Roadside Crosses by Jeffrey Deaver

I haven’t had time to read a Jeffrey Deaver book in a while, so when I packed to head to Nags Head for a few days at Thanksgiving – I had to toss one of his latest books in the bag

I really like Kathryn Dance – a new character for Deaver. She is a kinesics expert – that means that she studies body language and I’ve really enjoyed learning more about her art in the books about her. The last one was The Sleeping Doll, which was very good. I was pleased to see this story picks up right after the end of the last book. They had just solved a big case, one of the officer’s died and things in Kathryn’s personal life are very much the same. The death of the fellow officer is a big part of this story and Kathryn’s parents – particularly her mother – are a big part of this story.

Kathryn is very good at what she does – but she is very human. She worries that she’s misreading the signs, she worries about her kids and her parents, she misses her husband and so much more. I just really like her

In this book – Kathryn’s mother is arrested for a mercy killing, a high school student is thought to be killing people who posted comments about him on a blog and there are some unusual things happpening with the people Kathryn works with. I like all the underlying stories that Jeffrey Deaver always includes in his books. Many layers and many unexpected turns in all his stories.

I was determined to finish reading this last night and with about 100 pages left – someone was arrested. That had me wondering – that left about 25% of the book for those unexpected twists and turns that I love so much — and he did not disappoint me I lost track of the surprises that were included after that first arrest – but they all made sense and just added to the story.

A bit more background about the story – people start discovering “road side crosses” along the highway and they have that day’s date on them. Later that day, someone is found hurt and possibly dying. These attempted murders seem to all be related to a blog post about a car accident. A short time before the book starts, a couple of high school girls were killed in a car wreck and many people post comments about the person who it was reported, was driving the car when the girls died. He is an outcast – with no real friends, a rough family life, and a rich online fantasy life – but is he a murderer? When the FBI and Dance’s team start to close in on him, he disappears and more people who posted comments about him are hurt. The more Dance works on the case, the more she begins to doubt if he is guilty, but all the evidence points to him.

In addition, Kathryn’s mother is facing a trial for the mercy killing of the young officer who was hurt at the end of the last book. One of Kathryn’s superiors is causing her all kinds of problems and what about the geeky, but attractive professor who is helping them with their computer research? Many layers, many twists and a book that I think all Deaver fans will enjoy. My schedule made it hard to find time to finish this one, but it was worth the wait. High recommended.

The Broken Window by Jeffrey Deaver

I’m made myself a promise that each holiday, I’ll try to take some time off from working and I’ll treat myself by reading a book just for fun. The vast majority of the books I read are for clients and although I thoroughly enjoy those books – its fun to read a book just for fun. So, you will probably notice that on many holiday weekends, I’ve posted reviews for Jeffrey Deaver books

The Broken Window is a high tech story about identity theft taken to extremes. Picture this, you are at your home having dinner or watching TV and the police knock on your door. They ask where you have been that evening and even though you know that you haven’t done anything wrong, the police find evidence that ties you to a crime – murder. How can that be? They have a shoe print that matches your shoe, the condom at a rape scene matches the condoms you bought a couple of days ago, the potato chip crumbs at the scene match a bag in your garage and the worst news is that the victim’s blood was found in your car.

This master criminal thinks that he has all the necessary information to pull off repeated “perfect crimes” and he did for years. Then he makes a “fatal” mistake – he frames Lincoln Rhymes cousin. That brings the renowned forensic specialist to the case and that means the criminals days are numbered (he would appreciate the pun .

As the criminalist and his crew work on the crime, they find their way to a business that collects every bit of available information about every man, woman and child in the US. The business gives credence to the concerns about ‘big brother watching you’. They know where you were, what you did, what you bought and much much more. The idea that a company could have all this information is creepy enough – but then imagine that a criminal mastermind has access to that information.

We see bits and pieces of the criminal and he lashes out at Rhyme, Amelia, and the other people who work with Rhyme. Literally, no one is safe from him and while Rhyme is very good – he has limited access to the information he needs. As always there are plenty of people who appear to be guilty while the reader is given tidbits to help us figure out who the mystery man is.

For anyone who likes a detailed and well researched thriller, I highly recommend this book. If you are a fan of Jeffrey Deaver – this book does not disappoint.

NOTE: I read through a number of other reviews before I posted this and I enjoy the immense detail that Deaver brings to his book and as an author I know the amount of pain staking work that is involved in being authentic and bringing this realism to a story. There was a lot of detail in this book and his usual multiple sub plots, but those are all things that make a Deaver book so great. Its not short or full of fluff and it is very possible to get lost in the story. I didn’t think this book had as many whiplash twists to it, but with the detail that was included, I’m not sure that would’ve worked as well in this novel.

Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey Deaver

I LOVE a great Jeffrey Deaver book and over all these years, there was only one that I couldn’t get into – but I really enjoyed Garden of Beasts. I decided to take some time for myself over the long July 4th weekend and that meant, I should read a Jeffery Deaver book

Garden of Beasts is set in the 1930′s in Nazi German. Hitler is coming to power and some people were already beginning to see what a threat Hitler and Nazi Germany could become.

I love that the “hero” of the story is a button man. He kills people for money. But, he is very clear that he only kills bad people – people that deserve to die. Fixing nature’s mistakes – that kind of thing. In the opening pages, he is waiting for his mark to come home, but something is wrong. Then he receives a call that the law is waiting for him downstairs. It seems that things are over for our hero before chapter 2, but this is a Deaver book – which means there will be plenty of twists and turns.

Our “hero” is offered a deal – if he will go to Germany to kill someone, he will be paid and can start a new life. He has a girlfriend and thinks this would be good. He can invest in the family printing business and live a respectable life. The only problem is that he has to go into Nazi Germany and kill one of Hitler’s top men.

The mark is the man who is strategizing the rearmament of the Nazi party. He is finding loopholes for Hitler to build the army etc that it needs to be a world power – and still maintaining the appearance to the world that Hitler is within the limits set after World War I.

Our hero – Paul Schumann is off to Germany and his first day in town, there is a dead body and the Nazi’s have been alerted that an assassin is in town. The olympics are about to start and Hitler wants the appearance of a peaceful city – the dead body and several skirmishes aren’t helping his plans.

There are more twists and turns than I could layout for you here – but suffice it to say, every time you think the story is over – Deaver has another surprise waiting for you. There is great background and interesting perspectives on many of the big people in the Nazi party. I had to wonder how much of these comments and insights were true and how many were a fictional author taking some liberties

The array of characters in this book will give you insights into many aspects of Nazi Germany and the people who became collateral damage during Hitler’s rise to power. There are many things in the book that you have to wonder if it could have been true. I can warn you that when you get to the last quarter of the book – don’t even plan to put the book down. There is far too much happening and the twists and turns come at you at a lightning pace. Just settle into your chair and get a tall cold drink because you will be turning pages until you reach the end.

THe book is about 540 pages, but I easily finished it in part of 3 days. Its a very quick read and there is certainly enough to keep you interested. As in every Deaver book – don’t think you know what will happen, because he has many tricks up his sleeves, that is one of the reasons I love his books. No one writes a thriller like Jeffrey Deaver.

PS – When I grow up I want to write like Jeffrey Deaver – in the mean time I’m going to keep searching for tricks of the trade in his books

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com