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Roadside Crosses (2009)
The Monterey Peninsula is rocked when a killer begins to leave roadside crosses beside local highways . . . not as memorials of past accidents, but as an announcement of his intention to kill. And to kill in a
particularly horrific and efficient way: using the personal details about the victims that they've carelessly posted in blogs and on social networking web sites.
The case lands on
the desk of Kathryn Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation and the state's foremost kinesics — body language — expert. She, along with close associate and friend, Deputy
Michael O'Neil, and the fellow CBI agents introduced in The Sleeping Doll, follow the leads to Travis Brigham, a troubled teenager, who is retaliating
against those who have posted attacks on him in a popular blog, The Chilton Report, for his part in a fatal car accident that took the lives of two high school girls.
The
investigation reveals that Travis, who idolizes the Columbine and Virginia Tech killers, is bent on revenge — first against those who cyberbullied him, then against anyone connected with the blog that,
he believes, has destroyed his life. He vanishes and, using techniques he learned as a brilliant participant in MMORPGs, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, easily eludes his pursuers and continues to
track his victims, some of whom Kathryn is able to save just in time, some not. Among the obstacles Kathryn must hurdle are politicians from Sacramento, paranoid parents and the blogger himself, James Chilton, whose
belief in the importance of blogging and the new media threaten to derail the case . . . and possibly Dance's career itself.
The book picks up only a few weeks after The Sleeping Doll ended and Kathryn must not only run the Roadside Cross case but has to confront issues that loomed at the end of that first book in the series — issues that threaten to tear her family apart.
Typical of the author's novels, Roadside Crosses is a roller coaster of a thriller. It takes place over four days, is filled with dozens of plot twists, cliffhangers and heart-rending personal subplots.
And, not surprisingly, the novel offers up several, well, surprise endings.
A searing look at the accountability of blogging and life in the online world, Roadside Crosses is the third in Deaver's high-tech thriller trilogy, along with The Blue Nowhere and The Broken Window.
Reviews:
"I gave Jeffery Deaver's latest
a read and found it to be a fast-paced, gripping tale, with lots of twists and turns."
— Pennie's Picks, Costco Connection magazine
"Of all the beasts on the prowl, none is more
unnerving than a disaffected teenage boy with a grudge and a gun. Leaving to others the in-depth psychological analysis of such youthful spree killers, Jeffery Deaver turns his attention in ROADSIDE CROSSES to the
social triggers that set them off. ...the techno-savvy Deaver is too much the master gamesman to scold anyone else for a little excessive play, and in some brilliant plot maneuvers he counters every warning about
warrior bloggers and glassy-eyed gamers with well-reasoned arguments in their defense — and real doubts about their proclivity to commit murder. Like his best players, he has one of those puzzle-loving minds
you just can't trust."
— Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
"ROADSIDE CROSSES is a gripping story peopled with memorable characters. No surprise. Jeffery Deaver is grand master of the
ticking-clock thriller."
— author Kathy Reichs
"Deaver's expert and devious plotting makes it a challenge to stay only a couple of steps behind him"
— Publishers
Weekly
"Tightly constructed with a suspenseful story and plenty of plot twists, Deaver, perhaps more than any other crime writer, is able to fool even the most experienced readers with his right-angle
turns . . . an excellent entry in what promises to be a series as popular as the author's Lincoln Rhyme novels."
— Booklist
"Deaver is one of the best thriller writers at incorporating the latest technology into his plots, and he's got the world of social networking and blogs down cold, from the flame wars to the lingo to the
dysfunctional personality types. That dose of realism adds a fresh, contemporary edge to the story. Deaver puts the emphasis in his books on intricate plot twists rather than breakneck pacing, which makes Roadside Crosses the
perfect book for a quiet summer afternoon where a little relaxation—accompanied, naturally, by a jolt of suspense—is the order of the day."
— David Montgomery, TheDailyBeast.com
One Of The Notable Crime Books of 2009
— Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
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