When her grandfather dies on their way to his home in a small English village where she had hoped to learn about her birth mother, sixteen-year-old Helen begins to have disturbing visions and is asked to use her "second sight" to help a mysterious stranger. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Set in England, this enigmatic first novel centers on 16-year-old Helen, who is riding a crowded train with her grandfather when he has a fatal heart attack. At the moment of his death, Helen "sees" herself with him on the beach, watching a man in a gray silk suit. This is the first indication that the elderly man has passed on to his granddaughter the special vision that made him a "finder," capable of locating missing things or people and of experiencing the past. Rather incredibly, the girl abandons her grandfather's body on the train and runs away to his cottage in a seaside village, where she again encounters the mysterious man in the gray silk suit. Readers will have to work to decipher Dean's rather muddled plot, which follows Helen's attempts to make sense of her disturbing visions (including the sinking of a 17th-century ship and the torture of a 13th-century "merman" captured from the sea) and of the gray-suited man's oddly beguiling yet ominous presence. Though Dean's narrative contains some intriguing imagery, its frequently cryptic dialogue and unanswered questions may leave its audience more puzzled than entertained. Ages 12-up. (May) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 6-9. Sixteen-year-old Helen Draper feels estranged from her family, partially because she is adopted. When her grandfather dies suddenly, she begins to experience frightening hallucinations involving a stranger in a gray silk suit who wants her help. Gradually she comes to realize that her grandfather has passed on to her his gift of being a "finder" --the art of touching a thing and knowing its secrets and of locating missing people and things. Nicholas Morgan (the mysterious stranger) wants her to find a heart-shaped stone that once belonged to his family. Helen tries her best, despite the fact that she senses great danger. Eventually, she discovers that Morgan is really a kelpie, and that once she locates the missing stone, he is likely to lure her to her death in order to ensure her silence. Suspense and intrigue are Dean's strong suits in this fantasy, which is sure to appeal to anyone who has ever experienced family alienation. Although alert readers will probably guess Nicholas Morgan's true identity before Helen does, this in no way diminishes the goose bumps or spoils the dramatic climax. --Kay Weisman From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.