In The Dark of Dreams
A Dirk & Steele Series, No 1
Marjorie M. Liu

Avon / HarperCollins
November 30, 2010/ ISBN 978-0-06-202016-1
Paranormal Romance
Amazon

Reviewed by Linda Young

A twelve-year-old girl walks out onto the beach. Something she does most every day. But this time is different. This time she spots a boy. Only this boy isn't human. On the bottom half of his body are scales and a tail. He is a merman. She is captivated by his blue eyes. He is injured. She uses her towel to help stop the bleeding. His hand moves over hers to help put pressure on the wound. There is a connection between them. They both feel it.

Suddenly, he sees something behind her. She sees the fear in his eyes and turns around to find out what has appeared behind her. It is a man walking out of the sea. There is a look of great anger on the man's face. The boy pushes her away trying to get her to leave. She is afraid for the boy. The man grabs the boy and begins dragging him back toward the sea. She grabs a driftwood branch and begins attacking the man with it. The branch breaks against his arm. He laughed at her. She runs back up the beach. When she stops and turns, she watches as the man drags the boy into the sea by his tail as the boy kept his eyes on the girl.

Jenny returned to that beach every morning all that summer and beyond until she finally decided that the boy was never coming back. But, she never stopped looking. She became a marine biologist constantly searching the sea for the unexplained and the unusual. Looking for clues and leads to others like the boy she met that one day on the beach. The boy that she spent time with in her dreams. But those dreams stopped eight years ago. Now they have started again.

Perrin was constantly in search for the girl he met on the beach as a boy. However, his exile eight years ago made it even harder for him to look for her. When the dreams had stopped, he thought he had lost her forever. But now they are back and he knows that Jenny is in trouble. He must find her. But to do that and accomplish his other mission, he must break his exile. Once he enters the sea, his time is limited before his clan finds out and comes hunting him.

Will he find Jenny and be able to stop the threat of destruction to the earth? Will he be able to avoid his clan long enough to find what he needs to stop the mass destruction and still be able to save Jenny before they find him and kill him? Will Perrin and Jenny finally find the peace and contentment they had that one brief morning on a beach as children?

This is my first Liu read. I must say it was a different experience. This is an intriguing story with a mystery about it. However, to me, it was a slow read. It seemed to take a long time to move a short distance. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm not use to Liu's way of writing. I did enjoy the story. I'm sure that fans of Liu will enjoy it even more. I'm not sure where this book fits in the series. The others are all numbered on her website. This one is not. I will definitely have to read more of her to get a better feel for her style.

Reviews of other titles
In The Dark of Dreams, bk 1
Shadow Touch, bk 2
The Red Heart of Jade, bk 3
Eye of Heaven, bk 5
Soul Song, bk 6
The Last Twilight, bk 7
The Wild Road, bk 8
The Fire King, bk 9
Within the Flames, 12

Reviewer's Note: Some Strong Language and Sexual content