The Empty Chair

Rating:
Summary: A clunker
Review: I have read all the other Lincoln Rhyme books and enjoyed them thoroughly. This one should have been sent back for a new last 100 pages. The ending is contrived and appears to have been added to quickly finish an incomplete book. The rest of the book is slow and not as interesting as previous writings.

Rating:
Summary: Jeffery Does It Again!
Review: One of the most rewarding things about reading a Jeffery Deaver is that you never know where he will take you by the time you've finished. And this is a great way to lure readers back. And he's done it again with "The Empty Chair." Although I didn't find it as satisfying and thrilling a read as "The Devil's Teardrop," it is nonetheless an extremely well-written and plotted thriller. As in the past, Deaver piles on plot twist after plot twist, and even when you're only three or four pages from the end, he throws in one last clinker. They're always believable, and you want to slap your head and say, "I should've seen that." This book's strengths (aside from the aforementioned twists) is its characterizations. Rhyme, Amelia and Thom remain intricate, complex, vulnerable, human and interesting. The supporting cast in this one is top-notch, particularly Garrett Hanlon, the Insect Boy; Lydia Johansen, an early kidnap victim; Lucy Kerr, a very sympathetic cop with a secret history of her own; and Ben Kerr, a college student "volunteered" to assist Lincoln in his search for the villains. The villains are as always vile and contemptible, and no one is who they seem to be as in any Deaver novel. All in all, it's a great read, and you won't be sorry you read it. If you are, then you're not a true Deaver fan!

Rating:
Summary: The Empty Chair is Full-y Satisfying
Review: I have been a fan of Mr. Deaver since reading his fantastic novel, "Praying For Sleep". And, strangely enough, his books just keep getting better. I had thought Mr. Deaver topped himself with "The Devil's Teardrop" (which is not a Lincoln Rhymes novel), but I was in for a pleasant suprise with his latest.

"The Empty Chair" is a rather different Deaver novel, complete with small-town corruption, an interesting development in the relationship between Sachs and Rhymes, and a final plot-twist in the last 5 pages that will chill you to the bone.

Just when the reader is comfortable, Mr. Deaver pulls another twist out of his bag of tricks, providing a thoroughly unpredictable, and highly thrilling and enjoyable, tale of suspense.

My only complaint is this - Mr. Deaver's novels are entirely too short...

I can't wait until the next Deaver novel, even if it is not a Lincoln Rhymes adventure...

Rating:
Summary: Super page-turner!
Review: It seems that, instead of getting repetitive, each of the Lincoln Rhyme/Amelia Sachs thrillers is getting better. In this one, Rhyme and Sachs are asked to assist a small town North Carolina police department in a volatile murder/kidnapping by an odd local teen known as the Insect Boy. (Rhyme is at a nearby UNC campus for experimental spinal surgery.) By taking them out of the "safety" and familiarity of New York, this book takes a fresh look at the forensics the pair use to track down criminals, and provides new challenges.

This story takes more twists and turns than any of the prior Rhyme/Sachs tales. Every time I thought things were about to slow down, there was another bizarre turn of events. Read this if you want a fun page-turner, which you will find difficult to put down!

Rating:
Summary: Great Lincoln Rhyme novel - but Deaver made some mistakes
Review: I thoroughly enjoy Jeffrey Deaver's novels. He's one of the writers that I always buy in hardback as soon as a new novel comes out.

As much as I enjoyed The Empty Chair, I did notice a few dialogue mistakes that Deaver made. I grew up in the South (Macon, Georgia) and there are several sentences of dialogue and figures of speech by the Southern characters in The Empty Chair which just didn't ring true for me. I've never heard someone from the South speak like that.

The only reason I mention the dialogue slipups are because I noticed them, and it was a surprise for me - since Deaver does such copious amounts of research for his books.

Re: the plot and everything else about The Empty Chair, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Despite my problems with the Southern dialogue, I wholeheartedly recommend The Empty Chair.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping!
Review: Excellent! I cannot wait for the next installment of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs. I hope the next book contains more of the on going relationship between the two.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling
Review: This is yet another exciting book by Jeffery Deaver. Very thrilling and very big surprises at the end. Anyone who likes action and suspense should get this book right away. Also get Deavers other novels and get Clive Cussler novels also.

Rating:
Summary: Deaver Does It Again!
Review: Mr. Deaver consistently educates me as well as entertains me with his thrillers. In "Empty Chair", two of my favorite crime team players are back. Rhymes and Sachs are a great contrasting mix.....like pineapple & peanut butter sandwiches! Tartly sweet & a dab of stubborn goo. Just like these two, now caught up in a murder kidnapping case.

The setting takes place in North Carolina. Rhymes, a paraplegic from previous police work, is there for surgery. Sachs, a sassy ex-model, is there for, maybe some trouble? *smile* They are both there to track down a bug obsessed suspect nicknamed "Insect Boy".

Enjoy the read, the twisting ride.. I never dare to think I know the conclusion. Deaver gets me everytime!

other reading suggestions : "Messiah" by Boris Starling, "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King & "The Coffin Dancer" by Jeffrey Deaver

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Electrifying!
Review: Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs have traveled from New York City to northeastern North Carolina so Rhyme can undergo experimental surgery which may improve his condition. For the uninitiated, Rhyme is a criminalist rendered quadriplegic by a crime-scene accident and Sachs is his highly trained assistant and love interest.

Upon their arrival in North Carolina, Rhyme is approached by the local sheriff and asked to assist in the recent murder of a young man and abduction of two young women. They know who did it -- a 16-year-old problem child named Garrett Hanlon, known to the locals as the Insect Boy. They need the expertise of Rhyme and Sachs, however, to help find the women before the boy kills them. And so the stage is set for one of the most suspenseful manhunts I have ever read.

Deaver bats the reader back and forth like a tennis ball -- is the boy guilty, or is he innocent? Even when Sachs breaks him out of jail after his capture and subsequent Gestalt-type empty chair therapy and goes on the run with him, we still don't know. Rhyme is sure Sachs has lost her mind, and he's about to lose his as the subterfuge and killing mount, leaving Sachs facing a long prison sentence if not the death penalty. There are more twists and turns in this book and more snakes in the grass than you can shake a stick at. I'm a long-time Deaver fan but, in my opinion, this is his best work ever.

Rating:
Summary: A Winner But Not Deaver's Best
Review: While not as good as The Bone Collector or The Coffin Dancer, The Empty Chair has plenty to recommend it: lots of plot twists, many surprises (although some are a bit contrived), interesting supporting characters, a nice change of pace in terms of setting, and the tension between Rhyme and Sachs is often intense. If this is your first book by Deaver, The Empty Chair will entice you to read his other books. However, if you've already read The Bone Collector and The Coffin Dancer, I think you might agree with me that Deaver's latest effort -- while definitely worth reading --is a step below these works.