Untouchable

Krentz’s formulaic and lackluster third Cutler, Sutter, and Salinas romantic thriller (after Promise Not to Tell) follows hypnotist Winter Meadows as she gets sucked into cold-case investigator Jack Lancaster’s quest to find Quinton Zane, the pyromaniac con artist who murdered Jack’s mother. Jack has the unique ability to use extended lucid dreams to sort through clues on his investigations. When he turns to Winter for help controlling this ability, the pair of former foster kids develop an unexpected bond, a connection that escalates when Jack saves Winter from a former client who has stalked her to remote Eclipse Bay, Ore. Jack’s conviction that the stalker was manipulated by Zane proves correct, as Zane, deep in his latest and most personal con, attempts to eliminate all possible threats against him. Jack and Winter’s ensuing investigation is a game of cat and mouse between a criminal who always assumes he is the smartest in the room, and a budding couple with new-age tricks up their sleeves. Though there is little to set this romantic thriller apart, Krentz’s fans will enjoy the familiar elements and callbacks to previous installments. Agent: Steven Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency. (Jan.)