The Empty Chair

Rating:
Summary: Rhyme and Sachs together again!
Review: A super mix of all sorts of relationships, but especially quadriplegic Lincoln Rhyme the great criminologist!! Ever showing us we can be something and be GREAT no matter what our disability! (If we think about it, we all have SOMETHING!) The Empty Chair is a superb psychological thriller that actually pits Rhyme AGAINST Amelia Sachs at one point. A super chase, lots of evidence and characterization. Jeffery Deaver gets the points on this one!

Rating:
Summary: Jeffrey Deaver - resting on his laurels?
Review: "The Bone Collector" with its wealth of detail about the history of New York, and the introduction of the complex characters of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs held the interest and whetted the appetite for more of the same calibre. Unfortunately, "The Empty Chair" stretches the readers' incredulity and eventually loses their interest. The book divides into two sections, the first the search for a presumed serial killer and abductor of young women. This section is just credible but lacks the fascination of the in-depth knowledge of an area that is displayed to such effect in "The Bone Collector".The second half of the story has Sachs behaving in a manner that is, quite frankly, out of character and which stretches credulity to the breaking point. To my disappointment, I had lost interest before I reached the end. Not up to the standard of the other two Lincoln Rhyme books.

Rating:
Summary: Deaver keeps Lincoln Rhyme going strong...
Review: in his 3rd novel about the quadriplegic scientist.

The first two books in the series were more plausible than the Empty Chair, but it is an entertaining and engrossing read. This time Rhyme is out of his element in North Carolina, where he gets sidetracked from important surgery by a kidnapping case he is asked to investigate.

Thom and Sachs are back assisting him, and their characterizations are solid, although the plot twist involving Sachs and the kidnapper is implausible. Featured in the story is the North Carolina countryside, in all its beauty, and an interesting local character, Lucy Kerr. Like Rhyme himeself, Lucy has been crippled by physical devastation, but keeps going in the law enforcement world, while costing herself a lot of personal pain. Deaver might do well to feature her in an upcoming book; there is a lot to explore in her character.

Weaving the psychological practice of "the empty chair" into the book is an interesting sidebar to the central plot, and the true villains are surprising and revealed only at the end. In the meantime, you keep turning the pages and getting more deeply involved into the search for the kidnap victim and the thought processes that keep Rhyme and Sachs motivated.

A good read by a strong author with one of the more interesting heroes in mystery novels today.

Rating:
Summary: Have a seat, Jeffery
Review: One thing I'm sure of, for anyone unacquianted with the Lincoln Rhyme series, THE EMPTY CHAIR is not the place to start. The third entry is clearly the weakest.

The criminalist, his protege Amelia Sachs and his care-giver, Thom, are in unfamiliar and uncharted territory of North Carolina in order for Rhyme to undergo experimental treatment for his paralysis when he is beseeched by the local sheriff to lend his expertise to the the search for a teenaged kidnapper/murderer unaffectionately known by locals as 'the insect boy.' During the course of their investigation Rhyme and Sachs find themselves opposing counterweights to the scales of justice as Sachs succumbs to intuitive reaction rather than acceptance of the preponderance of evidence they uncover. But, as any 'Deaverite' would surmise, nothing is as straightforward as it appears and by the time the conclusion is approached, the story has taken all of the customary detours and spurs one has to anticipate with! a Deaver mystery.

Unlike the two previous books, here Rhyme displays a diffidence unjustified by the storylines of distracting personal issues or inferred insecurities relating to the 'fish out of water' status. His characterization is flat and uninspired serving to cast a pall over plot fulfillment. As this is merely the third time out, it would be presumptuous to assume all layers of personality for Rhyme and Sachs have been revealed however in this book neither character demonstrates basic consistency with previously exhibited traits. The central decision made by Sachs to stage a jailbreak bares little resemblance to a choice that would be expected from the woman who placed midtown Manhattan in gridlock to secure a crime scene, and Rhyme's response to her actions is far too accepting of her insubordination.

Although each successive Rhyme mystery has grown just a bit longer, this one was a conundrum since the story was not terribly engrossing yet seemed to te!rminate much too quickly. The ending was contrived and not in the least convincing. I hope THE EMPTY CHAIR is an aberration rather than the precursor of the future course of the Rhyme series.

Rating:
Summary: Deaver does it again!
Review: This is classic Deaver. The Empty Chair is a fast-paced, keep you guessing, make you realize you really have no clue what's going on, make you guess some more, and then finally make you realize that you're at his mercy, kind of book. It is incredibly written and very well researched. If you enjoy thrillers you'll love the empty chair!

Rating:
Summary: Typical Deaver - Not That There's Anything Wrong with That!
Review: I have to admit that were this not a Deaver book, I may have rated it higher. Unfair? Maybe. But how is one to objectively critique a book written by an author who consistently uses the black is white, nothing is what it appears formula? Knowing what I know about Deaver, its pretty easy to guess who the bad guys are (the good guys) and who the good guys are (the supposed bad guys). This does take away from the plot twists, as they are fully anticipated. The real fun left is in guessing exactly who are responsible and the minute details of their intrigue.

Without giving away too much of the plot, a sad-sack bug-freak teenager is accused of several gruesome murders and abductions which he claims to be for the victim's own safety. For reasons unknown, he refuses to disclose their location to Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, and layers untruth upon untruth, which in the end serves as a plot device to keep the action moving without revealing the finale.

A huge cast of characters enter the plot, all gunning for the teen, but Amelia senses his innocence and embarks on a tenuous adventure to prove just that. Rhyme, as always, fights her emotional reaction and tries to use the facts to serve his purpose - which initially shows the boy to be guilty and later attempts to justify Amelia's actions.

Deaver's clear strength is character development. He portrays all his protagonists with a humane self-effacing light which serves to help us sympathize with them and understand their motivation. Deaver knows this is a strength, and even throws in guest appearances from other books to keep the faithful readers up to date.

Plot development is also strong, aside from the overwrought plot twists which need not come at such an extreme degree to be successful. A Maiden's Grave was more adept at staying focused while creating enough intrigue to remain suspenseful.

I only hope that some day, Deaver will write a book in which the greatest final plot twist is that there is none. Now, that would be something.

Rating:
Summary: Deaver isn't a good writer, and I'll tell you why.
Review: This is my first Deaver book and my last. I decided to read it because the blurb on the back sounded interesting and I was familiar with Rhyme and Sachs from The Bone Collector movie.

I've read a few customer reviews, and I agree that the Empty Chair has a good plot and characters. The book also had a lot of potential for suspense, but because of Deaver's writing, there is none.

I'll give an example of this without giving spoilers. There is a scene in the book where two characters see someone and comment to each other about her. Then Deaver describes this character threatening and then about to kill another character. Scene Over. The book cuts to a new scene where the threatened character is alive. How, the reader wonders, did he make it? Then Deaver describes in flashback about the first two characters who realized something was wrong in seeing that person where they did, then they burst into the room to prevent that person from doing the killing. Now, why couldn't Deaver have described this as it actually happened. I don't know. But it takes away from the whole book, especially since all of the scenes are like this. He leads you to believe one thing will happen and then something else happens. There is no shock or suspense in revealing all of the surprises of the novel in flashback fashion. It would be nice if Deaver would let us feel some of the excitement and suspense along with his characters.

I recommend you don't read this book. I've read so many other authors who can handle a simple action scene so much better than Deaver...

Rating:
Summary: Lincoln Rhyme Meets Gomer Pyle
Review: The audio version of this book showed the limits of this form of expression. On the one hand, the early parts of the story were riveting and flowed very smoothly. On the other hand, there seemed to be a natural ending point that, when passed, made the story seem overly long and the plot overly complex. Still, it held my attention and made me forget the long drive -- a solid recommendation for any audio book.

On other item makes me rate this audio book a "4" (really a high "3"). I had never read a Jeffrey Deaver novel before, but was intrigued to see that the reader was Joe Mantegna, one of my favorite actors. He did very well reading the narrator's part. Unfortunately, the accent that he chose for most of the "locals" (North Carolina residents)bordered on the ridiculous. He made even the most educated and intelligent of them sound like country bumpkins. Surely, this was not the intent of the author.

Despite all of these negatives, it was still a compelling story and made the time pass very quickly.

Rating:
Summary: Not at his best
Review: Let me say upfront, I am a big Jeffrey Deaver fan; The Bone Collector and (especially) The Coffin Dancer were excellent. Comparing The Empty Chair to those two masterpieces, I felt this book came up a little short. Too much seemed forced, though I did enjoy the read. Deavers is still the master. I look forward to the next Lincoln Rhyme story.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This was my first book by Deaver, and it will not be my last. In certain areas the book seems to drag just a little, but overall a good read with an ending that will not allow you to put the book down. I highly recommend this book.