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Book Review of Dream Man

Dream Man
Dream Man
Author: Linda Howard
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Paperback
midori-se7en avatar reviewed on + 8 more book reviews


This book was sold as a romance but it felt more like a thriller with lots of sex. The romance was only so-so, though some of the sex scenes were pretty steamy. I was more entertained by the general premise of the book. The heroine, Marlie Keen, is a clairvoyant empath. She's been living alone for six years after an encounter with a crazed killer seemingly wiped out all of her psychic powers. Now, out of nowhere, she winds up "linking" with a serial killer with powerful mental energy. She watches his killings through his eyes. These "visions" cause her to go into an almost catatonic state, and afterward she is exhausted to the point of nearly being comatose for 12-24 hours. At first she thinks this vision is just a dream, but when she hears about the murder on the news, she reluctantly approaches the police. She knows that they'll treat her like a fraud and dismiss her as a crazy kook, which they do, but one of the detectives in charge of the case falls instantly in lust with her.

The detective, Dane Hollister, almost reminds me of one of the Brothers from the Black Dagger Brotherhood. He's huge, dominant, and possessive. Basically, he's an alpha-male with a capital 'A,' although he's missing the tortured past that seems to be a prerequisite for being a member of the Brotherhood. He and Marlie get off on the wrong foot, but one thing leads to another and the next thing you know they're having lots of hot sex nearly every other page. Their emotional connection came second to the physical stuff and the vicious murders going down, but they fell in love, of course. This was technically a romance novel, after all.

Still, the romance element felt secondary to me. It would have been better off as a thriller, I think. Also, it was a bit predictable and I didn't particularly care for the ending.