Amazon.com
Thriller readers can always count on getting extra value from Jeffery Deaver--strong plots, fascinating research, believable characters, and plenty of surprise endings. Like in The Terminator, the bad guys in The Devil's Teardrop just won't quit, and they create enough havoc in the last 50 pages to fill a whole new book.

Although Deaver's brilliant, wheelchair-bound forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme makes a guest appearance, the muscular scientist in charge here is Parker Kincaid--an expert in document analysis who'd much rather be checking the authenticity of letters from Thomas Jefferson than figuring out when a crazed shooter known as the Digger will strike again. But it's New Year's Eve, 1999, and the Digger has begun a reign of terror--promising to shoot into crowds in Washington, D.C., every four hours until he's paid $20 million. As Kincaid searches an odd ransom note for clues (and tries to maintain a low profile so that his vindictive ex-wife won't get custody of his young kids), we get to know the Digger better. He is a frighteningly invisible character with serious brain damage, who methodically obeys a set of instructions from an unknown handler. We also learn many amazing facts about paper, ink, and handwriting analysis, and watch as a relationship slowly and reluctantly develops between Kincaid and the FBI agent in charge. All this as the devious Deaver leads us down several garden paths overflowing with dead bodies. --Dick AdlerBook Description

New Year's Eve, 1999. A grisly machine gun attack in the Washington, D.C., subway system leaves dozens dead and the city crippled with fear. A note delivered to the mayor's office connects the massacre to the Digger. an emotionless assassin programmed to wreak havoc on the capital at four-hour intervals, until midnight. Only a ransom of 20 million dollars delivered to his accomplice -- and mastermind -- will end the death and terror.

But the Digger becomes a far more sinister threat when his accomplice is killed in a freak accident while en route to the money drop. With the ransom note as the single scrap of evidence. Special Agent Lukas calls upon Parker Kincaid, a retired FBI agent and the top forensic document examiner in the country. Somehow, by midnight, they must find the Digger -- before he finds them.

With intricate forensic detail. masterful plot twists, and the harrowing breakneck pace that is signature Deaver, The Devil's Teardrop is destined to continue Jeffery Deaver's bestselling track record and thrill his legions of fans worldwide.Download Description
"It's New Year's Eve, December 31, 1999, and Washington, D.C., is under siege. Early in the day, a grisly machine gun attack in the Dupont Circle Metro station leaves dozens dead and the city crippled with fear. A note delivered to the mayor's office pins the massacre on the Digger, a robotlike assassin programmed to wreak havoc on the capital every four hours - until midnight. Only a ransom of $20 million delivered to the Digger's accomplice - and mastermind - will end the death and terror. But the Digger becomes a far more sinister threat when his accomplice is killed in a freak accident while en route to the money drop. With the ransom note as the single scrap of evidence, Special Agent Margaret Lukas calls upon Parker Kincaid, a retired FBI agent and the top forensic document examiner in the country. Somehow, by midnight, they must find the Digger - before he finds them."- ... Read more

Customer Reviews (150)

Deaver at his best... a true page-turner!
This was a phenomenal book! After having taken a break from Deaver for a while to peruse other authors I picked this up from the Library and was more than pleasantly surprised. What made this book work was all the sub-plots working in the background: Lukas & Jefferson's sexual tension, Lukas' never ending pain of losing her husband and son, and naturally, the "Digger" and the chaos he was creating. Once the ransom drop off for the "Digger" to stop was botched by the "pick up" man you almost knew their had to be a third party controlling the "Digger's" strings, so to speak. The good part is that they never led you on to believe anyone else suspicious. It was, at face value, them against the Digger. I'd never had looked at "Len Hardy", or so he called himself, to be the ultimate puppetmaster. He was cold..especially how he knew to work on Lukas' sympathy over his "comatose" wife. I won't give away the whole ending,naturally, but the ending was even better than I'd hoped for..competely out of the blue and definitely worth the read. I think I'd be back browsing the shelves for more Deaver upon return to my local library. Give this one a shot if you've never read Deaver...I've read him for years and he rarely disappoints. Happy Reading!

Extortion plot that could lead to numerous rampages
A criminal mastermind is plotting an extortion scheme against the city of Washington, threatening massacres at four hour intervals if 20 million dollars is not paid by noon that day.

The day is New Year's Eve, 1999, and someone is terrorizing Washington D.C., which leads the FBI to turn to Parker Kincaid, who had retired after an ugly incident a couple of years earlier which had endangered his children's lives.

With his expertise as a certified document examiner, they unravel the spellbinding mystery.

Parker is very likeable as a single father, which makes this story all the more enjoyable.

Deaver at his meticulous and macabre best
The devil is in the details, they say - and that's always been one of Jeffrey Deaver's strengths: the ability to take well-worn story-lines yet make them refreshingly exciting by going into meticulous detail with regard to characterisation and modus operandi. I have about a dozen Deaver novels, only three-quarters have been read so far but The Devils's Teardrop is as good as any if not the best. The semi-automaton in this novel, known as The Digger, is quite a scary individual and absolutely devoid of remorse. Someone has 'programmed' him however, and that's where the main challenge lies. While the central character here is good-guy Parker Kincaid, the author is confident enough to introduce none other than Lincoln Rhyme in a cameo appearance! It's bordering upon arrogance but he gets away with it.

If you have yet to buy a Deaver novel, here is as good a place as any to start and you will surely want to join the club. And if you're a Deaver reader already, then buy The Devil's Teardrop with absolute confidence, it will maintain or even raise the standards you have become familiar with. Jeffrey Deaver is one of a very select group of contemporary writers I can think of who make it a safe bet to buy everything they publish - he just doesn't write duds.

Madness in D. C. Transit
Gilbert Havel, a blackmailer, is the only person who can communicate with Digger, an invisible character with brain damage, which left him a 'half-human killing machine.'Already he'd carried out the massacre in the Dupont Circle Metro tunnel at midnight and had three other explosions to set off if Mayor Gerald Kennedy did not pay the ransom demanded.

Digger is an emotionless, robot-like madman who doesn't know not to follow through on the death job his 'handler' arranged.Havel is killed in a freak accident, but Digger is like a skinny ape man on Halloween, only this is New Year's Eve.He is unseen by those he's been programed into 'making ghosts.'

It is a tense, suspenseful thriller as they try to discover where he will strike next.Jeffery Deaver has written his major success, THE BONE COLLECTOR, NOCTURE, and THE LESSON OF HER DEATH.

An amazing book
Deaver really makes the reader stay interested in "The Devil's Teardrop".I found it arduous to put down.The serial killer, "The Digger" knew how to remain unseen.Leaving only a note for the FBI, their only clue, they call upon the help of Parker Kincaid. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In this 21st century version of the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," two computer wizards engage in the kind of high-tech combat that only a hacker could love. Wyatt Gillette, a cybergenius who's never used his phenomenal talent for evil, is sitting in a California jail doing time for a few harmless computer capers when he gets a temporary reprieve--a chance to help the Computer Crimes Unit of the state police nail a cracker (a criminally inclined hacker) called Phate who's using his ingenious program, Trapdoor, to lure innocent victims to their death by infiltrating their computers. Gillette and Phate were once the kings of cyberspace--the Blue Nowhere of the title--but Phate has gone way past the mischievous electronic pranks they once pulled and crossed over to the dark side. While Trapdoor can hack its way into any computer, it's Phate's skill at "social engineering" as well as his remarkable coding ability that makes him such a menace to society. As Wyatt explains to thepoliceman who springs him from prison so that he can find and stop Phate before he kills again, "It means conning somebody, pretending you're someone you're not. Hackers do it to get access to data bases and phone lines and pass codes. The more facts about somebody you can feed back to them, the more they believe you and the more they'll do what you want them to."

Bestselling author Jeffery Deaver (The Empty Chair, The Devil's Teardrop) ratchets up the suspense one line of code at a time; his terrific pacing drives the narrative to a thrilling and explosive conclusion. This thriller is bound to induce paranoia in anyone who still believes he can hide his deepest secrets from anyone with the means, motive, and modem to ferret them out. --Jane AdamsBook Description

The Blue Nowhere will forever change the way you feel about your computer.

Jeffery Deaver, bestselling author of The Empty Chair and The Bone Collector, now turns to the labyrinthine world of cyberspace -- a world where safety is elusive, appearances are deceiving, and the most powerful can lose their wealth, their minds, their lives with a hacker's touch of a button.

When a sadistic hacker, code-named Phate, sets his sights on Silicon Valley, his victims never know what hit them. He infiltrates their computers, invades their lives, and -- with chilling precision -- lures them to their deaths. To Phate, each murder is like a big, challenging computer hack: every time he succeeds, he must challenge himself anew -- by taking his methodology to a higher level, with bigger targets.

Desperate, the head of The California State Police Computer Crimes Division frees Wyatt Gillette, imprisoned for hacking, to aid the investigation -- against the loud protests of the rest of the division. With an obsession emblematic of hackers, Gillette fervently attempts to trace Phate's insidious computer virus back to its source. Then Phate delivers a huge blow, murdering one of the division's own, and the search takes on a zealous intensity. Gillette and Detective Frank Bishop, an old-school homicide cop who's accustomed to forensic sleuthing, at first make an uneasy team. But with a merciless and brilliant killer like Phate in their crosshairs, they must utilize every ounce of their disparate talents to stop him.

Hot on the trail of the New York Times bestseller The Empty Chair, The Blue Nowhere once again demonstrates that Deaver is "the master of ticking-bomb suspense" (People).Download Description
From the bestselling author of "The Empty Chair" comes the suspenseful story of a computer hacker--code-named PHATE--on a Silicon Valley killing spree. Hot on his trail are ex-hacker Wyatt Gillette and Frank Bristol, a grizzled homicide detective who's accustomed to using old-fashioned forensics to track his quarry. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (190)

Intriguing
I love Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series, and in my view, nothing matches that in regard to criminalist forensics. Deaver's turned to forensics of a different kind with The Blue Nowhere: computers and cyberspace. Wyatt Gillette, a genius hacker, is imprisoned for the thing he does best, but finds himself on temporary pardon and part of an investigation into a sadistic hacker/killer named Phate. Phate has targeted Silicon Valley and seems to commit murder at random, but Gillette finds his pattern and the race begins to stop him before he murders his next victim.

This is a very intriguing book, filled with computer terminology easy enough for a computer dummy like me to understand. Gillette is an interesting character, a man who is no criminal yet is treated like one simply because he broke a federal code. The plot is fast-paced, and the premise one that holds interest.

No Lincoln Rhyme - but none the worse for it!
Most of Deaver's best work has involved quadriplegic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme (superbly brought to the screen by Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector) but there's more to this author than that acclaimed series. The thing about Deaver is that he always knows his subject material in great detail, and there's no doubt about his knowledge of the world of cyberspace, HTML and hacking as displayed here in The Blue Nowhere. As another reviewer here suggested, there's an underlying impression that computers today (in the worst hands) can do what a .45 could do in a Western of 100 years earlier.......KILL.

Written around 2000/2001, I have a feeling that some of the pseudonyms used (like Phate, Trapdoor etc) will probably sound a bit dated five years on and indicative of a by-gone age (the technology bubble of the 1990's) but it was appropriate for that time I guess - things move so fast in the blue nowhere - anyway this book was the right story at the right time and still holds up five years on. The great news is that, good as it is, there are riches galore to be found in the still-growing Deaver library. Anyone who owns one of his books will be planning on buying another I'm sure; as for those who haven't taken the plunge, well you're very lucky as there are great things in store for you. Jeffrey Deaver is one of the very best psychological thriller writers of the present day.....end of story.

The Blue Notworthwastingyourtime
Generally I like Deaver's novels - and the premise of this one sounded interesting. But he's in over his head this time. Anyone who has spent more than a few hours online can see that the writer doesn't really understand what he's talking about. By the end of the book I was just reading it to finish it - and the end wasn't worth doing that.

If you have to read a Deaver novel, do yourself a favor and go re-read "The Coffin Dancer" instead.

This is the most entertaining book I've read in a while.
All I have to say is that i regret the fact that this is my first Jeffery Deaver book because this book is so fun and entertaining that I'm sold on Deaver and am looking to read the rest of his books. I read this book in two sittings because I simply could not put it down because I was so involved and really wanted/needed to know what was next. This story isn't about the reader trying to figure out who the antagonist is (you actually learn is identity pretty early) but is instead about the mind/computer games the good guys play with the bad guys and who will be one step ahead, and are they really ahead, or far behind? There are so many twists and turns in this book that you'll read it just as quickly as I did. I'm officially a Deaver fan now, and I recommend you pick up this book.

JD at his best, and you don't have to be a computer geek
Jeff Deaver is the king of plot twists and pace. (Some would argue Patterson is the pace king, but to me Deaver's got it just right). Typical of Deaver, there's no way you can guess the outcome of this marvelous thriller. Blue Nowhere is pure entertainment, as two dueling hackers "have it on." One hacker is a serial killer, the other is an ex-con helping the police. Don't expect more than fun, thrills, and surprises. It's a one-night read, only because you won't want to stop. I read mine on the porch in a rainstorm and I never left that porch until it was finished. Classic Deaver, but without Rhyme and Sachs (which is fine, I love them as characters, but I enjoyed the new characters). I suppose the computer technology is, or will soon be, out of date, but that's not fundamental to the story. If you look past the computers, you'll enjoy a non-stop thrill ride. ... Read more

Book Description
The New York Times proclaimed Jeffery Deaver's The Bone Collector as "dazzling". Now he combines spine-chilling forensic detail with gripping suspense to keep his trademark plot twists and brilliant hero moving at breathtaking speed. Detective Rhyme, the foremost criminalist in the NYPD, joins his beautiful protégé, Amelia, in the hunt for the Coffin Dancer. So far, they have only one clue: the assassin has a tattoo on his arm of the Grim Reaper waltzing with a woman in front of a coffin.

Description in Spanish: A pesar de que un accidente le haya dejado paralítico, Lincoln Rhyme, el protagonista de El coleccionista de huesos, sigue siendo uno de los mejores criminalistas del mundo. Se le considera el único que podría frenar a un asesino muy particular, apodado El Bailarín. Es un matón a sueldo que cambia su aspecto con una rapidez asombrosa. Sólo dos de sus víctimas han podido dar una pista: lleva en un brazo un tatuaje de la Muerte bailando con una mujer delante de un féretro. Su arma más peligrosa es el conocimiento de la naturaleza humana, que maneja sin piedad. Rhyme y su ayudante, Amelia Sachs, se involucran en una partida estratégica contra «el bailarín de la muerte». El cerebro de Rhyme y las piernas de Amelia se convierten en los únicos instrumentos para perseguir al asesino por todo Nueva York. Sólo tienen cuarenta y ocho horas antes de que El Bailarín vuelva a matar. ... Read more

Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver has long thrilled fans with tales of masterful villains and their nefarious ways, and the brilliant minds who bring them to justice. Now the author of the Lincoln Rhyme series has collected his award-winning, spine-tingling stories of suspense -- stories that will widen your eyes and stretch your imagination.

The Twisted stories include Without Jonathan, The Weekender, For Services Rendered, Eye to Eye, Beautiful, The Fall Guy, Triangle, and The Christmas Present which brings back Jeffery Deaver's most beloved character -- criminalist Lincoln Rhyme -- to solve a chilling Christmastime disappearance.

Diverse, provocative, eerie and inspired, this collection of Jeffery Deaver's best stories exhibits the amazing range and signature plot twists that have earned him the title "master of ticking-bomb suspense" by People. With nods to O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe, these beautifully crafted pieces pulse with subtle intrigue and Deaver's incomparable imagination.

Download Description
"New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver has long thrilled fans with tales of masterful villains and their nefarious ways, and the brilliant minds who bring them to justice. Now the author of the Lincoln Rhyme series has collected for the first time his award-winning, spine-tingling stories of suspense -- stories that will widen your eyes and stretch your imagination. A beautiful woman goes to extremes to rid herself of her stalker; a daughter begs her father not to go fishing in an area where there have been a series of brutal killings; a contemporary of the playwright William Shakespeare vows to avenge his family's ruin; and Jeffery Deaver's most beloved character, criminalist Lincoln Rhyme, is back to solve a chilling Christmastime disappearance. Diverse, provocative, eerie and inspired, this collection of Jeffery Deaver's best stories exhibits the amazing range and signature plot twists that have earned him the title ""master of ticking-bomb suspense"" (People). With nods to O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe, these beautifully crafted pieces, never before compiled in one volume, pulse with subtle intrigue and Deaver's incomparable imagination. " ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Can't guess the outcome
This book was absolutely fantastic. It left me breathless and longing for more. The stories were intricately plotted and no matter how hard I tried, I could never guess the outcome.

What I loved best was that it was a collection of short stories. I could, in my down time, read a story and then get on with my day. Or, if I am in the middle of a book which I am laboring to get through (will never leave a book unfinished), I can pick up this book to get me all excited and motivated again.

Again, this book is a wonderful book. Well done Mr. Deaver.

Twisted Could Use a Few More Twists
Unfortunately, the main flaw of this book is that most of the stories are nearly identical.I'd say that 75% of them deal with a husband or wife planning to kill their spouse, and then the tables get turned and the good guy ends up being the bad guy.Also, the characters from each story are so similar that they all blend together.They're all middle-class suburban WASPs without much personality, and no real reason to care about any of them.The stories themselves aren't bad, but they sure aren't great, either.There are one or two stand-outs which truly did surprise me at the end, but with the other stories I found myself either knowing the plot twist long in advance or just not caring about what happened to any of the characters.This is one of those so-so books which you can read on the plane or at the beach and then forget about.

Not as good as his full length books
I am a big fan of Jeffrey Deaver, I think he is very clever and original in his work, and deserves the readership that he has garnered over the last few years.

Yet this collection did little for me. I tried to like the stories and they were at times ok, but I just found myself trying to guess the sting in each tale and not really relating to the story at all. The stories were not enough for me to get involved and to care about what was happening.

This is for the ultra-serious Deaver fan, while others would do better to look at his Lincoln Rhyme series which are brilliant.

Exciting even as a textbook at school
As someone who have been teaching English at college in Japan for some time, I was always seeking for a good "authentic" material, which is at the same time instructive and entertaining.This book turned to nicely meet both criteria in the classroom with vibrant colloquial expressions and intriguing plot lines.Unlike other textbook materials accompanied by ubiquitous problems and exercises, Twisted made an instant hit among the students although not without big challenges.For students unfamiliar with American crime novels, the sheer volume of size was a big barrier.Plus cultural and social dimentions were a stumblig block as well.For how much familiar are the expressions or names to non natives like us: COPS, Roseanne, HBO, Give him one-way ticket..., burning bushes, Victoria's Secret and so on. Especially the "yellow diamond" in "The Fall Guy" was the hardest nut to crack.The students and I assumed it to be some precious stone featured in a song of Michael Bolton, which, according to our native colleague turned to be a mere road sign.Anyway based upon the intensity of my students' attitude, I seem not to have mistaken the choice of textbook this semester and I will certainly encourage to read further into a Lincoln Rhyme feature for their summer break fun.

Sixteen little gems
Good value this - sixteen short stories instead of one, but some of them might have been stretched out to become full-length novels by other authors. They're not great tales, but collectively they make a compulsive case for you to 'add to basket'. Apparently some have criticised the Olde English tale "All the World is a Stage" (which includes Shakespeare as one of the characters) but I thought it was very authentic given the American hand that wrote it! There's also a mini Lincoln Rhyme story, and several tales in which the baddies get away with it! A good way to introduce yourself to Jeffrey Deaver, if you're not a fan already. ... Read more

Book Description
Taylor Lockwood spends her days working as a paralegal in one of New York’s preeminent Wall Street law firms and her nights playing jazz piano anyplace she can. But the rhythm of her life is disrupted when attorney Mitchell Reece requests her help in locating a stolen document that could cost him not only the multimillion-dollar case he’s defending but his career as well.

Eager to get closer to this handsome, brilliant, and very private man, Taylor signs on...only to find that as she delves deeper and deeper into what goes on behind closed doors at Hubbard, White & Willis, she uncovers more than she wants to know--including a plentitude of secrets damaging enough to smash careers and dangerous enough to push someone to commit murder. Yet who is capable of going to that extreme? With her life on the line, Taylor is about to learn the lethal answer.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Not up to Deaver's normal work
This book is nowhere near as good as Deaver's other work, before or after this novel.The "goings on" at the lawfirm are too exaggerated to make the story believable.Rather than serious fiction, it seemed more like bad comedy at times.Read one of Deaver's other novels for a treat, but skip this one.

Mistress of Justice - an earlier effort
This book seems to have been written by Jeffrey Deaver just prior to his full acquisition of the unique style, creativity, pace and humor that marked his later works.The Lincoln Rhyme novels, for example.All of them employ Jeffrey's formidable writing skills, and are tremendously entertaining on many levels.Mistress of Justice falls short of these expectations, however.I got only halfway through it, skimmed the rest, then went right to the ending - which was predictable.Never thought I'd do that with one of Jeffrey's books, and I have read nearly all of them.The problems with this book are many.The pace is very slow.The plot - not very strong.Too many characters are introduced, too quickly.Too much writing space devoted to non-essential details.But there also seems to be a snooty, snobbish tone to the entire book - almost as if Jeffrey had written it to impress his cronies in the lawyering arena of NYC.While I was reading - I failed to find anyone in the story to admire, to cheer for, and more importantly, to identify with.Although some may be fascinated by that particular class-based New York / New England culture of old money, politics and snobbishness, I am not.Yet Jeffrey revelled in laying this all out in a manner that suggested the reader should love and embrace this culture.Fortunately, Jeffrey moved away from this style in his later novels - all of which are marked by rich characters, from life's many diverse walkways.Mistress of Justice reinforced my belief that you cannot hit a home run every time up - and that's fine.And, I am grateful that the mistakes made in this novel are not found in any of Jeffrey's later works.If you are as big a Jeffrey Deaver fan as I am - and you have not yet read Mistress of Justice - steel yourself for possible disappointment.

This book is so-so.
This is my first Deaver book I have read.Good thing, I borrowed the book from the library.First half of the book was slow and not real interesting until the plot gets more interesting from second half of the book till the end.I didn't figure out the correct suspect until I almost reached the end.The suspense is great, but the story and wordings could have been better.I guess that's understandable since this one was one of author's earlier books.I hope his later books are better as other people say.

a real treat
these early Deaver re-issues are turning out as real gems among his back-catalogue. I can say with complete confidence that Jeffery Deaver has not once written a bad, unenjoyable book.

Deaver's writing style is concise and addictive. It's clever, quirky and enjoyable. His plots are well devised and well structured. They run smoothly and without a hitch.

This is a very good, very hig-class legal thriller, better than almost anything by John Grisham. the plot is complex and intriguing, and the lead character is very human and very likeable, with some very distinctive quirks which make her a pleasure to read about.

The book moves at great pace, and is a true page-turner. There are a couple of nice twists along the way, and, as is usual with Deaver, one final wallop right at the end.

Another very good book from Deaver...not quite his best, but i still reccomend that you read it. As i do with all his books.

Not as surprising as I'd hoped...
I found this, on the whole, an enjoyable read. After a suspenseful opening, it took a while for the plot to grab me again--perhaps because the issues at stake didn't seem to be of life-or-death importance. The excitement level picked up, however, as the story progressed. The writing is excellent, the main protagonist a well-drawn character.

But none of the intended surprises caught me off guard, not even what was meant to be the biggest. Is this the fault of the book (a plot conceived some dozen years ago, however the author has sought to improve it), or of my having read too much Deaver lately? I honestly can't say. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts introduces anti-hero Paul Schumann, a notorious rubout man for the New York Mafia known for his cold and professional approach to his job. But the jig is up when he is duped by high-ranking feds who give him a choice--prison or one more impossible job: assassinate the man who's running Hitler's plan for rearming Germany. The hard-nosed German-American lands on the streets of Berlin where immediately the best-laid plans of the United States Government go awry. Schumman finds himself in a city living in fear, tracked by Berlin's best homicide detective. As the intricate chase wears on, both men will discover that the greatest evil is the ascendant Nazi party.

Deaver's novel, equal parts noir thriller and historical extrapolation, is a page-turner that offers a twisting visceral experience of the tension in Berlin during that fateful summer. He draws sympathetic portraits of everyday Germans caught between duty to country and their consciences. Into this mix, Deaver drops his coldly dangerous hitman who brawls with brownshirts, chums with Olympic athletes, collaborates with criminals, fraternizes with poets, and discovers the hero inside his hardened soul. --Jeremy Pugh

Amazon.com Interview
When starting a new book by author Jeffery Deaver, expect to have the wool pulled over your eyes. His plots twist and turn and juke and jive like no others, never ending as expected and always including a jaw-dropping plot development. His latest effort, Garden of Beasts, is no exception. Amazon.com caught up with Deaver to discuss plotting, characters, and the perils of soap opera acting.Book Description

Paul Schumann, a German American living in New York City in 1936, is a mobster hitman known equally for his brilliant tactics and for taking only "righteous" assignments. But then Paul gets caught. And the arresting officer offers him a stark choice: prison or covert government service. Paul is asked to pose as a journalist covering the summer Olympics taking place in Berlin. He's to hunt down and kill Reinhardt Ernst-- the ruthless architect of Hitler's clandestine rearmament. If successful, Paul will be pardoned and given the financial means to go legit; if he refuses the job, his fate will be Sing Sing and the electric chair.

Paul travels to Germany, takes a room in a boarding house near the Tiergarten -- the huge park in central Berlin but also, literally, the "Garden of Beasts" -- and begins his hunt. The next forty-eight hours are a feverish cat-and-mouse chase, as Paul stalks Ernst through Berlin while a dogged Berlin police officer and the entire Third Reich apparatus search frantically for the American.

Garden of Beasts features a cast of perfectly realized locals, Olympic athletes and senior Nazi officials -- some real, some fictional. With hairpin plot twists, the reigning "master of ticking-bomb suspense" (People) plumbs the nerve-jangling paranoia of prewar Berlin and steers the story to a breathtaking and wholly unpredictable ending.

Download Description
"In the most ingenious and provocative thriller yet from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, a conscience-plagued mobster turned government hitman struggles to find his moral compass amid rampant treachery and betrayal in 1936 Berlin. Paul Schumann, a German American living in New York City in 1936, is a mobster hitman known as much for his brilliant tactics as for taking only ""righteous"" assignments. But then Paul gets caught. And the arresting officer offers him a stark choice: prison or covert government service. Paul is asked to pose as a journalist covering the summer Olympics taking place in Berlin. He's to hunt down and kill Reinhard Ernst -- the ruthless architect of Hitler's clandestine rearmament. If successful, Paul will be pardoned and given the financial means to go legit; if he refuses the job, his fate will be Sing Sing and the electric chair. Paul travels to Germany, takes a room in a boardinghouse near the Tiergarten -- the huge park in central Berlin but also, literally, the ""Garden of Beasts"" -- and begins his hunt. In classic Deaver fashion, the next forty-eight hours are a feverish cat-and-mouse chase, as Paul stalks Ernst through Berlin while a dogged Berlin police officer and the entire Third Reich apparatus search frantically for the American. Garden of Beasts is packed with fascinating period detail and features a cast of perfectly realized locals, Olympic athletes and senior Nazi officials -- some real, some fictional. With hairpin plot twists, the reigning ""master of ticking-bomb suspense"" (People) plumbs the nerve-jangling paranoia of prewar Berlin and steers the story to a breathtaking and wholly unpredictable ending. " ... Read more

Customer Reviews (71)

3.5 stars for this average Deaver

No spoilers

I'm a big Deaver and have thoroughly enjoyed every book I've ever read by him. I read this book after finishing the Lincoln Rhyme series because those books have been among my favorite reads of the genre in recent memory. I've read a few of Deaver's other stand-alone books and enjoyed them so I figured this one would be just as good.

While this book was enjoyable and I got into in enough to finish it as quickly as usual, it wasn't as great of a novel as any in the Rhyme series or his other stand-alones (like Blue Nowhere, which is great). Basically, the best advice is that if you like Deaver's other stuff and want something else to read by him, then you'll enjoy this book just enough to make it a worthwhile read. However, if you're new to Deaver, go for the gold and read, in order, the Lincoln Rhyme series.

Stalking The Stalker -- Good Page Turning Thriller
Paul Schumann, an American hit man, is given a choice: face Tom Dewey or face the Nazis.Not surprisingly (since it would be a boring book otherwise) he chooses to undertake a clandestine mission to assassinate Reinhart Ernst, a high ranking Nazi official in charge of rearmament.

Along the way his cover is compromised, and he is tracked not only the Gestapo, but the German police.

Without going into great detail on the plot points, suffice it to say that there are a number of twists and turns in the plot, and most of the canidates are multi-dimensional.The Nazis have their good points and the "good guys" have their bad points.

When reading this book, I kept wondering -- would Paul go through with his mission and what would happen to the characters along the way -- not just the main characters, but the supporting roles.

Also I'll admit that the ending wasn't what I expected.

Well worth a read.

Decent Stand Alone
A departure from the Lincoln Rhyme series, Garden of Beasts holds its own.An interesting story about a hitman in Berlin at the beginning of World War II.Not as great as Lincoln Rhyme, but I like Deaver's style.

Garden of Beasts
I loved this novel.Well written and kept you on edge.

Brownshirts
This compelling murder mystery is also a guide to history as it depicts the rise to power of the Brownshirts in 1929 Munich.Any one who has been to Munich will recognize actual sections of the city.The characters are sympathetic and more fully developed than the cast of most murder mysteries. ... Read more

Book Description
Rune is an aspiring filmmaker with more ambition than political savvy, paying her dues as an assistant cameraperson for the local news. But she's got her eyes on the prize, the network's hot newsmagazine, Current Events -- and she's got the story she knows will get her there.

Poking around in the video archives, Rune spots a taped interview with Randy Boggs, who's doing hard time in Attica for a murder he claims he didn't commit. Rune can't say exactly why, but she's sure he's innocent. If she can prove it, Current Events won't merely report the news, it'll make news -- and Rune's career.

But what she could be writing is Randy Boggs's epitaph -- and her own. Rune's newly discovered witness soon turns up dead. A hit man from Miami is on Rune's trail, and Boggs is finding prison even more dangerous than before. Someone wants this story killed, and it could be the girl with the camera who ends up on the cutting room floor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Full of twists and turns, this one is sure to please!
The final of the three "Rune" novels (sadly - I liked this heroine!), "Hard News" is absolutely full of unforeseen twists and turns that will keep you guessing right up until the final reveal.Tight pacing kept me turning pages way past my bedtime.

Rune is working for a network affiliate as a camera operator when she is given a letter sent from a prisoner - Randy Boggs - protesting his innocence and saying that he fears for his life and must be released from his wrongful imprisonment.Deciding that she absolutely must do this story, Rune pushes her way into the anchor's - Piper Sutton - office and convinces Piper to let her do the story.However, as Rune learns more information, it seems that someone doesn't want her to do the story - just like someone doesn't want Randy to survive, as he is subjected to repeated attempts on his life.

To make things a bit more difficult, Rune's roommate Claire left for Boston to live with her mother and get her life together - leaving behind her 3-year-old daughter with Rune.Therefore, Rune has to balance taking care of Courtney with everything else.

Lots of humor as well as breath-taking suspense.I definitely recommend this for fans of Deaver and suspense/thrillers.

Wow. We must be reading different books
Women write excellent novels about women. This should not be startling news. Some men write well about women, but not that many. This also should not be news. Baldacci does an excellent job. He stays away from sex and clothing. LeCarre does a magnificent job. Robert B. Parker on occasion hits nothing but net with his new 'Sunny Randall' series, but not all the time. Too often, they're male characters who are a size 5. This is the case with Deaver and 'Rune.'

First of all, the one name bit. Who are we kidding? Have you in your personal lives ever known a human being with one name? Ihave not. I don't know anyone who knows any one named persons. So at the very outset, it's incredible.

Then she's an assistant camera person who talks her way into the major talent on a news program, and talks herself into an assignment of major consequences. That happens every day. She worked in a video store before this! She was a salesgirl!

She lives on a houseboat in Manhattan. Now you know that Manhattan, insofar as Real Estate goes, makes Ann Arbor, Lincoln Park and Santa Barbara look like the ghetto. So . . . how? How does she afford this? She has a $50,000 dollar camera . . . how?

Her tastes are promiscuous, she's caring for a 4 year old abandoned child, feeding her cheetos and sardines, she get's a murderer out of prison on guile and deception.

It was a struggle, Mr. Deaver, to finish this book. And finally, most readers CAN'T STAND when the agent says 'Hey, you're really selling now. Got anything you wrote 20 years ago?' That's what this is. It's just a republication of a republication. Come on. We deserve more than that. We are your faithful fans. 1 star. Larry Scantlebury

The best of the Rune novels.
This last novel was the best out of the other three with Rune.
Rune is more mature and has a much better job this time.The
storyline kept my interest, but was far from reality (in my opinion),which gave the novel a downside.

Fire From the Gods
Rune is simply wonderful. I love her to pieces. She's quirky, fun, naive in childlike way, and just a wonderfully likeable character.

The Rune books are not the deepest books you will find. Nor are they the most exciting and thrilling. (Although they are quite.) But, they are quite atmospheric tales of New York and complex crime.

They are quirky, immense fun to read, and light hearted. Don't take them too seriously (this is what most people do with their reading...they take it far too seriously. Which spoils what would otherwise be enjoyable fiction.) and you will really relish them.

The plots are complex, the twists completely unguessable. (As is the norm with Deaver.) He is currently my favourite writer, and these little gems from the past only further convince me of the fact that he is probably the best storyteller i have come across in a very long time. Great characters, great plot, stunning writing. (I adore his style.)

If you like quirky, fun, lighthearted books with a tense edge, his Rune series is definitely for you. (I hope he ressurects her in the near future for a fourth novel.)

a good, quick read
As the last of the Rune novels I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read. ... Read more

Amazon.com
The hero of Jeffery Deaver's thriller The Bone Collector is Lincoln Rhyme, a forensic scientist known to his peers as "the world's foremost criminalist." Rhyme will need all his reason--and his considerable stock of high-tech tools--about him to solve this latest brain-twister: a serial killer with method to his madness. In tried and true thriller fashion, the killer's crimes are described in lurid detail, as is the astounding technological equipment with which Rhyme examines the evidence--everything from an energy-dispersive x-ray unit to a mass spectrometer.

Every fictional detective has his or her gimmick, from Sherlock Holmes's violin to Nero Wolf's orchids, and Rhyme is no exception.He is a quadriplegic who can move nothing but a single finger. Gadget-philes will be in seventh heaven reading about Lincoln Rhyme's tools; other readers might feel the book could do with a few more plausible characters and a little less technology.Book Description
Look who's back to chill readers to the bone...

The first novel featuring Detective Lincoln Rhyme, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Stone Monkey.Download Description
"In his most gripping thriller yet, Jeffery Deaver takes readers on a terrifying ride into two ingenious minds...that of a physically challenged detective and the scheming killer he must stop. The detective was the former head of forensics at the NYPD, but is now a quadriplegic who can only exercise his mind. The killer is a man whose obsession with old New York helps him choose his next victim. Now, with the help of a beautiful young cop, this diabolical killer must be stopped before he can kill again!" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (287)

The Rhyme Killers
The Rhyme Killers would be a great book to read after the Bone Collector.
It too has the great suspense you love to find in a mystery.

The Bone Collector
Lincoln Rhyme has been retired, ever since a falling beam at a crime scene, left him a quadriplegic.Now, Lincoln is bed ridden, with his only human contact being a man named Thom.He dreams of killing him self, when some thing new, to occupy his time.

A serial killer, called the Bone Colector, is terrorizing the city of New York.With every person he kills, he leaves behind evidence that will lead to the next victim.Unfortunetly, this is only half the work, and Rhyme needs some one to do the crime scene for him.

Enter Amelia Sachs.Sachs is a model turned cop, who has several problems of her own.At first, she, like most people, is able to see past Rhyme's physical handicap, and be disgusted by his personality.But, Lincoln and Amelia will have to work together, to defeat a man who knows every one of Lincoln's tricks, and whose final victim, is Lincoln.

Notable Charecters Introduced: Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs, Thom Lastname, Lon Sellitto, The Bone Collector.

Excellent adventure that I couldn't put down.
The character of the Bone Collector is extremely spooky.As already stated in numerous other reviews, this is an excellent story that keeps the reader turning pages as fast as possible.The characters, especially Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, are developed enough that I have already begun to read another Deaver story starring Lincoln Rhyme:I want to know more about them.I won't give a synopsis as so many other reviewers have dutifully done.I just recommend this fast-paced, spine-chilling mystery/adventure novel to everyone!

Amazing book with Fresh Characters
Lincoln Rhyme is a suicidal quadriplegic whose main ambition for the past year has been to find a way to kill himself. Amelia Sachs is a patrolwoman on the brink of getting out of patroling the streets due to chronic arthritis.

Together they are brought together as a madman terrorizes New York. Reluctantly, they trudge through the crime scenes, looking to piece together crime scenes that a littered with subtle clues as to what will transpire next. The pieces of the puzzle must be put together as the clock ticks, another victim is certain to die.

Throughout the story, a rather strange connection is made between Rhyme and Sachs. Deaver makes no attempt to shield the graphic nature of the murders, or attempted murders, or the struggles of a quadriplegic to live life. This is a well researched, very well written book.

Highly recommended book.

Koonts,Deaver,Patterson,Chstistine Feehand,Laurel Hamilton,John Saul LOVER
This is the first Lincoln Rhyme book I read and I was hooked.Deaver is a master at twist and turns.I consider his books pageturners. ... Read more

Book Description
New York Times bestselling author

JEFFERY DEAVER

created the acclaimed blockbusters The Devil's Teardrop and The Coffin Dancer. Here he showcases his superb talent for "ticking-bomb suspense" (People) in this Edgar Award-nominated novel

SHALLOW GRAVES

Location scouting is to the film business what Switzerland is to war. John Pellam had been in the trenches of filmmaking, with a promising Hollywood career -- until a tragedy sidetracked him. Now he's a location scout, who travels the country in search of shooting sites for films. When he rides down Main Street, locals usually clamor for their chance at fifteen minutes of fame. But in a small town in upstate New York, Pellam experiences a very different reception -- his illusionary world is shattered by a savage murder, and Pellam is suddenly center stage in an unfolding drama of violence, lust, and conspiracy, which have a stranglehold on this less-than-picture-perfect locale.

Download Description
John Pelham had a promising career in Hollywood until his drinking got in the way. Now, as he tries to pick up the pieces of his shattered career, he finds himself in the small town of Cleary, New York, looking for a new location for an upcoming film. But the town's inhabitants are less than excited. When his friend is murdered and the crime is covered up by the local police, John realizes just how far the town will go to keep its secrets hidden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Simply Couldn't Read This One
I've read a lot of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels and like them and I thought The Devil's Teardrop which had a different protagonist was excellent.So when I saw this one in the bookstore, I snapped it up.Big waste of money!I couldn't even finish the book, and that is not something that I do very often.At the very beginning I didn't like the main character at all because he didn't seem the least bit sympathetic to me, although I realize that's simply a matter of personal taste and not something that you can give a bad review for.More serious was the total "no thought" stereotyping of "bad cops" and local townspeople.Still not enough to deep eighty-six it, but it was starting to get there at that point.No, the thing that made me toss this book is that while it is supposed to take place in upstate rural New York, Deaver tried to write this using colloquial English.Not a problem if he'd used the colloquial speech for the area.He didn't.He used the speech of rural areas of Virginia and other areas to the south of NYS.As a life long resident of upstate rural NY, I felt it insulting to get something that basic wrong and it opened up the whole suspician that nothing else in the book could be right, either, if that's the amount of research he put into it.It's incredibly lazy writing, and I don't have time to read poor writing.Too many other really good books out there to waste on a disaster like this one.Save your money and pass it by, or at least get it used if you feel you must read it.

Great suspense, dialogue
I just love Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books and began reading some of his other books. This one was easy to get into and very heart-jerking when character John Pellam's friend is blown up in a van and accused post-mortem of being involved in drugs. As seems a bit unusual, the death causes Pellam to be fired from his film producing job, but that's OK because it gives him time to solve his friend and co-worker's death. He's certain it's murder, and he's right. He also gets a taste of small town life in the process. Highly recommended!

Awesome Book!
This book was amazing, it took me a matter of days to finish it because I could not put it down. I strongly recomend it! Its entertaining from start to finish!

Shallow Graves
Shallow Graves is a story in a small country village. The main character John Pellam is shooting site for films here, until all the trouble starts to begin. He get's involved in a shooting involving drugs. The local police isn't supporting and he is even been trown in jail. It's my first read of J. Deaver and I expected more from him. I hope the other book I got from him will be better, called: The coffin dancer.

A VIEW OF THINGS TO COME
John Pellam is a film location scout who thinks he has found the perfect setting for a new flick.The problem is that there are some key town players who dont want the Hollywood big wigs disturbing their small town environment.....or are their reasons more sinister.What seems to be a series of warnings turns into a deadly game and Pellam must deal with wanna be movie stars, crooked cops, and even a romance or two to find out who is out to get him.

The pretense of the book has possibilites but the dedicated Deaver fan will be left a little gloomy from the shallow plot of SHALLOW GRAVES.The roller coaster thrill ride that usually marks a good Deaver novel is nowhere to be found. The character development is almost non existant and the subjects remain....shallow.There is one sudden flip at the end of the book that gives you a glimpse of the master suspense writer that Deaver was destined to become.

Sadly the book is average. It wont bore you to tears but it doesnt keep you on the edge of your seat either. A worthwhile read for a true Deaver fan but others should stear clear. ... Read more

Book Description
I love nothing better than surprising the readers of my short stories with a big twist in the end. They think the story is going in one direction and, bang, it ends up some place else. This is true of A Dish Served Cold, a crime short story set in Arizona. If any readers can guess the ending, I'd love to hear from them (through my website)! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Nothing to hate here except York
Great character development--I cringed experiencing the world through York's mentality. This is SO well written...dialogue really drove the story. I know it's a cliche, but I couldn't put it down. I'll say no more. Just read it.

Brilliant!
I didn't think I would like the scant pages story, but it turned out to be brilliant.

Jeffery Deaver know how to make you read and keep reading.

A Page turner

A great novel that worth much more than what I had paid.
I really enjoyed this story, and Jeffery Deaver is a great novelist.
It definitely worth much more than what I had paid.

Deaver Entertains
I was first hooked on Deaver with his collection of short stories called "Twisted".A very apt title, as he mindfs the readers with every story.

This story is about a man who supposedly wants revenge from an evil man who has hurt many people in his life.And the clues all build up to how this man wants the evil man dead.But in the end none of it adds up to the point where the police think the evil man is paranoid and crazy.But there is a trick ending.With Deaver, there always is.

A Nifty Little Thriller
A Dish Served Cold is as gorgeous and powerful as a Porsche 911 Turbo; it is a nifty little thriller. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Penzler Pick,February 2002: To the casual observer, it might seem thatediting an anthology is a great gig. After all, you essentially get to put yourname on a book that other people have written! But an anthology is very muchlike a paella: it's easy to make one, it's just hard to make a good one. JefferyDeaver has made a good one. The key to outstanding anthologies is to get goodwriters, good stories, and the proper mix of classics (the predictable) anddiscoveries (the unpredictable).

As you might expect from a suspense anthology, one of Deaver's own stories, "TheWeekender," is included, and it's one of the high spots of the book. The majoringredient of a suspense story should be... well, suspense. Commonly nowadays,if a story or book isn't a pure genre detective story, it's called "suspense,"but in fact it may have no more white-knuckle, heart-pounding, sweat-inducingsuspense than a Harlequin romance. Deaver delivers it in this story, as he doesin his novels.

Stephen King's "Quitters, Inc." is one of the great classics of suspense, andit's here. We can only wonder which story by Patricia Highsmith, one of thegreatest of all suspense writers, would have been in the book. Though she islisted on the dust jacket, no trace of her work can be found in the text. Thedust jacket's promise of Reginald Hill is also, alas, unfulfilled.

There are many superb stories here that ultimately fail to deliver on thesuspense front. The detective stories of Ellery Queen, for example, representedhere by "The Adventure of the Dauphin's Doll," are long on excellent detectiveplotting but pretty short on nail-biting. The same is true for Michael Malone'sbrilliant, Edgar-winning masterpiece, "Red Clay," and Rex Stout's wonderful"Fourth of July Picnic." A bad idea in assembling an anthology is to use a "bigname" just for the sake of having his work in the book, and that is the casewith "Chee's Witch" by Tony Hillerman, one of America's most distinguishedmystery novelists, who has admitted that he can't write short stories and provesit with this weak example.

As an anthologist myself, I find it almost irresistible to point out storiesthat should have been included but weren't, most notably the best pure suspensestory of the past decade, Brendan DuBois's "The Dark Snow," and certainlysomething by the greatest suspense writer of the 20th century, Cornell Woolrich.

Still, this excellent collection is worthwhile because it's chock full ofterrific mystery fiction, even if the level of suspense leaves a bit to bedesired. --Otto PenzlerBook Description
New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver's task was to select the best mystery/horror/detective stories of the century by the world's most celebrated writers. The result is a triumph, featuring masterpieces of suspense by:

Robert Bloch € Lawrence Block € Anthony Boucher € Frederic Brown € James M. Cain € Max Allan Collins € Jeffery Deaver € Stanley Ellin € Harlan Ellison € Erle Stanley Gardner € Ed Gorman € Patricia Highsmith € Reginald Hill € Tony Hillerman € Evan Hunter € Stephen King € John D. MacDonald € Ed McBain € Sharyn McCrumb € Ruth Rendell € Sara Paretsky € Georges Simenon € Mickey Spillane € Donald E. Westlake € Robert Barnard € Anna Katharine Green € Jeremiah Healy € John Lutz Ross MacDonald € Michael Malone € Steve Martini € Margaret Millar € Marcia Muller € Bill Pronzini € Ellery Queen € Lisa Scottoline € Rex Stout € Janwillem van de Wetering ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Collection Designed To Please!
Certainly Jeffery Deaver should know good mysteries when he sees them, and in his
personal compilation of a century of these great stories, the reader should assumeit's just that, a
collection of great stories!And they are!Deaver exercisesan ecumenical spirit here, practically
running the gamut of the genre!

It goes without staying that shortstories generally don't carry the impact that novels do on
the same subject (not to patronize short stories, of course, as they are great in their own "write").
With the exception of some personal favorites of mine, such as P.D. James and Ellis Peters,which
he omits, Deaver's wide assortment of writers is a real treasure!For students of the history of the
suspense story, Deaver shows off Anna Katherine Green's story (Ms Green is often considered to
have written the first American suspense novel) to provide a historical perspective, and then
continues on down the time line.Such luminaries as Ellery Queen, John D. MacDonald, Ruth
Rendell, Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, Sara Paretsky, and Robert Barnard light up these pages.
Indeed, a nice collection to keep around.Fun reading, too! (...)

A suspenseful anthology
When I first saw the title of this book all I could think of was oh no, another saves the century for the ages with one more literary anthology.The Ancient Library at Alexandria could never have contained more papyrus than we have currently available some short story theme involving the century.Though I have fully enjoyed each of the previous collections leisurely reading them over a couple of weeks (which seems like a century when compared to my normal pace), I vowed no more.Than I opened this book just to glimpse at who contributed and soon was hooked again all because Lawrence Block submitted a Batman tale.

Once again the quality is top rate as the thirty-six well-written stories run much of the suspense gamut submitted by a notable cast of writers.The tales include police and legal procedurals as well as the classic private sleuth investigative story among the assortment of other twist and turn tales.None of the stories shortchanges the ensemble, as this is a triumphant aggregation that is worth unhurriedly reading over a couple of weeks.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

NO BONE TO PICK WITH THE BONE COLLECTOR...
This is an especially suspenseful thriller made more so by the personal angst of the main character, Lincoln Rhyme. A quadriplegic, forensic ex-detective for the New York City Police Department, Rhyme is brought out of retirement by the police department to assist them in the apprehension of an apparently psychopathic killer who is loose on the streets of New York.

The forays into bits of arcane New York history, as well as the sleuthing done almost entirely through the application of forensics and deductive reasoning, make for a very interesting read. While at times it seems that no one could be as uncannily accurate as Rhyme in deciphering the meaning of the physical evidence, this contrivance does serve to move the plot along. With the story line so engrossing and the crime scenes horrific, as well as ingenious, it is the kind of book that is hard to put down, because you simply cannot wait to see what happens. The surprise ending is the icing on the cake.

Assisting Rhyme with his work is Police Officer Sachs who, while not as compelling a character as Rhyme, is essential to the story. It is her character who does the 'heavy lifting' so to speak. Highly intelligent and resourceful, with an innate appreciation of the importance of physical evidence, she inspects and preserves the crime scenes, as well as gathers the physical evidence from which Rhyme ultimately weaves his magic. She also serves as somewhat of a Deus Ex Machina in that she saves the day in more ways than one.

Sachs is a wonderful foil for Rhyme in that she runs hot to his cold. She is driven by her desire to help others, as well as by her own personal demons, while he is ever the calm, cool, collected clinician, whose desire to preserve a crime scene may supercede the milk of human kindness latent within his emotionally atrophied soul. The personal connection that Rhyme ultimately develops with Officer Sachs is one that leaves you hoping that they will be teamed up again in yet another novel. ... Read more

Book Description
Loaded with tension, charged with uncertainty, these four taut tales by New York Times bestselling authors bring their unsuspecting or hunted and fearful targets into the deadly sights of a hired killer's gun. Contents include: "Chapter and Verse" by Jeffery Deaver read by John Rubinstein, "Dr. Sullivan's Library" by Christine Matthews read by Judith Smiley, "The Right Tool for the Job" by Marcus Pelegrimas read by Richard Gilliland and "For Sale By Owner" by Jenny Siler read by Margy Moore.

Richard Gilliland is a veteran TV and film actor. Margy Moore and Judith Smiley are twoof the brightest newcomers on the audiobook narrator scene. John Rubinstein is an actor/composer/director who won a Tony for his starring role in Broadway's Children of a Lesser God. ... Read more

Book Description
Word count: 4042. ... Read more