But a dream within a dream?”
— Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”
After a four-year hiatus, authors Mike Nappa and Melissa Kosci finally bring us back into the dramatic world of Trudi Coffey and Samuel Hill with “A Dream Within a Dream.”
Told from the perspective of three characters — Trudi, Samuel and Dream, an artist with holes in his memory and an unknown importance — “A Dream Within a Dream” is an action-packed story that takes us back and forth between Atlanta and Boston … all while relying on an Edgar Allan Poe poem to tell the tale.
As Samuel and Trudi, two divorced investigators who still remain friends, are separately pulled into protecting the mysterious young man named Dream, they find themselves evading mysterious characters (like the Irish mob, Middle Eastern terrorists and sketchy agents) while looking into an infamous art heist. They must work together to figure out who Dream is and what exactly he knows about the Gardner Museum Art Heist.
Nappa and Kosci came together to create a brilliant thriller filled with twists and turns, never allowing the reader to know whom could be truly trusted, while also creating delightful characters. Samuel and Trudi are both plucky and brave, full of moxie. Readers will fall in love with the enigmatic Dream and his many quirks, and will admire Trudi’s assistant, Eula, also full of grit and spunk.
This story is a great heart-thumping tale, but it also reminds us of a few good lessons, like the importance of loyalty; the desire for freedom; God plants little blessings in life if we just look for them; and we can turn to God in any situation.
This book could be read as a standalone, but I highly recommend going back and reading the series’ first two installations: “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven.” I certainly hope there’s a fourth book coming!
Five stars out of five.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.
“A Dream Within a Dream” (Coffey & Hill series, #3) by Mike Nappa & Melissa Kosci