Dream Man

Detective Dane Hollister has a tough life. He hasn't had a day off in a month, a serial killer with a predilection for slashing women to death is on the prowl and now a psychic who claims to witness the murders through the killer's eyes has come forward to share her visions. As far as he's concerned, the psychic is as twisted as the slasher. For her part, from the moment she walks into the Orlando police station, Marlie Keen is sorry she offered to help. Hollister (and everyone else) treats her gift of ``knowing'' with suspicion, but the detective's investigation into Marlie's past convinces him that her gift is genuine. Hollister moves into Marlie's home, nursing her through terrifying and exhausting bouts of clairvoyance. At the same time the two ease the sexual tension threatening to overtake them-which if it doesn't quite make for good police work, does make for steamy romance. The author (Heart of Fire) has obviously done her homework on the procedure used to develop a serial killer's profile and brings this process cinematically alive. Hollister makes the perfect romantic hero. As Hollister's partner says about him: ``He's street-smart, woods-savvy, and sly as a fox. A real throwback. Mean, too. Damn, can he be mean! But he turns to putty where women are concerned.'' Howard's writing is compelling, especially the murder scenes. If you ignore an insipid epilogue bogged down in psychic overkill, this is Howard's best work yet. (June)