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The Cold Moon (2006)
Lincoln Rhyme returns in The Cold Moon, a roller coaster of a thriller that pits Lincoln and Amelia Sachs against time itself.
On a freezing December night, with a full moon hovering in the
black skies over New York City, two people are brutally murdered—their prolonged deaths marked by eerie calling-cards: moon-faced clocks ticking away the victims' last minutes on earth.
More murders are planned, and Rhyme and his team have only hours to stop the icy-cold, brilliant Watchmaker, whose obsession with time drives him to plan his carnage with the precision of a fine timepiece. While the cat-and-mouse search for the killer proceeds, Amelia Sachs must balance her efforts to catch the Watchmaker with her job as lead detective on the first homicide case of her own, in which she unearths shocking revelations from the past that threaten to undermine her very relationship with Lincoln Rhyme.
An unlikely ally appears on the scene in the form of California Bureau of Investigation special agent Kathryn Dance, one of the nation's leading experts in interrogation and kinesics—body
language. Despite Lincoln's skepticism about witnesses, and her distrust of physical evidence, the two form a curious alliance in the heart-stopping quest to find the Watchmaker.
The rest
of the team is present too—tech-minded Mel Cooper, dogged Lon Sellitto, hip Fred Dellray, and the newest addition: rookie Ron Pulaski.
Deaver's lightning-fast prose keeps the two cases racing
along in almost real time, with more plot twists and surprises than in any previous book of his, as we realize that the Watchmaker may not be simply a murderous lunatic, but a far more cunning villain
than anyone could guess, and the most terrifying and mesmerizing bad guy to ever come from the mind of Jeffery Deaver.
Reviews:
Bestseller Deaver's twisty seventh Lincoln Rhyme novel pits Rhyme, the quadriplegic NYPD detective, against a brilliant criminal mastermind called the Watchmaker. Assisted by his longtime partner,
Det. Amelia Sachs, an expert at forensic analysis, Rhyme probes two bizarre murders linked by the killer's calling card—a clock left at the scene. The Watchmaker, as an ominous poem also left at the
scene suggests, is bent on executing eight more people in a variety of ways intended to prolong their suffering. Deaver cleverly alternates between the Rhyme/Sachs team and the Watchmaker and his
assistant, heightening tension by introducing the next targets and humanizing them. Sachs loses some focus when she also has to probe a suicide that she suspects is connected with some corrupt brother
officers. Deaver fans won't be surprised that the investigations overlap, or that the several apparent climaxes are building to something more, but even they will be hard-pressed to peel back all the
layers of the cunning plot at work beneath the surface.
— Publishers Weekly
Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic criminalist, returns for a new round of crime busting. Rhyme, who has
starred in a handful of very good novels, is one of the mystery genre's most interesting and out-of-the-ordinary series leads, a brilliant investigator who rarely leaves his specially equipped home. He's
partnered (personally and professionally) with Amelia Sachs, a former fashion model and first-rate detective. Here, while assisting Rhyme in tracking down a sadistic serial killer who calls himself the
Watchmaker, Sachs is also running her own murder investigation, her first as lead detective. Fans of the series will welcome the chance to see Sachs spread her wings, and spending time with the likably
crusty Rhyme is always a delight. As always, Deaver's dialogue is exceptionally realistic, and his plotting is devilishly intricate. Recommended for fans of the Rhyme novels (naturally) and readers who
like their thrillers laced with wit and sharp characterizations.
— Booklist
"As always, Deaver educates as well as entertains, and within the novel's pages he drops small but
fascinating nuggets regarding time and clocks. If you don't know why we say "speed up" or "slow down," you will after reading THE COLD MOON. You will also have the pleasure of reading
what is not only Deaver's best work to date but also one of the best books of the year thus far."
— Joe Hartlaub, BookReporter.com
The Cold Moon is available now in paperback in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It is also available as an audiobook and an eBook.
THE COLD MOON Named Book Of The Year In Japan
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