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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743403368
ISBN: 0743403363
Label: Atria
Manufacturer: Atria
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2002-02-05
Publisher: Atria
Studio: Atria

New York Times bestselling author William Bayer, described by Robert B. Parker as "a first-rate master of heart-pounding suspense," returns with this breathtaking, multilayered new tale of a twenty-five-year-old society murder and the many long shadows it still casts.

A man and a woman are making love....

One hot summer afternoon a quarter century ago, a wealthy socialite and her young lover, a private-school teacher, were gunned down in a cheap motel room on the outskirts of the Midwestern city of Calista. Now, forensic sketch artist David Weiss has returned to his hometown to cover a routine celebrity murder trial for ABC. For someone who has earned a reputation for cracking high-profile cases with his portraits of suspects based on eyewitness accounts, churning out courtroom sketches is merely pedestrian work. But Calista holds other attractions for David. First there are the welcome attentions of CNN reporter Pam Wells. Then there's the notoriously unsolved double murder at the Flamingo Court motel that has haunted him since boyhood.

Like his psychoanalyst father before him, David becomes obsessed with one of the Flamingo victims, Barbara Fulraine -- who was as fascinating as she was enigmatic -- and with the bizarre circle of friends, gangsters, columnists, and lovers who surrounded her. David's father believed that if he could unlock Barbara's troubling, recurring nightmare -- which she called "the dream of the broken horses" -- his solution would mark a watershed in his career. Now David, armed with old news clippings and police interviews, as well as an extraordinary psychological case study of Mrs. Fulraine recently discovered among his deceased father's effects, seeks to use his highly honed professional skills to reassemble the face of her killer. But with each eyewitness interview and each fresh stroke of his pencil, David finds himself being hurled down a path of ever-darkening mystery, obsession, and dread.

One of our most elegant and commanding writers of psycho-erotic suspense, William Bayer has crafted a riveting, sharp-edged psychological thriller, perhaps his finest, most compelling work to date.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wonderful characters
Review: This is- no way around the word- a lovely read. Bayer has a style of character developement that is elegant and fluid. Try his two books under the pen name "David Hunt".

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Hard to put down
Review: Since his childhood, forensic artist David Weiss has been obsessed with a society double-murder that implicated his father and drove the man to suicide. Now, Weiss is back in his childhood home of Calista (a mythical midwestern town) and intends to use his time to discover the truth. The murder may be decades old but Weiss is certain that the easy explanations are wrong--that something more profound remains to be found.

Weiss's investigations lead him to stories of sexual obsession, child pornography, and blackmail. There are plenty of motives for murder--and even after all the years that have passed, some still living are willing to take action to stop the investigation and protect their secrets. With the help of a case writeup by his father and one of the victim's intimate diary, Weiss learns a great deal about the people who were killed, but nothing points a certain finger at the actual killer.

Author William Bayer's strong writing makes THE DREAM OF THE BROKEN HORSES something special and something far stronger than the story that underlies it. In some ways, the actual story is frustrating and important loose ends remain. Bayer's use of diary to develop character and reveal clues would normally be a cheat. Somehow, however, Bayer pulls it off. The powerful character of Barbara Fulraine (one of the victims) dominates the novel and the lives of many of the survivors. Her dream of broken horses may have been a psychiatrist's wish fulfilment, but it is also a sad reflection of the painful life Barbara endured.

THE DREAM OF THE BROKEN HORSES is a hard book to put down. Although most of the action takes place in back story, Bayer's writing is so compelling that I found myself reading on compulsively. Very fine.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Unexpected plot twists and excellent tension.
Review: Several decades have passed since a wealthy socialite and her young lover/teacher were gunned down in the Midwest: now forensic sketch artist David finds himself returning to the scene of their crime, investigating other murders and discovering a new circle of intrigue and danger. Bayer's is a strong suspense story which moves at a different pace and provides unexpected twists of plot and excellent tension.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: William Bayer still has it, buy this book
Review: Typical of Mr. Bayer's books, it takes a dozen pages or so to really get into the story and then you are hooked. I have read every book that he has written, in both names, and I have never been disapointed, he is a master. The story just builds on itself and he has just the right amount of violence, sex and mystery. Not rauncy sex but a part of the story. To tell more would give plot away. Try it you love it.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Dreams do come true ...
Review: I received "The Dream of the Broken Horses" as a birthday present. When I first started out I wasn't quite sure where it was going ... about 100 pages in I realized that it had crept up on me and I was "caught up" ... I mean I was enraptured ... I couldn't stop reading ... I read till 3AM. The next day I couldn't wait to get home ... the characters haunted me ... I was "in and in for the whole ride" and I rode that "horse" all night and enjoyed every minute of it. If there was one fault ... It was the fact that there is no city in the midwest this "cool" ... beleive me I know ... I'm from the midwest.

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