This is the story of Jack Davis, a former FBI agent, who is looking into the deaths of two, then three people that are involved in a dream study. Jack is also having to deal with an unexpected landlady, a girlfriend who's not thrilled with the job, repercussions from his daughters death and of course his disability which causes his body to spasm uncontrollably - especially when his body and mind are stressed. I suspected from the beginning who the killer was and normally that would make me give a book a one or two star but in this case the the author did such a good job of writing I wanted to read anyway - mostly to find out why the killer did it. A good story and I will read the first in the series. ( )

The Dead Man is another one of those mysteries with such a preposterously over-the-top plot and cast of characters that at first all you can think to do is shake your head and wonder what the author was thinking. There is a man, a previous FBI agent of course, with a mysterious disorder that causes him to periodically 'shake' uncontrollably, a young man with Alzheimer's, and an ex-cop/thief. As far as the plot goes, all you need to know is people are being murdered in the way they dream of dying.

Despite the initial ridiculousness, it didn't take long for the hooks to set in. It seems like these kinds of books do 1 to 2 things. They start out great and rapidly crumble, or start off horribly and turn into exciting and enjoyable reads. The Dead Man is the latter. The whole dream thing isn't as farfetched as it sounds - the murders take place a dream research facility and the participants are being killed after they relate a dream in which they die. The characters were still a little...out of the ordinary, but I quickly grew to like them!

In the end I really liked the book. As far as wildly over-the-top mysteries go, this is one of the better ones I've read in some time. An exciting, fast-paced, and very satisfying read! ( )

The Dead Man… another name for a crime scene.

The main character, ex-FBI Agent Jack Davis, tells the story in a compelling, comfortable, and believable way. Normally a first person novel, for me, can seem too narrow, but it didn’t take long before I found myself seeing things as if through Jack’s eyes and experiences.

Jack is hired by billionaire Milo Harper to investigate the deaths of two people that were participating in a dream study at his facility, The Harper Institute of the Mind. Both have died under what appear to be normal circumstances, but Milo is concerned because they dreamed their deaths, just as they happened. Jack soon figures out he's become involved in something much worse than "dreamed deaths". There's a serial killer loose.

To further complicate matters, one of the deaths implicates Jack, dredging up tragic events from his past. With the police and FBI now on his tail, he must prove himself innocent as well as find who is behind these dream related deaths.

I live in the Kansas City area and am always looking for a good mystery that takes place here. This one did not disappoint. Though this book stands alone I definitely will next be reading the first Jack Davis novel, Shake Down. ( )