#BookReview of #TheMidnightLock by Jeffery Deaver

‘Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are back – on the hunt for a criminal terrorising New York City‘
– The Midnight Lock

[ About the Book ]

A woman awakes in the morning to find that someone has picked her apartment’s apparently impregnable door lock and, terrifyingly, rearranged personal items, even sitting beside her while she slept. The intrusion, the police learn, is a message to the entire city of carnage and death to come. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to investigate and soon learn that the brilliant, sociopathic intruder, who calls himself “The Locksmith,” can break through any lock or security system ever devised. With more victims on the horizon, Rhyme, Sachs and their stable of associates have to try to follow the evidence to the man’s lair… and discover what his true mission might be.

Their hunt for The Locksmith is interrupted when an internal investigation in the police force uncovers what seems to be a crucial mistake in one of Rhyme’s previous cases. He’s fired as a consultant for the NYPD and confronts the hard choice of risking jail by investigating The Locksmith case in secret.

[ My Review ]

The Midnight Lock by Jeffery Deaver will be published with Harper Collins November 25th. It is described as ‘a roller coaster…features surprise after surprise and offers a fascinating look at the esoteric world of locks and lockpicking.’

I have a rather embarrassing admission to make, I have never read any book in the Lincoln Rhyme series…until now. Being that this is the fifteenth book in the series you can understand why I was a little reticent about jumping in at such a late stage, but I needn’t have been concerned. There is a reason why Jeffery Deaver is known as the ‘master of ticking-bomb suspense’. He really does grab his readers from the offset and hold their attention until the final page is turned.

I picked up The Midnight Lock last weekend and read it over the course of one day. It was just what I needed to escape the chaos of the here and now. At no point did I feel confused about the characters and I was able to keep up with the back story without doing any research into the history of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs. Now of course I have no doubt that those of you who have followed the series will have a very different reading experience to mine. I have nothing to compare it to, but I liked that. I had no preconceptions and no expectations, except that I was hoping to be captivated, and I clearly was.

Lincoln Rhyme, for the uninitiated, was first introduced in 1997 when Jeffery Deaver released The Bone Collector. At that point Lincoln Rhyme was ex-head of NYPD forensics after an accident on the job left him a quadriplegic. Angry and frustrated, a case involving a highly intelligent killer, brought Rhyme out of retirement. With his extraordinary mind, and with Amelia Sachs as his arms and legs, a partnership was born.

Now twenty-three years later and Lincoln Rhyme is in court with a testimony that is being ripped apart by the defence. His ability comes into question, resulting in the NYPD wiping their hands of him as a consultant. He and his team are immediately removed from any active NYPD cases. The message filtered down the ranks of the NYPD is that no member of the force is to interact with Rhyme in any way or to pass on any information. There will be stiff penalties for any one caught in a compromising situation.

But Rhyme is not one to sit idly by and do nothing, especially when he is convinced he can assist. There is an open and active investigation within the NYPD involving a sinister character nicknamed The Locksmith, a creepy individual who stealthily picks locks late at night, gaining access to the homes of women. While they sleep, The Locksmith sits by their beds watching them, perhaps eating a biscuit or having a glass of wine. When the woman wakes up she initially is a little discombobulated but then comes the frightening realisation that someone has been in her home. Someone has observed her in sleep, someone has rifled through her underwear drawer taking souvenirs and, most unnerving of all, is that a knife is missing and a note is left behind. The Locksmith is clever and leaves no trace, no DNA, no prints whatsoever. But this does not deter Rhyme and Sachs. With great risk and a little ingenuity, the team get access to some of the evidence gathered at the scenes and the analysis begins.

I can honestly say I did not see how this book was going to end and the shock was real folks. Packed with suspense, the pace of The Midnight Lock was relentless. Twisted characters, with very disturbed mindsets, are depicted with superb imagination and flair. The tension is ramped up, with multiple possible suspects throwing confusion and uncertainty into the mix. This is pure entertainment with quite a complex plot, containing multiple threads, all expertly woven together to create a brilliant and very engaging novel. Recommended to all who love a compelling thriller with a very gripping storyline.

[ Bio ]

Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. He has served two terms as president of Mystery Writers of America, and was recently named a Grand Master of MWA, whose ranks include Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Mary Higgins Clark and Walter Mosely.

The author of more than forty novels, three collections of short stories and a nonfiction law book, and a lyricist of a country-western album, he’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards.

His The Bodies Left Behind was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller The Broken Window and a stand-alone, Edge, were also nominated for that prize. The Garden of Beasts won the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers Association in England. He’s also been nominated for eight Edgar Awards by the MWA.

Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, the Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy.

His book A Maiden’s Grave was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Lifetime aired an adaptation of his The Devil’s Teardrop. NBC television recently aired the nine-episode prime-time series, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector.

You can read more over at https://www.jefferydeaver.com/

Twitter – @JefferyDeaver

LISTEN TO A SAMPLE ON SOUNDCLOUD ( Courtesy of Harper Collins )