Most of the novel’s action is narrated by LAPD Officer Cindy Decker, 28 year old daughter of series star Lieutenant Peter Decker. After a traumatic rookie year on the force, detailed in Kellerman’s 2000 novel Stalker, Cindy is trying to lay low, fit in and do her job. On a routine patrol, she finds a newborn baby abandoned in a dumpster. When the search for the baby’s mother leads her to a mentally retarded young woman, Cindy starts to think that something sinister may have happened. With the grudging support of her supervisors, she begins looking for a possible rapist who preys on these extremely vulnerable targets. The situation becomes more urgent when another retarded woman dies under suspicious circumstances. Cindy seeks advice and guidance from her father, who continues to deal with the conflicting urges to both help his daughter solve the crime and protect her from danger.  

Meanwhile, Cindy’s personal life is as interesting as her professional one. She begins a passionate affair with a male nurse she meets at the hospital where the abandoned baby is brought, but confronts prejudice from both expected and unexpected sources because her lover is an Ethiopian Jew with “smooth cinnamon skin.” Also, she is still recovering from the previous year’s trauma and frequently experiences unsettling job-related nightmares, or “street dreams.” Even if it’s not a major case, finding some justice for the abandoned baby would help ease the turmoil in Cindy’s troubled mind.  

I did not particularly care for Cindy Decker in her first starting vehicle, Stalker, but in this novel she has matured greatly and become a strong leading lady. No longer relying on her father’s status to get ahead, she is now much more of a team player, even when the other players have obvious shortcomings. She’s a skilled investigator and rarely bends the rules, and then only with Peter’s blessing. Unfortunately, Kellerman makes a major structural error by providing only vague hints about the traumatic event that changed Cindy so much. I suppose she doesn’t want to spoil the plot for individuals who might go back and read Stalker, but I don’t remember the details of a book I read three years ago and I would have appreciated a little more information to fill in the gaps. Readers who are unfamiliar with the earlier books will likely be even more confused and frustrated.  

There’s plenty of information about Cindy’s relationship with Yakov “Koby” Kutiel, a handsome, ambitious and assertive man who pursues Cindy with charming determination. At times the book reads like a sexy romance novel, complete with some really cheesy dialogue (“I’m lost in the rich ecstasy that lifts even the most ordinary man to a momentary king”). But it’s fascinating to learn about a little-known subgroup of Jews and disconcerting to experience the reactions of Cindy’s family and co-workers when they meet Koby. Even Peter, a self-proclaimed social liberal, is taken aback, while Rina is just happy that Cindy is dating a Jew, even if he doesn’t look like most Jews she knows.  

The police case itself is not terribly engaging, and Kellerman seems to lose interest in it for several chapters at a time. However it does demonstrate Cindy’s dedication and compassion, endearing her more to the reader. With the focus on Cindy’s relationships with Koby and her father, Rina Lazarus is very much in the background of Street Dreams. A subplot about the death of her grandmother 80 years ago in Germany is briefly explored, then inexplicably dropped. As usual, Rina is the calm moral anchor around whom the other characters gather for support and, of course, a good meal.  

After the brutal violence of Kellerman’s previous novel, Stone Kiss, it’s a relief to see her change course and focus on the characters instead of the crime. I hope Koby is here to stay and that Kellerman doesn’t kill him off for dramatic impact in the next book. One thing is for sure, I’ll be reading it to find out. With the addition of intriguing new characters, Kellerman has infused the series with new energy and tantalizing possibilities  

--Susan Scribner