DEATH TRANCE

Edgar-nominated Zimmerman (Mindscream, Deadfall in Berlin) frames this thin, jumpy whodunit with a clever premise: Alex Phillips's blind, paraplegic older sister Madeline, a psychologist retired to an island in Lake Michigan, uses hypnosis to walk him attentively through his memories of the last days he spent with his onetime lover Toni— Dr. Antoinette Domingo—before her murder. Were Toni and Liz, the drowned sister whose death Toni wanted Alex to look into, killed by Rob Tyler, Liz's old boyfriend, and his murderous cult, the Dragons? Nah, too obvious; it must have been Minneapolis police Lt. Tom Jenkins, who sure looks like the Dragon Tom photographed at a late- night ritual, or maybe it was Liz's caretaker John, who conveniently pops up every time there's more action.... The answer will surprise nobody, though Zimmerman's writing is too breathless to leave you discontented for long. First, if you can believe it, of a series starring Maddy.