Rating: 
Summary: No More Awards for Deaver
Review: Jeffrey Deaver has won four major writing awards for his mystery - thriller books. His "Bone Collector" made it as a Denzel Washington movie. Sadly, his skills have slid into the swamp with this book that is part "Deliverance", a little "Heat in the Night", some "Ironside", "The Great Dismal Swamp", and heavy portions of "Unbelievable." From his best "The Coffin Dancer", Deave has now created his worst. He takes his quadraplegic intuitive scientist investigator into an imaginary town and county in North Carolina where just a few hours after arrival, Lincoln Rhyme is enlisted to help stop a killer. We don't need the state police or the FBI for this kidnap. We've got a man from New York. He can only move one finger and boss people around. But now he tools around on a motorized wheel chair he operates with a steering straw in his mouth. A boy is beaten to death with a shovel. More murders are suspected. Two women are kidnapped a day apart. A deputy is attacked by killer wasps. The local sheriff needs help from this stranger. The killer is captured. He breaks out of jail with the help of a red headed New York feminist law woman. This killer loves bugs because his parents died in a car crash. Luckily these local yocals have the scientific criminalist from the big city to figger it out. But wait, let's make every character in the book a suspect at least once or twice. Jeffrey Deaver books seldom make sense as he warps time, makes up science, and creates unbelievable law and order situations. But they are usually a good read as you suspend your disbelief. This read will leave you looking for places to put the book down. A waste basked would be a good spot. Instead of page turning into the night, you will read a few words in each chapter just to get it over with. Follow the money. That's what Deaver is doing. Do we have a movie sequel coming?
Rating: 
Summary: A great read!
Review: Deaver takes his "Bone Collector" characters and puts them in the backwoods of North Carolina, chasing down one of the most interesting suspects created in a long time ("the Insect Boy). Like other Deaver novels, there's enough crime scene and forensic detail to make you feel like you are learning while you read, and enough suspense to keep the pages turning well into the wee hours.I loved the Bone Collector and wasn't as thrilled with Coffin Dancer. I'd liken "Empty Chair" more to the Bone Collector. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who likes a good, well thought out mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but still worst Rhyme novel
Review: I was really excited when I found third Lincoln Rhyme novel (first The Bone Colletor, second, The Coffin Dancer) in paperback at the bookshop. I promptly grab the book and hurried home for as what I would expect to be an awesome read. But I was dissapointed. The begining is as usuall heart-stoping, Deaver is master of taking you to the edge of breath-taking experince. But in The Bone Colector you don't know the perp, in The Coffin Dancer you know him partly and in The Empty chair you know alomost everything so why bother most known forensic scientist? Because in app. of 24 hours in the eyes of the perp the victim is dehumanizied and you need someone who is not stoping traffic all his career life and his top knowledge is solving domestic crimes but much better then that to solve the crime. You need someone as Lincoln Rhyme is, an expert in hard evidence, soil, tissue, blood, etc expert. Insect boy is to get caught, there is no question, but how will they do it? And why he did all this crime? Was it he at all? I found that this would be great summer novel if I wouldn't read Deaver previous ones. The Bone Collector was wow and The Coffin Dancer was a reall page-turner. Though in his last one, you can get a bit boring with book at least 100 pages too long. It seems as Deaver want to tell to many things in this novel and it was just too much material beside the story which made this suspensual novel last amazing and more adventureous. If you will accept that, you will find this book a nice reading material. Hope next time Deaver will concentrate more on a plot and that would be less obvius then this time. Otherwise, this is read of extreme knowledge in fornsic science and as always you will learn a decent amount of this field.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Thrilling !!
Review: This is the first Jeffrey Deaver's novel that I have read, although I have watch "The Bone Collector" movie, and I must say that "Empty Chair" is even much better in terms of suspense than the movie. Deaver has the ability to put us on a "roller-coaster ride" throughout the entire story. I absolutely enjoyed this book and is looking forward to buy some of his other novel. Perhaps, I will even start to read the Bone Collector and compare it with the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Twists and turns galore!
Review: I've read all three of Mr. Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels and I think "The Empty Chair" is the best yet. I became a fan of Lincoln Rhyme from the moment I "met" him...a quadrapeligic with a brilliant mind, incredible forensic knowledge, a gruff exterior at times, but an inner tenderness, especially when it comes to Amelia Sachs. "The Bone Collector" had numerous twists and turns and surprises and after reading it I knew I would seek out more Lincoln Rhyme novels. "Coffin Dancer" somehow did not have the same power,but when I picked up "The Empty Chair" I was hooked from the very first page. Lincoln wants to have surgery which promises to give him more mobility. Amelia loves him just the way he is and is afraid she might lose him. They arrive in North Carolina with their mixed emotions about the surgery. But fate steps in when Lincoln is called to a crime scene, not far from the hospital. Though reluctant to go at first, he listens to Amelia's prodding and goes to help the local sheriff. From his immobile position in bed, Rhyme analyzes the data Amelia finds. He gets some help from Ben, a local college student, who knows nothing about forensics but can use the complicated equipment that Rhyme requires. As Amelia walks "the grid" through the crime scenes, she passes on what she sees, smells,finds to Lincoln. He is like a computer...taking in data and processing it to reach the correct answer. We are led through many twists in this novel. The young man Garrett Hanlon, who at first seems completely guilty of the crimes of murder and kidnapping, turns out to be just a very mixed up teenager,whose life has made him what he is. The people that we trust turn out to be the ones we should fear. Of course Rhyme is always a step or two ahead of us..he knows who the "good guys and bad guys are"! But since we don't always know everything that's going on in his incredible mind, we often worry about him and Amelia surviving. Just when you think that Rhyme has run out of luck, the plot takes a twist and all is well again. In this novel, Amelia really branches out on her own. She takes desperate measures to save the missing girl Mary Beth, only to find that in following her instincts she may have endangered herself and others. Rhyme even doubts her actions but only for a short while, until he can get more clues. In a final "showdown", surrounded by the police and "moonshiners', Amelia accidentally fires her weapon killing one of the local policemen. She will be brought up on murder charges and all of her dreams about a life with Lincoln seem to dissolve in front of her eyes. But , the reader should know that this will not come to pass. Lincoln is still on the case and is still using his nimble mind to re-analyze all the data. He never gives up until he finds the answers. The reader is amazed as he so easily puts all the pieces together so that he can save Amelia from prosecution. But can he save himself? Has he seemingly trusted some of the wrong people? Or are we just lead to believe so? And has Amelia developed a sixth sense as well that allows her to protect Lincoln, as he protects her? I don't want to give away too much or the book so I won't go into any detail. Suffice it to say, that for those of you who enjoy the unexpected, this novel is a joy.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, but not great
Review: As w/his previous Lincoln Rhyme novels, this one will keep u turning the pages. Unlike some of his previous works Deaver failed to give you background into almost every character, instead only focusing on a few. There were some parts to this book that were a little unbelievable -flashback to A Devil's Teardrop- especially considering some of the characters history. But Deaver came through with a great ending to the book. OK, but by no means is it close to THE COFFIN DANCER.
Rating:
Summary: Deaver does it again and has written a real page-turner!
Review: Remember the quadriplegic, expert criminologist, who has motion only in a small part of his neck and in one finger? What about his brilliant redheaded protégé who acts as his legs at crime-scenes? Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are back in the third installment of this mystery saga. After searching for an old-fashioned New York killer in The Bone Collector (1997) and tracking the tattooed Dancer through the streets of Manhattan in The Coffin Dancer (1998), the partners are now helping the local police in a North Carolina town find the kidnapper and murderer of two young women. When Rhyme travels to North Carolina to undergo an experimental and risky surgical procedure, hoping to increase his mobility, he has no idea that his talents as one of the nation's best crime-scene analysts would be called into play on a case. With physical evidence collected by Sachs at various crime-scenes, he must locate a hideaway cabin where a bug-obsessed teenage boy may be holding nurse Lydia Johansson. Rhyme and Sachs have no more than 24 hours to track the suspect Garrett Hanlon, referred to as Insect Boy by the locals, before he kills the abducted nurse. Insect Boy is not the only opponent Rhyme and Sachs must face. The local deputies are not keen to accept the arrival of New York cops on the scene and taking control of their case. The local deputies have dreamt of catching Insect Boy since his first presumed murder a couple years back, and are willing to do anything to catch him - dead or alive. When Sachs starts having doubts about the identity of the "real" murderer, she rejects Rhyme's assumptions and starts her own investigation. Now Rhyme, assisted by his aid Thom and a marine biology scientist, must work against his lover and most valued friend, in locating the abducted nurse before the local deputies. Deaver does it again and has written a real page-turner thriller. The plot is both well defined and well written. Allies become enemies, and enemies become allies. You will find new interpretations of the title The Empty Chair throughout the book. Suspense fans will be well served.
Rating:
Summary: What A Wild Read!
Review: For anyone who is a fan of forensic mysteries, Deaver is the one for you. His hero-Lincoln Rhyme is a treasure. Who'd ever think that an author could make a character like this so believable. Rhyme is a quadriplegic, and although his intelligence is certainly not impaired from his accident, his mobility sure is, but he has two great characters to help him do the "leg work" so to speak. Amelia and Thom are wonderful, and the other people that he brings in like Lucy in this case gather all the information, and take all the chances, and Rhyme sits back and analyzes what the evidence states. This is a really exciting book, and in typical Deaver fashion, it keeps you guessing all the way through. Don't ever think the action is complete until you get to the last page. This is my favourite Lincoln Rhyme novel. I had to read it again because the plot is so intricate and I got more out of it the second time.
Rating:
Summary: Another darn good book
Review: Although I think this is the weakest of the three Lincoln Rhyme books so far, it is still a very enjoyable book. As always, it is full of twists and turns, and the scenery is well-described and believable. You will be steaming in your seat from the brutally accurate descriptions of the Tar Heel State. The only cons -- I found the characters a little too thin and harder to visualise or empathise with than normal. In a couple of places, this sticks out and jars the reader. This may be because of the literary/philosophical focus on the "empty chair" which underlies the various strata of the story -- it is a more complex book psychologically, and slightly less of an "action" book than its predecessors, which may have detracted from characterisation. (In other books, the characters would walk out right off the page). However, Deaver really spins out more detail on Amelia Sachs' character, which makes for very thought-provoking reading and mostly makes up for the lack of detail on other characters. Typically, for a Deaver novel, you won't quite know whom to root for or what is going to happen next. Just sit back and be taken for a great ride. You should definitely read his first two novels in this series (Bone Collector and Coffin Dancer) before tackling this one, to get the most out of it.
Rating:
Summary: Sit Down and Enjoy!
Review: Jeffery Deaver does it again with Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs in his recent novel the Empty Chair. Rhyme travels to North Carolina for an experimental surgery which may provide him with more mobility. When he arrives local police ask him for assistance in finding the Insect Boy, Garrett Hanlon who has kidnapped two local young women and police feel may kill them. Garrett turns out to be an interesting criminal. A teenager whose family was killed in a car accident, Garrett turns to insects for solace. He observes insects to learn lifes important lessons. Sachs finds him a strangely sympathetic criminal and sets out to help him. The Empty Chair does not contain the gore and grisly detail that the previous Lincoln Rhyme novels contained. But it does have the wonderful excitement of a chase, that should not be missed. It also adds layers upon the Rhyme and Sachs characters and I look forward to their further development in the future .
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