Mesmerized

by Gayle Lynds

Pocket Books, May, 2001.
Hardcover, 416 pages.
ISBN: 0671024078

Mesmerized by Gayle Lynds

Brilliant trial attorney Beth Convey is about to win a big case for a very important client when she suffers a near-fatal heart attack. When she awakens in the hospital, her life has totally changed. She had a heart transplant which will require a year of rehab, her once-solid job is now hanging by a thread, and to make it worse she now has a hair-trigger temper, odd dreams, and a strange affinity for vodka and karate. When a psychologist tells her about the phenomenon of "cellular memory" -- where transplant patients often seem to have memories from the organ donor -- Beth dismisses the theory as nonsense. But it seems that her donor was an ex-KGB hitman and that Beth's investigation into his life has suddenly thrown her right in the middle of the FBI's frantic search for a mole, as well as a terrorist assassination plot during President Putin's visit. With the help of Jeff Hammond, an investigative reporter and ex-FBI agent, Beth must find a way to stop a terrorist's plans and to stay alive long enough to do it.

Gayle Lynds, author of Masquerade and Mosaic, hits another home run with Mesmerized. Lynds offers up an exciting espionage tale, with an intriguing and entertaining premise: that memories and knowledge can be passed during an organ transplant. Gayle Lynds always adds an interesting twist to the classic spy novel, and Mesmerized is no exception. Beth, the attorney whose life is irrevocably changed in an instant, is an appealing, forceful character, as is Jeff Hammond, the FBI agent who must endure the disdain of his colleagues and his family in order to carry out a deep-cover operation. With non-stop action, intricate plotting and a wealth of interesting historical background about the fall of the USSR and the fate of the KGB, Mesmerized is a top-notch thriller.

--Claire E. White

Mesmerized is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the May, 2001 of The Internet Writing Journal.