The Dream of the Broken Horses

by William Bayer

Book Overview

One hot summer afternoon a quarter century ago, a wealthy socialite and her young lover were gunned down in a cheap motel room on the outskirts of the Midwestern city of Calista. Forensic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743403363
• ISBN13: 9780743403368
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 369 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Hard to put down

Since his childhood, forensic artist David Weiss has been obsessed with a society double-murder that implicated his father and drove the man to suicide. Now, Weiss is back in his childhood home of Calista (a mythical midwestern town) and intends to use his time to discover the truth. The murder may be decades old but Weiss is certain that the easy explanations are wrong--that something more profound remains to be found. Weiss's investigations lead him to stories of sexual obsession, child pornography, and blackmail. There are plenty of motives for murder--and even after all the years that have passed, some still living are willing to take action to stop the investigation and protect their secrets. With the help of a case writeup by his father and one of the victim's intimate diary, Weiss learns a great deal about the people who were killed, but nothing points a certain finger at the actual killer. Author William Bayer's strong writing makes THE DREAM OF THE BROKEN HORSES something special and something far stronger than the story that underlies it. In some ways, the actual story is frustrating and important loose ends remain. Bayer's use of diary to develop character and reveal clues would normally be a cheat. Somehow, however, Bayer pulls it off. The powerful character of Barbara Fulraine (one of the victims) dominates the novel and the lives of many of the survivors. Her dream of broken horses may have been a psychiatrist's wish fulfilment, but it is also a sad reflection of the painful life Barbara endured. THE DREAM OF THE BROKEN HORSES is a hard book to put down. Although most of the action takes place in back story, Bayer's writing is so compelling that I found myself reading on compulsively. Very fine.

At last... a new William Bayer suspense yarn!

Being a longtime William Bayer fan, I eagerly await each new novel. The wait for "The Dream of the Broken Horses" was a long one -- but definitely well worth it. The book is beautifully written (as always), well crafted (as always), and keeps you intrigued to the very last page. Just when you think you've figured out who did it, how, and why, Mr. Bayer again proves why he's the writer and we're the readers! For any fan of erotic suspense or psycological crime, or for someone just looking for a great read, don't miss this book. We can only hope Mr Bayer won't make us wait so long for the next one.Buy it & read it...now!

"Talented All-American Writer Found!"

A friend of mine sent this book to me for my birthday, she knows I love a good mystery.Well, I loved this book! I couldn't put it down, read it over the weekend. The book is so well-written, you can tell the author is sophisticated, cultured, romantic, sexy and all-american. It was funny because as soon as I started reading it, I felt like I was watching one of those old black & white mysteries from the 40's on a rainy Sunday.I appreciated the snappy conversations and the slow-paced suspense that kept me evenly electrified!I now want to read everything William Bayer has written.

Quest for the hidden...

William Bayer as a mytery writer is rather unique, in that his characters for the most part are more involved with an internal psychological mystery than they are with the solution of any particular case. There is plenty of action to be found in his books, his dialogue is sharp and clever and his plots are sophisticated, but beneath the flow of events, there is usually a hidden quest that is far more intriguing. The obsession of David with an ancient murder stems from obscure elements in his own psyche. The use of photography in Bayer's novels is telling, as it signifies the character of one who is consumed with human nature and yet who is compelled on some fundamental level to place the barrier of an artificial lens between himself and life. David, by exploring the history of a woman murdered long ago, forces her to strip and uncover all of her secrets. At the same time, in pursuing the mystery of her death, he exposes his own soul and deepest desires to himself and to the reader. All photographers are voyeurs to some extent; Bayer's character, however, is a voyeur of the deepest recesses and impulses of human nature. Needless to say, given the author's love of and affinity with film noir, those impulses and desires tend to be the darker ones, and the inevitable exposure of such impulses and acts usually does not occur as a willing strip-tease.

Smart, finely written psycho-erotic suspense. Brilliant!

First, let me say this is an exquisitely written crime novel. I've followed William Bayer's writing for some time (including his incarnation under the pen name "David Hunt.") I'd place this book among his very best, up there with "Switch," "Wallflower" and "Peregrine." The plot is intricate and keeps you guessing. The characters(including the minor ones) are beautifully drawn. The documents imbedded in the text are fascinating, especially an unfinished psycho-analytic case history of one of the murder victims. In a sense I think this book could be subtitled "A Portrait Of A Lady", since one of the victims, a beautiful socialite, is illuminated in all her sexual complexity. I won't dwell on the story in this review, will rather leave that to the reader to discover for him/herself. But consider this premise: a pair of lovers, a beautiful socialite and an impoverished teacher at a private country day school, are gunned down in a sleazy motel on the outskirts of a Mid-Western city. Twenty-five years pass. The murders are never solved. Then a troubled forensic artist comes to town, who attended the school, was a classmate of the murdered woman's son, knew the teacher and whose father was the murdered woman's shrink. He has been haunted by the case all his life...and now he is determined to solve it. Bayer, as always, makes you care. Highly recommended!