With each novel author Jeffery Deaver brings forth I find
myself anxious to get to reading them. He has a way of making the stories he
tells come alive off the page, his characters people that you care for and fear
for and makes the most dreadful of situations (almost always a murder)
fascinating to read about. In a world where we have weekly crime series taking
us through the motions of a crime scene investigation, Deaver brings to life
the more in depth stories of what goes on instead of trying to cram it all into
a 45 minute time slot.
Fans of Deaver will already be acquainted with Kathryn
Dance. Making her first appearance in one of his novels about Lincoln Rhyme
(some will know the character from the movie THE BONE COLLECTOR), he has since
begun telling her stories as well. Alternating between the two, who in their
world have become friends separated by the size of the United States, fans get
to have two heroes with different styles of solving crimes that have learned
from one another.
This time around Kathryn has more than one problem facing
her crime solving skills. The first involved misreading a suspect involving
drug crimes, a suspect who subsequently escapes putting Kathryn’s job at risk.
On desk duty she gets called to a scene to follow up on paperwork but wiggles
her way into the investigation as well. A local concert spot has a false alarm
called out resulting in the deaths and injuries of several patrons. Not only
was a false alarm started but the exits to the location were seals by a truck
preventing patrons from escaping the non-existent fire and resulting in their
deaths/injuries.
Digging deep for clues Kathryn discovers that the most
likely suspect is nothing more than an innocent pawn (no, this is not a spoiler
folks). As she digs deeper into the motivations of the perpetrator behind this catastrophe,
another similar event takes place. Alongside the lead investigator, Kathryn
begins to develop an understanding of who is behind these murders, for they are
indeed just that. As to the reason why that doesn’t become clear until near the
end of the book.
Along the way the personal life of Kathryn Dance comes into
play as well. Problems for both of her children surface at various times in the
book. Her romance with a computer whiz affects both her and her children. And
the friction between her and a colleague that could have resulted in their
becoming involved in the past surfaces as well.
All of these items are mixed together to create a satisfying
read that holds your interest from start to finish. Deaver’s ability to hold
your interest while telling a tale is on full display here. He does it
remarkably well.
I found only two problems with this book. The first is that
while reading it I didn’t want to stop and put it down. This ended up in
several late night reading binges that sent me to bed at 4-5AM. The second was
that once it was finished I wanted the world of Kathryn Dance to carry on. I
didn’t want the story to end. That these are the two biggest problems with this
book reveal that there could be worse things for an author to know about the books
he writes. Deaver has reason to be proud of his novels. Now if the rest of you
would just jump on board maybe we could get him to write them faster for those
of us waiting for the next one.
Click here to order.
No comments:
Post a Comment