And, of course, there’s the seemingly interminable length as the story line hustles from one crisis to the next. It’s a wonder that after one close call after another the hero/heroine don’t simply expire from sheer exhaustion.

It opens in a trial courtroom. Beth Convey is an ambitious lawyer on the partnership track with a high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm. Just as she wins the important case, she collapses. A viral infection has severely damaged her heart.

She undergoes successful heart transplant surgery, but some of the after-effects puzzle her. She has vivid dreams that seem more like memories than fantasies. She craves things she never craved before such as caviar and vodka. She is haunted by fragments of Russian poems. A doctor suggests that cellular memory could be a factor in her recovery, but Beth refuses to accept that her donor’s heart could be affecting her own mind and body. She cannot ignore, however, a particular telephone number that keeps repeating in her mind. When she finally makes the call, the ensuing consequences will jeopardize her career and threaten her life.

Jeff Hammond is a former FBI agent (it is soon revealed that he is now working undercover) who is employed as a journalist for the Washington Post. In his former position, he debriefed a number of Russian defectors. He believes that there is a mole hidden within the FBI who is working with a defector to undermine U.S. interests. Soon he and Beth will join forces to thwart a terrorist attack that could destroy American-Russian relations. His activities become known to his opponents - both within the FBI and the Russian plotters - who will stop at nothing to prevent his continuing in his quest.

Alexei Berianov is a Russian defector whose goal is to return to his homeland in a position to take control of its instability. He has assumed the persona of the wealthy American Caleb Bates and organized a group of ultra-conservative militia in West Virginia to achieve the American part of his plan. When he learns that Beth Convey and Jeff Hammond are endangering his plans, he cannot allow them to continue. Nothing and no one will stand in his way.

As is common with thrillers, Mesmerized is heavy on plot and light on character development and motivation. The good guys are noble and committed; the bad guys are morally bankrupt and evil through and through. There’s a lot of running around trying to get to the bottom of the mega-criminal plot. But, hey! Who’s got time for character development when the assassins’ bullets are flying and the world’s political stability is in jeopardy?

This is a tried and true formula; one that has kept a multitude of readers engrossed to the final page. If you’ve enjoyed Robert Ludlum’s or Gayle Lynd’s thrillers in the past, you might want to check out Mesmerized.

--Lesley Dunlap