Amy St. Clair, head of Hudson General's emergency room, is experiencing a recurring nightmare. She wanders dark woods, a child again, as a voice demands, "Tell me what you see." She is also being stalked by an unknown man. Meanwhile, officious hospital administrators threaten to close her unlucrative Emergency Room, just as she notices a disturbing trend in cardiac deaths among men who all fit the physical profile of her own father. The similarities point to a serial murderer, though Amy can't imagine how the deaths are being caused. Struggling with these seemingly unrelated crises, Amy is faced with a romantic one, too, when an old sweetheart joins Hudson General's staff. Though he is as loving as he was in high school, his years in Vietnam have given him a dark side which Amy cannot fathom. His appearance now may be one coincidence too many. An excellent suspense novel with a strong, intelligent heroine, Before I Wake (by the author of Painkiller, LJ 4/1/90) is sure to be popular with readers of medi cal and psychological thrillers.

• A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.