Book Review: Mesmerized

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Mesmerized     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Gayle Lynds
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Political Intrigue   Woman Main Character
Pocket, May 2001, $24.95, 400pp

In Washington DC, fast track attorney Beth Convey works a nasty divorce trial as if she is a virtuoso violinist. Beth knows that a success for Ms. Philamee will almost definitely make her a full partner in Edwards and Bonnett. However, at the moment of her triumph, Beth collapses on the courtroom floor and pronounced dead. Medics arrive and barely revise her as she is rushed to a nearby hospital. Not long afterward, Beth receives a life-saving heart transplant.

However, as she recovers, Beth finds her tastes have changed wanting vodka, dark tea, and fresh tomatoes in a style reminiscent of Eastern Europe. She begins to have strange dreams of individuals speaking in Russian including a murder of one of them. As Beth struggles to regain her former life, she wonders if her near death experience has triggered buried memories or has her heart left her with the cellular memory of a murdered Russian figuratively speaking to her from the grave?

Readers will be MESMERIZED with this novel especially when Beth takes front and center as she is a classic Type A personality who the readers will adore. When the story line veers from Beth's reactions and adjustments into a thrilling post Cold War I Spy tale, the audience will question the need for espionage on a FBI-CIA-KGB level. The well-written book clearly showcases Gayle Lynd's storytelling abilities. However, those exciting secondary plots forces the prime theme into a different direction, which hurts the overall novel that works best when centering on Beth's need to know about her donor.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner

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