Some feel his 1994 novel — Praying for Sleep — was the 1st to gain Deaver wide acclaim.

It is very good.

On a savage, storm-lashed night, Michael Hrubek — a dangerously paranoid schizophrenic — escapes from a mental hospital for the criminally insane by impersonating a dead man.

He’s on a mission — to find Lis Atcheson, the woman whose testimony identified him as the gruesome Indian Leap State Park murderer. …

Racing to intercept him are his psychiatrist, Richard Kohler, a brilliant doctor — but one with his own secrets to protect; Trenton Heck, a professional dog tracker, with an uncanny skill for picking up a trail and a desperate need for the reward money offered for Hrubek’s return; and Lis’s husband, Owen Atcheson, a man of uncommon intelligence and determination — who must hunt Hrubek down before he can destroy his wife.

Yet Michael’s madness is inextricably entwined with his genius — and he proves a far greater adversary than any of his pursuers anticipated. For though his mind is tormented by his eerie delusions of betrayal and revenge, he is crystal clear on one point: he knows Lis Atcheson better than she knows herself, and as he hunts her he is bringing a terrible secret into the light of day.