PULSE

PULSE Edna Buchanan (Avon, $23) The grande dame of the Miami crime novel takes a break from her Brit Montero series with this thriller about a transplant patient whose new start in life becomes a nightmare of murder and sexual obsession. Unsettling flashbacks and a craving for Tabasco sauce lead Frank Douglas to seek out the identity of his organ donor; he believes he inherited the man's personality traits and memories along with his healthy heart. Buchanan's sharp, clean plotting -- combined with the violence that thrives in Miami's torpor -- gives this yarn some real jolts. A-