Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: A page-turner that truly has a hero who has to face adversity...his own extreme physical limitations...Plus the bad guys who are out to get him. It's a kidnapping/murder case, that, as you turn the pages, becomes much more. The best thriller since Craig Furrnas THE SHAPE. Too bad Denzil Washington's movie version of a previous book in this series was a flop, because I would love to see more of this character on the screen, as well as on the page.
Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT READ !
Review: If you are picking up a Lincoln Rhyme novel for the first time; rest assured you are in very good hands. Jeffrey deaver has developed his character extrememly well over the three books and though some people crib about the ploy of using a quadraplegic detective; trust me, it works and how ! . In the Empty Chair; Rhyme is not only a fish out of water(out of his familar NY surroundings) but he also has to grapple with trying to convince Amelia sachs that he has to undergo a complicated operation which could leave him worse off but which could also give him some additional mobility if things go well but before that he has the local Police department asking for his help in locating 2 kidnapped girls and from here on, you are in classic Deaver territory; he piles on the chills and the thrills without ever sacrificing the characters in favour of the plot, the ending is a virtuouso tour de force and it was virtually impossible to second guess the outcome of the book. Garnett's obsession with Insects was a great touch and though like one reviewer mentioned ; it is a little reminescent of Silence of the Lambs; Deaver has managed to make that detail fit perfectly into place in the context of the book. I am not going to divulge the further twists and turns but believe me; if you start reading this book in the evening; you can be sure that you are going to have a late night trying to finish it. I would have given this book a perfect rating except for the fact that towards the end; great though it undeniably was, I could not help overcome the feeling that it was written to be made into a movie, it read too much like a screenplay. Don't let that stop you though, read it, it is one terrific ride and you are going to have a good time, Guranteed !
Rating:
Summary: Yet another riveting, fantastic Deaver thriller.
Review: This latest Deaver and Rhyme/Sachs book goes into personal mode. Personal, as in Rhyme looking forward to a treatment which could improve his condition. Personal, as in the Rhyme vs. Sachs duel which takes up a sizable portion of the book. Personal, as in Thom (Rhyme's pesronal caretaker) getting into action! And personal, as in it seems that the Rhyme/Sachs saga, all too short, may have reached the finish line. SPOILER WARNING: Rest at ease, it does not end. Deaver rescues the entire mess at the end and leaves us all waiting for the next chapter. My one complaint is that Deaver, in the process of surprising his readers time after time during his novels, always seems to toy with acceptable "suspension of disbelief" guidelines. And "The Empty Chair" is the worst case of this. The big mess near the end, which seems to be on the verge of ending this series as we know it, is all too neatly resolved. And the twists really are twisty here. Still, and even despite an uncharasteristically slow beginning, 5 stars because of the power of Deaver's narrative and plotting.
Rating: 
Summary: The Empty Story - A great disappointment
Review: Having read all three in the Rhyme series, I am reminded of John Gresham: first books were great, made a movie and it's all downhill from there. This Rhyme novel still has the tedious forensic details, but the plot is really lacking. It's not a page turner - I rate it a C-.
Rating:
Summary: Forensic detail and action make this a winner
Review: Jeffery Deaver's latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller finds the quadriplegic criminalist at a North Carolina medical center preparing for a risky operation in hopes of improving his nearly immobile condition. With his protégé and lover, Amelia Sachs, by his side and a couple days to spare before surgery, Rhyme agrees to help a small town sheriff track down a teenager who has kidnapped two young women and killed another boy.The sheriff's team, racing to save the victims' lives, distrusts the New Yorkers' (rather Holmesian) methods and Sachs - Rhyme's legs - meets resistance at every turn into the suspect's lair - a tangled swamp dotted with ingenious booby-traps. Point-of-view shifts, particularly among Sachs, Rhyme, the two victims and the suspect, a troubled 16-year-old orphan, known as the Insect Boy for his obsession with insects. Members of the sheriff's department also get a voice, including a couple of rogue officers with an agenda of their own. Though Sachs' team captures the boy, he refuses to give up the location of his captive and, almost on a whim, Sachs takes matters into her own hands, breaking the boy out of jail and taking off into the swamp. In the ensuing battle of wits, Rhyme learns how well he has taught his apprentice. Full of twists, hairpin turns and reverses, Deaver's plot races into crises from which it seems there can be no return. The forensic detection is ingenious and the insect lore is fascinating and cleverly applied. There are a few minor credibility issues - Sachs' counterpart on the sheriff's team seems a mite eager to take deadly offense and Sachs' worry that Rhyme's surgery will free him from her is repugnant. But the keep-you-guessing character of the resourceful, pathetic, sympathetic Insect Boy is wholly realistic, heightening the already high-pitched suspense.
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: Lincoln Ryme is back and better than ever! Mr. Deaver has woven an intricate thriller filled with great characters! The bug thing reminded me of "Silince of the Lambs" Clear out a weekend to read! I also recomend "A Tourist in the Yucatan" A little known thriller that is becoming a cult favorite
Rating:
Summary: more melodrama than intelligent thriller
Review: I have read the previous Rhyme novels and enjoyed them, but this one is disappointing. Deaver is too careless with science (misrepresenting what a gas chromatograph can do) and his material (in one case, either the map is wrong or his description of a river is). Furthermore, the book turns much more toward melodrama by having too many confusing twists and turns. He is so interested in such tricks that his characters behave implausibly. I half expected to find the heroine tied to the railroad tracks before it was over.
Rating: 
Summary: ENOUGH OF HANDICAPPED MISERY!
Review: I think I'm getting fed up about thriller/mystery writers attempting to devise new, unusual characters for their novels: I mean, what'll be next? I cancer-ridden zombie with an investigating agency at the local cemetery? A PI on life-supporting equipment wheeled around by his/her nurse during investigating procedures? There is enough misery in this world for wanting to at least have some straight forward storytelling with normal, everyday personages doing some interesting work. And then again, the plot of this one is pretty poor. Next, please!
Rating:
Summary: At the Top of His Form (Deaver & Lincoln!)
Review: I just finished this novel and was so impressed, I found it important to get my thought down immediately. Deaver hasn't done it again...he's done it right..solid read, good character development, necessary twists and turns, suprises, and a good command of english to make the story flow. I believe this is his best novel yet. You will too. Now, I find it necessary to comment about those individuals who intentionally rate a book poorly as a means of garnering attention. I don't mind discovering a different opinion, but I do mind opinions that are trite and unnecesssary. Of course I could be wrong and just be another mindless flack reading novels simply for joy and pleasure. GREAT NOVEL...A good summer read!
Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT! A LABRYRINTH OF A READ!
Review: Jeffrey Deaver has done it again! I was hooked after reading "The Bone Collector", (forget the mediocre movie), but if it's possible to become a certified junkie, then I have become just that! Lincoln Rhyme, the grumpy, curmudgeonly, wheelchair-bound, quadriplegic forensic detective (though he detests being labelled merely a "forensic" anything), returns with his model-turned-police officer partner, Amelia Sachs. Rhyme, with his C-4 spinal injury, and Sachs, with her self-destructive behaviour, make an unlikely pair...and unlikely lovers. Both carry enough psychic and emotional baggage to fill a barn--yet together they make an excellent team. They travel together to a hospital in North Carolina where the medical doctors there specialize in experimental treatment of exactly the kind of spinal injury that Rhyme suffers from. Though the treatment is unproven and risky, Rhyme insists on going through with it, much to Sachs disapproval. While waiting to check into the hospital, the pair are approached by police officers from a neighboring town, referred by a cousin of one of their officers who had worked previously with Rhyme. They were investigating the case of a 16-year-old boy, highly disturbed, who had allegedly kidnapped two women, and possibly killed a number of other people. The case was becoming more than they could handle alone, and practically beg Rhyme to help them. But there's more to this case than they are being told. Much, much more! Due to the dizzying talents and skills of Rhyme and Sachs, the boy is apprehended merely halfway through the book. In the hugely capable hands of Deaver, though, the story is only getting warmed up. When Sachs, taking pity on the scared boy, breaks into the local jail and escapes with him, it's certain that the reader is in for an edge-of-the-seat story whose end comes all too quickly! It takes every ounce of cunning and intelligence Rhyme has to find Sachs and the boy before they are both killed by not only the local police, but a group of moonshine-crazed vigilantes who seem hellbent on beating everyone to the kill. A page-turning, sweat-churning exercise in reading, "The Empty Chair" is one of the finest murder/mysteries to come along in many years. Deaver makes his characters jump off the page and yet wholly vulnerable--a combination that works well in drawing ones sympathy and care about the outcome. He colors them with very human prejudices, faults and other human failings. This is the book that every author dreams of writing. If only!
|
