Gayle Lynds followed her spellbinding debut Masquerade, a People magazine "Page-Turner of the Week," with Mosaic, a suspense thriller hailed for its "nonstop action, roller-coaster thrills...and love story" (Los Angeles Times). Now, in an electrifying new novel full of authentic detail, she takes us into a labyrinth of deception where a woman's unconscious dreams are not her own, and her waking reality becomes a nightmare.

Beth Convey is a driven, brilliant 32-year-old Washington, D.C., international attorney who speaks several languages. One day, while arguing a multimillion-dollar court case, her chest erupts in pain, and she collapses.

When she awakens in the intensive care unit with a strong new heart, she surprises herself by thinking in Russian. Under doctor's orders, she must exercise regularly. But instead of the usual tennis or jogging, she takes up karate and excels at it. Odd, too, is her sudden taste for vodka. Far more mysterious and disturbing are her hideous dreams, which are filled with guns, death, and strangers shouting in Russian.

After learning about a phenomenon called cellular memory, in which transplant patients seem to inherit memories, tastes, and ideas, Beth sets out on a danger-filled journey to discover the identity of the man who was her donor.

Swept into the maelstrom of an international conspiracy involving defectors from the old KGB, the Soviet's dreaded secret spy agency, Beth's disembodied memories lead her to trust and even love a man who seemingly tried to destroy her and direct her to a covert band of paramilitary terrorists operating too close to home.

Worst of all, she must confront the shocking true nature of the heart that has saved and transformed her life.

As personal as memories, and as explosive as global tensions, Mesmerized is a sexy international thriller of passion and treachery, supercharged with an engaging heroine, sweeping high adventure, and an unforgettable love story.

Amazon.com Review
As Gayle Lynds's third solo mystery-thriller opens, hotshot D.C. attorney Beth Convey is sewing up the biggest case of her career. It's the case that'll lead to a partnership in the hoity-toity Washington law firm of Edwards and Bonnet and the one that will cement her professional relationship with a soon-to-be enormously wealthy woman. Unfortunately for Beth, it turns out to be the case that kills her.

Shocked back to life, Beth makes do with her faulty ticker until Mikhail Ogust's heart, having no use for his recently deceased body, takes up residence in Convey's chest. And that is where the fun begins. Before you can say "glasnost," Beth is suffering violent nightmares starring murderous Russian individuals, craving vodka, and hungering after snacks more appropriate to the Volga than the Potomac. She's also realized an appreciation and understanding of high-powered weaponry.

Meanwhile Jeff Hammond, a disgraced former FBI agent-cum-star reporter for The Washington Post, is desperately seeking a Russian defector, while agent Eli Kirkhart, Hammond's former partner, is chasing him. In short order, and in differing degrees of partnership, Convey, Hammond, and Kirkhart are knee-deep in duplicitous intrigue both foreign and domestic, bands of well-trained vigilantes bent on governmental overthrow, disguise-wearing spies worthy of Mission Impossible, and, finally, a plot to assassinate a pair of presidents.

Aside from a spate of dialogue (particularly Hammond's and Kirkhart's) that reads like a stubbed toe, Mesmerized barrels right along and carries with it enough successful plot twists to satisfy most anyone's craving for spy vs. spy. Lynds's previous mysteries are Masquerade, Mosaic, and 2000's The Hades Factor, written with Robert Ludlum. --Michael Hudson