Rating: 
Summary: Millenium murder madness!
Review: Single father and retired FBI agent Parker Kincaid is asked to put his New Year's Eve plans on hold to beat a midnight deadline on murder. Kincaid, an authority on the new science of forensic document examination, is needed to glean information from a ransom note sent by a man killing indiscriminately in Washington, D.C., on the eve of a new millenium. Deaver's trademarks of forensic science and Machiavellian plot twists are present in this millenium murder madness with terrific new characters in a sure read for 2000.
Rating:
Summary: Deaver Delivers
Review: Jeffrey Deaver delivers another chiller thriller in "The Devils Teardrop". Imagine yourself partying on New Years Eve of the new millenium in Washington, D.C.....suddenly bursts of bullets hammer everyone & everything around you. Who could be doing these horrid acts every 4 hours and why?Enter Parker Kincaid and Margaret Lukas. Along with an elite hand picked team, these two experts are fighting multiple "dead"-lines by the Digger. I thouroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the intricate character developments. Especially between Parker, a model father, and Lukas, an introspective woman fighting her own demons. And the title? Clever. After learning so much about handwriting analysis....I always watch for dotted "i's". As I anxiously thumbed each page,I kept thinking, "Ah-Hah! Thats it!". Wrong. Riddles abound. Read it & hold on devishly tight! other reading suggestions: "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King , "Messiah" by Boris Starling"....
Rating: 
Summary: The Little Thing Above The i
Review: This book was great, and the end was amazing. If you have read his other books, you kind of expect the suspense, but just seeing the power 1 man can have on another is pretty cool. I think that the click.. bonding between Kinkaid and Lucas click..was very thoughtful. Anyway, I am on to my third Deaver book in 2 1/2 weeks. I can't stop reading
Great Book!!
Rating:
Summary: The eve of horror
Review: THE DEVIL'S TEARDROP is a suspense/thriller that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys the ups and downs of a roller coaster ride. Deaver lets your imagination work as you try to figure out his villain. You think you know who the mastermind is, but do you really? You will want to know what happens next as each chapter leaves you wanting more. The Digger who is he really?
The Digger looks like you, the Digger looks like me. He walks down the wintry streets the way anybody would, shoulders drawn together against the damp December air....
Maybe he's fat, maybe he's thin. Looking like you, looking like me. Nobody ever notices the Digger and that's one of the reasons he's so very good at what he does....
The proceeding excerpt from chapter 1 introduces us to the Digger, who is our villain. The villain is common looking and never sticks out in a crowd. He is about to terrorize the citizens of Washington D.C. The Digger is programmed to attack every four hours unless twenty million dollars is delivered to his accomplice. The plot thickens when suddenly his partner in crime is killed in a freak accident. The problem lies with the sudden death of his friend, see he is the only one who can contact the Digger and shut him down and the only evidence is the ransom note. That brings us to the best FBI forensic guy for the job, Parker Kincaid.
Former document examiner Parker Kincaid, top specialist in his field, is reluctant to help. He is a divorced from his wife and has custody of his two small children. He was working another case when a killer had threatened his family. They caught the suspect but now his boy has nightmares and Parker doesn't know what to do. This is why he no longer wished to work for the FBI. He knew he didn't want to risk his family again but the guilt of all the innocent people being slaughtered by the Digger turned out to be too much. Agent Margret Lukas agreed to keep his identity a secret and to protect his family.
Special Agent Margaret Lukas is a determined woman. She is on the fast track to move her way to the top. This could be the case to do just that. The Digger is her first case to be in charge. Lukas has no family to go home to and devotes all her time on the case. She works hard and puts in long hours. She has only one thing on her mind and that is the Digger. The Digger is the destructive force that has no regret for human life. Deaver notes from an interview from Book Page August 1999;
I wanted a complete cipher. He really has no condition other than just brain damage. I'm so sick of the abused child who turns into the psychotic killer. And here's a case where I wanted, not some run-of-the-mill cheap psychological explanation for why somebody was the way he was. I just wanted a killer. It would be like trying to profile a gun. He is simply a tool. That, to me, was completely terrifying.
I believe Deaver was successful in achieving his goal with the Digger. I feel a sense of horror when the Digger attacks his victims. The Digger acts as if it was an every day occurrence and there was nothing wrong with his actions. The Digger would kill and go about the rest of
his time acting as if nothing has happened. He is waiting for his next attack like a roller coaster approaches its first hill and the FBI following close behind.
I feel THE DEVIL'S TEARDROP is best is described as a roller coaster ride. The excitement of the story has peaks and valleys. Deaver purposely tries to hold your excitement with the search for clues for forensic evidence. Parker searches through each letter in the ransom note to find clues for the next location. Each lead brings anticipation. You as the reader feel like you're involved in the chase as you search through the crowds to spot the Digger. The excitement rises like the hill of the roller coaster. Is that him, what about her? Than all of a sudden gun fire rings out, people panic and scatter. The roller coaster climaxes at the top. The agents look all around but can't seem to focus on one person. The roller coaster spirals down the hill. As the crowd dissipates the Digger is nowhere to be seen. The agents grow frustrated and settle down as they realize the Digger has escaped again. The roller coaster car comes to a stop. The coaster goes through this feverish ride few more times until they finally have a man trapped in a school bus and open fire on him. As the gun fire stops the suspect is found dead. The FBI believes they have their man. But do they? The truth will only be known by reading the book.
When reading THE DEVIL'S TEARDROP the peaks and valleys of the ride will keep you wanting more and you may find you're not able to put down the book. The Digger is a great villain because of his ambiguity. This way Deaver doesn't allow you to feel sorry for him. The idea that a human being could commit such a terrible act of violence would anger and terrify most anybody. Each chapter will keep you wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: You won't cry over this one
Review: A silent, non-descript man enters the D.C. subway on New Year's Eve morning and silently kills 20 people without being noticed, melding into the crowd and mayhem. Shortly thereafter, the mayor receives a letter that the killing will commence every four hours thereafter until $20 million is paid. The catch, the letter-writer is not the killer, but is the only one who can contact the killer and stop the slaughter. On his way to pick up the money, the letter-writer is killed, with the letter serving as the only clue to stopping the killing. With that, Deaver sends the reader on a highly-charged, action-packed thrill ride that we come to expect from the creator of the Lincoln Rhyme series. The FBI calls on Parker Kincaid, former FBI forensic document and handwriting specialist, to help track the shadowy killer before more people meet their maker. Currently in a custody battle for his children, Kincaid reluctantly assists the lead FBI agent, Margaret Lukas, herself with past secrets that could jeopardize the mission. Even Lincoln Rhyme makes an appearance to add flavor to the mix. The pace is frenetic throughout, not letting up even to the last pages. The ruthless killer trying to contact his partner to see if the killing is to continue, Kincaid being lead down one false trail after another, Lukas battling her own demons as well as the D.C. mayor who is trying to save his political career amid the carnage, and a mysterious reporter lurking in the shadows. Enjoy the ride, but you'll need to hang on!
Rating:
Summary: Deaver's Best
Review: Of all of Jeff Deaver's books, I enjoyed this one the most. I particularly liked how he incorporated something about handwriting (the devil's teardrop) into a suspense/thriller like this. The characters are interesting, the plot takes the appropriate twists, and the writing held my interest page by page. I highly recommend this novel for anyone who likes something slightly different than the norm.
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