Waking With Enemies

(Penguin Group. 400 pages)

by Eric Jerome Dickey

When readers last heard from contract man Gideon, the professional killer had become the prey and was running for his life.

Waking With Enemies, the sequel to Eric Jerome Dickey's heart-pounding Sleeping With Strangers, picks up with Gideon in his London hotel room involved in an intimate relationship with two women. He is still trying to hide out from a fellow contract killer, but now he seems to be more preoccupied with making love than with saving his own life.

Sleeping With Strangers brought the reader into the mind of a cold-blooded murderer. Waking With Enemies shows Gideon's softer side. Readers learn that this brutal guy, who knows of more than 20 ways to kill a man, isn't just a beast. He is also capable of deep emotions and of being loved.

Most of the book follows Gideon's relationship with two women: Lola, a young heartbroken actress; and Mrs. Jones, a woman going through a divorce. While it is interesting to watch Gideon's character evolve and develop into more than a killing machine, Dickey (pictured) is very repetitive in his storytelling with its sexually graphic material.

At times, you will feel as if you are reading a romance novel instead of a thriller. Just when you may want to stop reading the sexual references really do become boring after a while the book finally gets back to the core of the story: Will Gideon live or die?

Gideon stops making love long enough to have a dramatic confrontation with a would-be killer, a man named Bruno. This impressive meeting will leave you glued to the pages wondering which bad guy will come out on top. No matter how much of a romantic Gideon is, he still has the heart of a killer who is not going down without a fight. Bruno chases Gideon throughout London with Gideon seemingly always one step ahead.

Waking With Enemies is filled with romance, violence and mystery, but the book is ultimately about redemption. There is more than just surface appeal with Gideon. If readers can look past the gratuitous sex and violence, Waking With Enemies is an interesting, fast-paced read.