Blurb:
Dr.
Sara Alderson can deal with eighty-hour workweeks as a resident at Children’s
Hospital. Dealing with crises in the Emergency Room or the OR is second nature
to her. But now she faces a challenge that all of her training and experience
hasn’t prepared her for: Lizzie, her four-year-old daughter, has inherited her
ability to see other people’s dreams.
After
Lizzie befriends a young boy on a trip to Washington, DC, and then wakes up in
a panic that night because of a “bad funny dream,” Sara knows exactly what it
means: her daughter is visiting the boy’s dreams. Complicating matters is the
fact that the boy’s father is a Congressman, and he’s dreaming about a “scary
man in a big black car” threatening his Daddy.
Unraveling
a case of political corruption and blackmail would be hard enough for Sara
under the best of circumstances. But when she has to view everything through
the eyes of a toddler, it may be an impossible task.
Review by Rochelle Weber:
Dream Child is the third book in J.J. DiBenedetto’s Dream Series, and I feel as though Sara
and her family are old friends—except for the newer additions, Lizzie and the
twins. Sara, her mother-in-law Helen, and Lizzie are en-route to Washington,
DC, for a medical conference when Lizzie meets five year-old Billy Hanratty. In
an hilarious passage, Lizzie cleans and bandages a wound Billy sustains on a
sharp piece of metal when the train zigs and the children zag. She uses soap
and toilet paper, and insists Billy needs “a inna-veeny.” It takes Sara a
moment to realize Lizzie means an intravenous solution, which she lets Lizzie
explain to the fascinated passengers listening in. After “checking” Lizzie’s
work and allowing her to cleanse the wound with an alcohol swab and dress it
with a real bandage, Sara introduces herself to Billy’s mom and learns they are
the family of the Congressman who represents her district in DC. That night,
Lizzie starts visiting Billy’s dreams about his Daddy and a scary man in a big,
black car, and Sara, her husband Paul, and best friend Beth have to unravel a
mystery interpreted by a four year-old.
Again,
Mr. DiBenedetto has written a terrific stand-alone thriller wrapped in the
warmth of family, and fueled by other people’s dreams. This time, however, the
dreams come from a pair of little kids, with only occasional “first-hand”
glimpses when Sara visits Lizzie’s dreams while she’s seeing Billy’s. Talk
about keeping a series fresh! As usual, Dream Child engaged me at the very
beginning, especially with Lizzie’s account of her ministrations to Billy. The
whole book is worth buying just to read that passage. And it kept me reading to
the very end. There was even a day when I was at my volunteer job at the VA and
decided not to open my computer and edit because I couldn’t put down my Kindle.
Yes, Mr. DiBenedetto—you caused me to play hooky! Download a copy, get the
paperback, or listen to the Audible version and maybe play a little hooky with Dream Child yourself.
Length: 278 Pages
Prices:
Print: $10.24
Digital: $3.99
Audible: $21.83
Thanks
for visiting. Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle
