The Burning Wire [Hardcover]

Jeffery Deaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010

Lincoln Rhyme is back, on the trail of a killer whose weapon of choice cripples New York City with fear.

The weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. It is electricity. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high and heat so searing that steel melts and his victims are set afire.

When the first explosion occurs in broad daylight, reducing a city bus to a pile of molten, shrapnel-riddled metal, officials fear terrorism. Rhyme, a world-class forensic criminologist known for his successful apprehension of the most devious criminals, is immediately tapped for the investigation. Long a quadriplegic, he assembles NYPD detective Amelia Sachs and officer Ron Pulaski as his eyes, ears and legs on crime sites, and FBI agent Fred Dellray as his undercover man on the street. As the attacks continue across the city at a sickening pace, and terrifying demand letters begin appearing, the team works desperately against time and with maddeningly little forensic evidence to try to find the killer. Or is it killers . . . ?

Meanwhile, Rhyme is consulting on another high-profile investigation in Mexico with a most coveted quarry in his crosshairs: the hired killer known as the Watchmaker, one of the few criminals to have eluded Rhyme’s net.

Juggling two massive investigations against a cruel ticking clock takes a toll on Rhyme’s health. Soon Rhyme is fighting on yet another front—and his determination to work despite his physical limitations threatens to drive away his closest allies when he needs them most . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. An explosion at a Manhattan electrical power substation that destroys a bus—followed by threats of much worse violence unless Algonquin Consolidated Power and Light meets virtually impossible demands—sparks Deaver's sterling ninth Lincoln Rhyme novel (after The Broken Window). Forensic expert Rhyme takes charge of looking into the fatal blast, aided by his partner and sometime lover, field agent Amelia Sachs, among others. Rhyme is able to glean many clues from the scant trace evidence left by the elusive killer at the crime scene. Meanwhile, Rhyme is also staying in close touch with Mexican army and police commander Rodolfo Luna, who's tracking dangerous assassin Richard Logan (aka the Watchmaker) in Mexico City. The twin investigations take an increasingly dangerous toll on quadriplegic Rhyme's precarious physical health. Not even the brilliant Rhyme can foresee the shocking twists the case will take in this electrically charged thriller. (June)
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From Booklist

In the latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller, Deaver rounds up the usual suspects—well, crime-solvers—and pits them against a shadowy perpetrator (or perhaps it’s a terrorist group?) who is using New York City’s electrical grid to commit murder. And if that isn’t frightening enough, it looks like murder might be the least of the villain’s intended mayhem. The Rhyme novels follow a pretty tight format, but that’s fine because it’s a killer format, mixing aspects of the traditional procedural with CSI-style forensic techniques. Deaver, master of the plot twist, does his usual magic—no matter how hard you try, you can’t figure out what he’s about to spring on you—and, as an added tension-intensifier, the Watchmaker, the nasty villain introduced in Cold Moon (2006), is still behind the scenes, just outside our peripheral vision. Another winner from the dependable Deaver. --David Pitt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439156336
• ISBN-13: 978-1439156339
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffery Deaver was born outside of Chicago in 1950. His father was an advertising copywriter and his mother was a homemaker. He has one younger sister who writes novels for teenagers ' Julie Reece Deaver.

Deaver wrote his first book ' which consisted of two entire chapters ' when he was eleven, and he's been writing ever since. An award-winning poet and journalist, he has also written and performed his own songs around the country. After receiving a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Deaver worked as a magazine writer, then, to gain the background needed to become a legal correspondent for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, he enrolled at Fordham Law School. After graduation he decided to practice law for a time and worked for several years as an attorney for a large Wall Street firm. It was during his long commute to and from the office that he began writing the type of fiction he enjoyed reading: suspense novels. In 1990 he started to write full time.

The author of twenty-two novels, Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony award, a Gumshoe Award, and is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year. In 2001, he won the W.H. Smith Thumping Good Read Award for his Lincoln Rhyme novel The Empty Chair. In 2004, he was awarded the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain's Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Garden Of Beasts and the Short Story Dagger for "The Weekender." Translated into 35 languages, his novels have appeared on a number of bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the London Times and the Los Angeles Times. The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington as Lincoln Rhyme. A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO film retitled Dead Silence, starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin.

Jeff has also released two collections of his short stories, called Twisted and More Twisted.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite, June 9, 2010

By 

J. Prather (IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Burning Wire (Hardcover)

I have read all of Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books and have long felt that the duo of Rhyme and Sachs is one of the best in crime fiction. Having said that up front, I have to admit this was not one of my favorites. The author's infamous attention to detail and his trademark methods of ratcheting up the suspense were still there, and there were parts of this book that I really enjoyed. One of the big attractions of this series for me has always been the relationship between Rhyme and Sachs and their interactions with each other. This was pretty much gone from this book. These characters experience no change or growth; Sachs was a ghost flitting through the book just going wherever Rhyme pointed. Rhyme has more interaction with Thom, his caregiver than he does with Sachs and that interaction was always virtually identical to what we have seen in previous books. How many times do we have to argue about whiskey? There are a couple of efforts to advance the personal aspect of the story, but they seem token attempts at best and are only there to set up a teaser ending.

It's a common problem in series fiction that authors often spend too much time writing for readers that aren't familiar with the characters. I can see their reasoning, but it doesn't make things any less frustrating. I swear some of the dialogue in this book (in the beginning at least) is taken word for word from some of the previous books. The author spends alot of time going over things that followers of the series will already know. I'm not talking just about characters, I'm also talking about forensic basics I'd already learned from Lincoln Rhyme before! I don't remember this being such an issue with earlier Rhyme books, but maybe that's just my selective memory.

All of the information about electricity was certainly interesting. I learned quite a bit, however I sometimes felt that I was being lectured to by the characters. While I am a fan of learning, I am a bigger fan of a good strong narrative. The lectures and the narrative did not fit well together. Some of the dialogue here just did not work and had me shaking my head in disbelief. I wanted the characters to quit explaining things to me and talk to each other.

One thing that I felt was missing through most of this story was the presence of a truly creepy villain. A lot of the "drama" felt overwrought and manufactured; although on the flipside there were a couple of memorable moments at the end that I won't spoil here. I can't speak to the ending much except to say I was rather disappointed in the neat little package. Everything got tied up with a pretty little bow, but there is a teaser at the end that is sure to keep Rhyme fans coming back for the next one. I'm just not sure if I'll be back for the next one or not. It barely gets a three star from me just because I have loved this series for such a long time. Proceed at your own risk!

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Time to end the series?, June 9, 2010

By 

Reacher Creature (Rochester) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burning Wire (Hardcover)

I really wanted to like this. I've been a fan of the Rhyme novels, but the past few have had the "same feeling" to them. Someone kills someone else, Sachs goes and walks the crime scene. I've noticed that the crime scenes are getting longer and longer to read about. I mean, we're again treated to the reason why Sachs and whoever is with her has to wear bands on their shoes and again it's explained how and why they walk the grid (crime scene) the way they do. Do we needs this over and over and over again? I could only read a few pages at a time, then I'd get really bored reading it, and that's not a good sign.

I will admit that it was interesting to see electricity as a weapon, very interesting, and I did like that part about the book. It was a nice touch, and the only thing I liked about it.

For me, it was "more of the same"

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, June 13, 2010

By 

Oakleaf "marekid" (Emmaus, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Burning Wire (Hardcover)

I have loved the Lincoln Rhyme books for years. They were sharp, exciting, cerebral and made perfect use of forensic data to solve puzzles that ultimately undid the bad guy. Deaver was on my A+ list which is comprised of about 3 authors whose books I buy in hard cover. The books have been slowly getting worse and this one probably knocked him off my A+ list. Rather than being a hair ahead, Rhymes seems oddly distracted and ineffectual. And then there is the ending. Without giving anything away, it entails an enormous suspension of disbelief to buy the motive for all this mayhem. Far too complex. I gave it three stars out of product loyalty, but if it had been a new author for me it would have gotten less.