The Seventh Sleeper

Dantz's ( Pulse ) suspenseful medical thriller features nightmarish villain Dr. Emile Vidoc, a self-confessed sociopath who has discovered a new way to recruit soldiers for guerrilla warfare. Through the use of neurotoxins, Vidoc induces in ``volunteers'' a coma-like state in which their minds remain alert while their bodies are paralyzed. A shot of adrenaline mixed with certain psychotropic drugs revitalizes the victims but leaves them in a psychopathic rage, with obsessive thoughts of murder and with physical powers that border on the superhuman. When Dr. Sara Copley and Miami police detective Lee Valdez begin searching for a friend of Sara's who has disappeared, they stumble onto Vidoc's terrifying plans and must act quickly to avoid becoming his next victims. Although Dantz, aka mystery writer W. R. Philbrick, occasionally lapses into stage-direction-like prose, this tale is a page-turner. (June)