Sheep Book Review: Sweet Dreams by January Valentine

Sweet Dreams: In the Mind of a Serial Killer, by author January Valentine, is a horror-suspense story layered with sexuality and mystery. 

Plot: 

A serial killer is on the loose, moving up the East Coast, leaving bodies & notes . . . Planting roses in his victims. Leonardo Gibraldi, Baltimore’s sexy Assistant DA, is tracking the fiend who’s responsible for the grisly murder of his ex-girlfriend. Leo’s out for revenge — so is the killer. Between hunting the madman, and fighting off beautiful women, Leo’s got his hands full. There's one break in the case: An eye witness who says, “It doesn’t look human.”

This was an out-of-the-box read for me, because horror is usually not my cup of tea. Sweet Dreams is extremely well thought out, and the author takes the reader on a journey which dives into the mind of a serial killer. Valentine then flips perspective and gives you insight into the men and woman that are out to capture the psychopath. As you dig past the surface you find yourself engrossed into this killer's world of pain and pleasure. Why is he a killer and what drives him to fulfill these ghastly desires? Was he created in some fiendish mad doctor's laboratory, or was he just born this way? You have no clue but you want to find out. There's almost a softness to him, something that you can sort of relate to in a weird way. It's all very intriguing and delivered in masterful form. 

Switching over to the law side of the story you are introduced to Leo, the ADA who's hot on the killer's trail. Seeming to be always a dollar short and a day late, you have to wonder if he will ever be able to capture the slippery monster. Leo's world was at times a chaotic flame of emotional desires, I found it a little over the top with the constant need for bed partners. The man likes variety in his life, and while I didn't personally care for it, he makes no apologies for who he is. 

I'm going to do a bit of nitpicking on something that didn't sit well with me. The ending, and here's the hard part, I don't want to give anything away but I will say that I was left hanging and not in a good way. The whole story builds for the final showdown and once that's quickly taken care of our leading man sets out to find answers to the unfinished questions. The story, for me, literally ends with a ...

Sweet Dreams is worth a read for those that enjoy horror or a good mystery. It's a little slow in parts with some predictable secondary characters and sits a bit on the graphic side but not to the point of making you want to vomit. I'm not into horror movies of any kind and if I can handle this I think other lightweights can too. 

Getting 3 and 1/2 'this bathroom looks cozy' Sheep

KD

http://januaryvalentine.blogspot.com/