy both her department and her career, and if a few mothers and babies lose their lives in the process, so be it.

Determined to uncover who’s masterminding the sinister plan, Rae’s soon caught up in a web of murder, medical sabotage, and hidden agendas. The killer, Rae is certain, is someone on staff at Berkeley Hills. But is there a colleague she can trust to help her discover the truth? Dr. Sam Hartman, the new chief of cardiac anesthesia, is a willing volunteer as both a detective and a potential romantic interest. A complication Rae tries her best to avoid.

Unable to convince hospital management that there is a murderer in their midst, Rae finally contacts the police, who dismiss her story they need “proof, not grudges.” Then a vengeful Bo has her railroaded off the staff, crippling her ability to investigate within the hospital. To make matters even worse, she’s beginning to suspect that Sam may be in league with her enemies. Finally, disguised as a hospital cleaning woman, Rae sets a trap for the killer a killer she hopes won’t be Sam. There’s a terrifying showdown in the hospital nursery before the murderer and his motives are exposed.

With a smart feisty heroine and heart-stopping medical emergencies worthy of the best of ER, Cuthbert, an obstetrician turned novelist, has produced a chilling medical thriller that should satisfy even the most discriminating fans of those other doctor/writers, Robin Cook and Michael Crichton.

Reviewed by Lucinda Dyer.

Many believe that the U.

S. left prisoners of war in Vietnam. The premise of MIAs being alive somewhere has colored the diplomacy of the U.

S. toward Vietnam and of course given fiction writers a place in which to let their imaginations run free. Patrick Davis’s debut novel is a case in point. There was a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam called Cao Dinh, the very mention of which made the top brass freeze, and others in the Pentagon react very nervously. What happened there? What fearful tragedy hides behind falsified record books? General Raymond Watkins, the Air Force Chief of Staff, has been sent to Vietnam to look around, and presumably to lend his support to diplomatic moves for recognition of that country. Upon his return, however, General Watkins is discovered dead in his quarters. He had been tortured by means common to the North Vietnamese during the war, in which a fish net was put over the victim’s skin and drawn tight until the flesh that was protruding from the net could be cut off.

Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Jensen is the officer assigned to the murder investigation, but he finds a paucity of clues. The general’s personal computer and those in his office have been fed a virus; some of the hard drives are even removed. Following the general’s final phone call from his office Colonel Jensen is led to a Vietnamese restaurant, and ultimately to the murder of one of the owners. This is a fun book to read, for just when the reader thinks he or she knows who the murder mastermind is, that particular suspect turns up dead. But Colonel Jensen plods doggedly on, pursuing the few leads he has. There are lives, reputations, and careers at stake in this mystery, and finally it becomes a test of the colonel’s loyalty to the brass in the Pentagon versus his own brand of integrity and patriotism. Make note of this fine new writer this military thriller surely won’t be his last.

Reviewed by Lloyd Armour.

In Greg Iles’s new book, the title explains the wall of silence and resistance confronted by Houston prosecutor Penn Cage upon his return to his Mississippi hometown. He has returned to his roots with his young daughter after the agonizing cancer death of his wife. Penn reluctantly takes on a controversial 30-year-old civil rights case involving the bombing death of a black man, a thorny matter which the conservative Old South community would rather forget.

While residents attempt to convince Penn to let sleeping dogs lie and stonewall his push to re-open the Del Payton case, a visit by the victim’s family only bolsters Penn’s resolve to do something about the situation.

Moreover, Penn’s father, Tom, is being blackmailed by a dying jailbird who has a gun tying the older man to a murder, and the sinister demands for more money increase as Tom’s health declines. Penn’s friends and business associates advise him to leave, but he cannot because of his father’s predicament.

The doomed convict plans to take Tom down with him, claiming the murder weapon was a gun borrowed from the physician, that they were partners in the crime. The only solution to end the blackmailing may require Penn to break his strict ethical code.

Meanwhile, the pressure to stop Penn from bringing the Payton case to trial mounts, especially after a press interview given to Caitlin Masters, a newspaper publisher. Once Penn and Caitlin team up, the fireworks start with a host of obstacles thrown between them and the truth including the FBI, a tyrannical judge, the Natchez community, and an old flame with a score to settle. The action reaches a peak in the courtroom, when the resourceful Penn takes on the opposition for a bitter fight in which the truth cannot be denied.

Robert Fleming is a journalist in New York City.

Alan M. Dershowitz’s new novel Just Revenge confronts one of the most difficult questions of legal and moral theory: Is revenge ever justified? Although it never conclusively decides this question, the novel does take the reader through a labyrinth of horror, obsession, legal wrangling and ultimately reconciliation.

Just Revenge features a Holocaust survivor and professor of religion, Max Menuchen, who has discovered the man who, half a century before in war-torn Lithuania, killed his family as he watched. The mild-mannered professor has never before broken a law, but his discovery of Marcellus Prandus, the Lithuanian militia captain who carried out the anti-Jewish orders of the Nazis, leads him to seek proportional justice.

Rather than simply killing Prandus, who is dying of cancer anyway, Menuchen wants to make him feel what it is like to see his whole family die before his eyes. Menuchen’s revenge is gruesome but, as the result of several twists and turns, not quite what you may expect.

The first half of the novel follows Menuchen’s enactment of revenge, and the second half deals with the legal repercussions and the courtroom drama which follow this act. Menuchen is defended in court by Abe Ringel, a defense lawyer who is known for defending controversial accused criminals. The courtroom scenes have a few of their own twists, including a surprise witness and a dramatic and unexpected turn at the end of the long trial.

A professor at Harvard Law School and one of the most famous criminal defense lawyers in the country, Dershowitz demonstrates in this, his second novel, a broad intellectual scope and a deep understanding of legal and ethical complexity.

Vivian Wagner is a freelance writer in New Concord, Ohio.

The world of Colin Harrison’s new novel, Afterburn, is a world of dark extremes. Unrelentingly corrupt, its characters oscillate between cynicism and melancholy. Their violent acts are dispassionate; their passionate couplings verge on violence. The tangled plot begins with the capture and torture of fighter pilot Charlie Ravich by the Viet Cong in 1972. Charlie withstands starvation, beatings, and incoherence, only to be riddled with friendly fire just prior to his rescue. But he survives, and the narrative leaps ahead to 1999, where Charlie has become a successful international businessman. On a trip to Hong Kong, he witnesses a death that makes him a very wealthy man. But wealth only assuages Charlie’s physical and emotional pain. His wife seems to be slipping away to what may be Alzheimer’s, his only son died years before. So, when Charlie learns that his daughter is unable to bear a child, he takes steps to assure his own genetic immortality by advertising for a woman to bear his child. At the same time, a mathematical whiz named Christina Welles is freed unexpectedly from prison, where she has been serving a sentence for trafficking stolen goods. Christina suspects that her early release has been orchestrated by Tony Verducci, the mobster she has betrayed. Sure that Tony wants to exact some form of revenge, Christina lays low in Manhattan, assuming the name of another woman. Her old boyfriend, Rick Bocca, is warned by the cops that Christina is out of prison and the target of Tony’s vendetta. Still in love with her, and feeling guilty for her incarceration, he goes in search of her, not realizing that his hunt is endangering Christina as well as himself.

When Christina hooks up with Charlie Ravich in the bar of the Pierre, Charlie is fascinated by this clever, attractive woman. They become lovers, and Charlie, knowing nothing of her past, speculates that she might be the ideal woman to bear his child. But once his and Christina’s worlds collide, Charlie quickly becomes the unwitting target of Tony’s pitiless wrath. With ingenious plot turns reminiscent of Jim Thompson’s The Grifters, the truth is slowly revealed about Christina’s inventive deception of Tony. With its muscular prose and graphic depictions of a nefarious world, Afterburn is clearly not a book for faint-hearted readers. But for those who can steer through the raging sex and violence, Colin Harrison will reward them with a compelling story fueled by lots of surprises, including two kickers at the end. ¦ Robert Weibezahl is the co-author of A Taste of Murder (Dell).