Rating: 
Summary: Delightfully Twisted!
Review: "Speaking in Tongues" is the ultimate novel for readers who enjoy a suspsenseful, gripping, thrilling, violent, and intelligent psychological thriller. Jeffery Deaver is a brilliant author, and he brings such raw emotions to his characters. Megan's emotions were well written, and Dr. Aaron Matthews is one of the most brilliant villains, because he understands that words are the most dangerous weapons. This book kept me turning the pages; I couldn't stop reading until it was over. This book is a masterpiece, in my opinion, and I consider it one of the best thrillers I have read. Mr. Deaver, you have done a superb job!!
Rating:
Summary: Another feather in the cap of this gifted author. Jeffrey
Review: Deaver again succeeds in presenting the reader with a taut, well-written, exciting and convoluted novel. The title is well-thought out and apt for the story line. Tate Collier in his pursuit of a legal career seemingly neglects his wife, Bett and his daughter Megan. When Megan is three Bett and Tate divorce and Tate's contact with his daughter is minimal. At sixteen, Megan is kidnapped setting off a series of events that will keep you captivated. The adversary and Lawyer Tate, assisted by Bett, are pitted against each other in intigueing circumstances,and with far more intrigueing results. And Megan herself , while imprisoned in a closed hospital, rises to the occasion and in a brave medlay of moves tries to outwit her captor. The reason for the title of this gripper is slowly but clearly brought to light as we find a battle of words among the principal players. On the cover page, a quote from Henry Miller reads:
"In the beginning was the Word. Man acts it out. He is the act, not the actor." Amazingly fitting for both the plot and the unraveling of same in encapsulated scenes that will have you holding your breath waiting for the next word. This is not just a casual read, but an enjoyable, tense novel from one of today's top novelists. Leave yourself time for this one because you will not be able to put it down! The ending is a superb surprise that is not likely to leave your thoughts for some time to come.Good Job, Jeffery and keep those books coming, please!
Rating:
Summary: Another feather in the cap of this gifted author. Jeffrey
Review: Deaver again succeeds in presenting the reader with a taut, well-written, exciting and convoluted novel. The title is well-thought out and apt for the story line. Tate Collier in his pursuit of a legal career seemingly neglects his wife, Bett and his daughter Megan. When Megan is three Bett and Tate divorce and Tate's contact with his daughter is minimal. At sixteen, Megan is kidnapped setting off a series of events that will keep you captivated. The adversary and Lawyer Tate, assisted by Bett, are pitted against each other in intigueing circumstances,and with far more intrigueing results. And Megan herself , while imprisoned in a closed hospital, rises to the occasion and in a brave medlay of moves tries to outwit her captor. The reason for the title of this gripper is slowly but clearly brought to light as we find a battle of words among the principal players. On the cover page, a quote from Henry Miller reads:
"In the beginning was the Word. Man acts it out. He is the act, not the actor." Amazingly fitting for both the plot and the unraveling of same in encapsulated scenes that will have you holding your breath waiting for the next word. This is not just a casual read, but an enjoyable, tense novel from one of today's top novelists. Leave yourself time for this one because you will not be able to put it down! The ending is a superb surprise that is not likely to leave your thoughts for some time to come.Good Job, Jeffery and keep those books coming, please!
Rating: 
Summary: Tongue Tied
Review: Deaver's skill at weaving a crafty and intriguing suspense story is sound. He has the bare bones of the work down to a science, and when it comes to most of his tales, the bones themselves are strong, hearty, and glistening white.
In this case, however, those bones have virtually no muscle.
This tale is about Tate Collier, his ex, Bett, and their kidnapped child, Megan. The villian for this tale, a slick-tongued psychiatrist named Aaron Matthews, is a man of such skill that he can talk virtually anyone into anything, a talent that rivals that of our protagonist, Tate, a lawyer who once wielded the same verbal weapons in the courtroom.
As I said, the story itself has some intriguing twists and turns, as all suspense tales should, and it offers up satisfying obstacles and the usual mysteries, but they fall flat for a number of reasons.
1. When the crux of your tale lies on creating characters of uncanny persuasive abilities, the heart of your novel must lie within the dialogue those characters utilize. In this case, neither Matthews or Collier ever speak convincingly enough, in my opinion, to warrant their being labelled as men who "speak in tongues." And although a lot of interpretation must be allowed for the written medium, it still doesn't seem like Matthews' talent for conniving others is as plausible as the novel would like it to be.
2. The book falls prey to a pretty major pitfall for literature of this type, and that is over-elaborate explanations for key motives and behavoirs. We even get treated to a cliched moment of having the bad guy reveal his whole plot to the good guys before actually going through with the plot.
3. Implausibility. There are some areas of the book that are downright laughable, aside from the already mentioned superhuman talent at persuasiveness some of the characters possess.
4. My biggest pet peeve: Deaver cannot write dialogue for teenagers. In an attempt at creating authenticity, Deaver peppers their dialogue with an abundance of "like"s and "way lame"s so that they sound like rejects from some B-grade rip-off of a Dazed and Confused remake. I understand that kids still occasionally talk like this, but Deaver's use of these trite bits of characterization is so liberal it becomes intrusive and annoying and ludicrous.
If you want to try Deaver, check out The Devil's Teardrop or the Bone Collector. This is not worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: An ultimate battle of wits
Review: I always preferred thrillers, which leaned more towards a battle of wits, then a battle of fists. True, a car chase or a shoot-out are exciting, but when the hero has to outthink his adversary, not just shoot him ... well, that excites me more.
"Speaking in Tongues" is, maybe, the ultimate battle of wits novel. A young girl goes into a shrink office. He is very sympathetic, and she really likes this new doctor... right until he drugs and kidnaps her. Then we turn to the girls' father - a lawyer who can talk a jury into any verdict he wants, a real courtroom king. But does he stand a chance against a psychopath who can talk people into committing suicides? "Speaking in Tongues" is more of a suspense novel, then a thriller - there is not much actual action - i.e. fights, chases, - mostly it's talking, but it's really involving. Maybe not as involving as another Deaver great "A Maiden's Grave", but the difference in suspense is minimal. And not many novels can give you a scene, were the hero has to argue, why a person should not be shot, not plead, or appeal to reason, but really give an argument. This scene alone is worth the price of admission. The one thing I can say against the book is that the villain sometimes seems to be too clever, unrealistically so, but if that wasn't a problem for you in the Hannibal Lector novels, then it won't be a problem here also. One last thing: ordinary it takes me about a week to read a 300 pages novel, as I don't have much time to read with work and everything. This one I finished in two days.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh...
Review: I usually like Deaver's stories, but I actually only made it through half of the book...then tossed the thing. I am not crazy about the subject matter when it involves children (even if they are at the teen stage). Should have paid more attention to the info at the back of the book. And I definitely don't need to have obscenities every sentence. My mother always stated that people who swore constantly had nothing of interest to say. I find this to be true, even in my choice of literature. My time on this earth is too short to waste reading this type of material.
So I am a prude...
Karen Sadler
Rating:
Summary: A Turning Point
Review: I've begun reading some of Deavers earlier works lately. I had already finished Praying for sleep and really wasn't that impressed. I did however, like Speaking in Tongues. Had alot of Deaver's signature style. I would say that this one is the turning point from his older stuff to the better newer stuff!
Rating:
Summary: Chico Rio
Review: I've really enjoyed many of Jeffery Deaver's books, he is one of my favorite authors. However, this book was a HUGE disappointment! If written by anyone else I would have quit after 50 pages. I find it hard to believe Jeffery Deaver wrote such a boring book.I gave it one star because Deaver has always rated 5 stars with his other books,in my opinion, until this flop.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment from one of my favorite authors.
Review: Like one of the reviewers below, I began my love affair with Deaver by reading The Bone Collector. Since then, I've read The Coffin Dancer, The Empty Chair, The Blue Nowhere and A Maiden's Grave and loved them all. However, Speaking in Tongues felt to me like a book that was written when Deaver wasn't yet published and only got published because he is now a popular author. The last 50-75 pages of this book are the only redeeming qualities in my opinion. The story, about a fractured family and a troubled teen who gets kidnapped by a psycho shrink, had potential but the writing quality and characterizations were not up to Deaver standards. Additionally, some of the things that happened in the story were ridiculously outlandish or way too convenient. I certainly won't give up on Deaver because of one disappointing novel, but I do hope that this isn't the beginning of a downward spiral for Deaver as has happened with another of my favorite authors, Patricia Cornwell.
Rating:
Summary: Great story with a ton of plot twists...
Review: One of my favorite crime thriller authors is Jeffery Deaver, and I just recently had the chance to finish his book Speaking In Tongues. Great stuff...
Aaron Matthews, a former psychologist with a knack for talking people into things, is out to destroy the life of Tate Collier. Collier is a trial lawyer who prosecuted Matthew's son for a killing when he was a teen. A short time after the teen went into prison, he was brutally murdered. Matthews wants to take the life of Collier's teenage daughter in revenge. He does this by kidnapping the daughter after a counseling session and makes it look like a runaway. She's taken to an old abandoned mental hospital where Matthews plans on murdering her. Collier suspects that his daughter's disappearance is not what it seems, but everyone who can provide answers is either dying or being framed for other crimes. The story is a race to see if Collier can figure out who is doing all this, and to find his daughter before harm comes to her.
This is an excellent story with numerous plot twists and tight story-telling. The interaction between Collier, his ex-wife, and the daughter (who has numerous issues) provides all the necessary color to allow the characters to struggle with both family feelings and the on-going crime investigation. Definitely not a book that is easy to put down.
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