The Twelfth Card [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Jeffery Deaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2005

A nail-biting suspense about why a professional hit-man would target a brilliant high-school girl, who is digging into a 140 year old mystery about her ancestor&his shocking secret.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 816 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, New York; 1st (LARGE PRINT) edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739455834
• ISBN-13: 978-0739455838
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,081,007 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

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deaver loves the wild twist, August 1, 2005

By 

Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twelfth Card (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) (Hardcover)

I have been a Lincoln Rhyme fan every since I saw THE BONE COLLECTOR, then realized there was a mystery/thriller series by Jeffery Deaver featuring the same character. There's something about a paralyzed forensics expert who solves complicated cases with the aid of a beautiful redheaded sidekick that fascinates.

That said I've always had some reservations about Deaver. He loves the wild plot twist for one thing, and that's still the case with THE TWELFTH CARD. Through most of the book we think the attempted assault on Geneva Settle, a high school student doing research at the Museum of African-American Culture and History, has something to do with her ancestor, Charles Singleton, an emancipated slave who'd inherited land from his former master. But that's too easy for Deaver. Soon we're dealing with Arab terrorists, bombs going off right and left, and two or three more people trying to kill Geneva. It's all a little too much for the patient reader.

Then there's the matter of ebonics (I can't remember the more politically correct term). Every African-American character in the book sounds the same, including Geneva Settle, when she's around her friend Keesha and a potential boyfriend. Can you say the word s-t-e-r-e-o-t-y-p-e?

The saving grace in THE TWELFTH CARD is the villain, Thompson Boyd. He's a professional hit man who's been "numbed" by his profession. What's interesting is that he's trying to cure himself by cohabiting with a woman and her two little girls. He figures if he goes through the motions of family life, some of their normalcy and zest for life will rub off on him. Thompson goes down a bit too easy about a hundred pages before the end of the book, again because of Deaver's penchant for the wild twist.

Despite the reservations mentioned above, I highly recommend this book. The Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs team is top notch; the police procedural (with its recurring evidentiary lists) is fun to follow, and the cast of recurring characters, including Fred Dellray, Mel Cooper, Lon Sellitto, and Thom, Lincoln's physical therapy aide, are all well-rounded and interesting. If you haven't read any of the other five novels in the series, you're in for a treat.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lincoln Rhyme rides again, June 7, 2005

By 

Robert Busko (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twelfth Card (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) (Hardcover)

When I learned that a new Lincoln Rhyme novel was due out in June I was elated along with many of our library patrons. Jeffrey Deaver and his stories are greatly anticipated by many of our patrons.

In The Twelfth Card teenager Geneva Settle is attacked and nearly killed while doing research in a library in the City. Chased by the assailant she narrowly escapes. She eventually ends up in front of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs where she is debriefed and put in protective custody. It is this part of the book that seems contrived. Lincoln Rhyme is a high powered piece of manpower. If he were used to investigate every suspected assault on a teenager he wouldn't have any time for other crimes. Of course WE know that there is a major crime to be prevented/solved because we can see the book. However, Lincoln doesn't know that this isn't just what it looks like, a possible attempted sexual assault.

Aside from this minor point, The Twelfth Card is everything we have come to expect from Jeffrey Deaver. The Twelfth Card is a great story with more than its share of plot twists. The plot is believable and keeps the readers turning the pages.

Finally, Deaver continues to offer fresh stories that rely on good authorship. This is refreshing considering some of the trite and contrived novels being published by other authors.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting book, although sometimes unbelievable, August 7, 2006

By 

Nick Baumhardt "NeeKoRiss" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twelfth Card (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

I just finished reading this book and i feel somewhat torn. Although i found the story very interesting and entertaining, at times I felt a few of the characters and dialog were a little unbelieveable. I was also annoyed at some of the subtle philosophical themes hidden throughout the story.

Deaver goes into great detail developing the characters. I thought Boyd was incredibly interesting - especially with the inner torment of trying to become normal again. The conflict within is mirrored by Selitto's own bout with feelings of inadequacy on the job and Jax's conflict of street thug versus legitimate member of society.

Another aspect that I give high marks for is Deaver's penchant for twists and suspense. Towards the end of the book, it seemed like every page had some sort of misdirection or twist in it.

However, I felt the story was hurt by unbelieveable dialogue and situations. For some reason I couldn't connect with Rhyme or Sachs. The Ebonics dialogue smells like something that someone researched, not lived though. Even so, it's hard to quantify such a rapidly changing dialect into print without sounding cliché and dated.

I also felt that a lot of the situations were unrealistic at times. For instance, i doubt a real Crime Scene unit would have the witness, Geneva, present for so much of the investigation.

Aside from minor unbelievability, i still enjoyed the story. I was slightly annoyed at some of the philosophical underpinnings. In many cases Deaver's political views were a little obvious and it was hard for me to empathize with the heroes of the story when I didn't believe in what they were doing on a fundamental level. i'm not looking for a political debate. All i'm saying is that when you let your own politics color the story, it's going to hinder a person with differing viewpoints from connecting with the story.