Book Review: "The Burning Wire"

If you are a fan of popular fiction, particularly of thrillers and mysteries, you may be familiar with author Jeffery Deaver and his series character, Lincoln Rhyme.

If you are not familiar, Rhyme is a "criminalist" or a forensic scientist whose specialty is gathering, studying and interpreting evidence gathered at crime scenes. The gimmick here is that he is also a quadriplegic, who was injured while investigating a crime scene prior to when the series of books began.

Rhyme is assisted by an ongoing cast of cops and investigators and he still manages to solve the crimes in question while studying the evidence brought to him in his elaborately equipped New York City town house. The crimes that have been described in the eight Rhyme novels are always brutal and sensational, but Rhyme somehow manages to solve them from his wheelchair. They have always been well written and tense, usually have a twist to them that surprises the reader, and make you want to read the next Rhyme novel as soon as Deaver pumps one out. I discovered this series a few years back with "A Cold Moon", and have since read all of the Rhyme novels as well as other novels by Deaver. They are good stuff. The stories also usually take place in a very short period of time - "The Burning Wire" covered a three day period - so they are always fast moving.

All that said, I just completed the ninth and newest Lincoln Rhyme book, "The Burning Wire", and all I can say is that even Joe DiMaggio went into a batting slump once in awhile, and that Deaver and Rhyme don't quite connect on this one. Despite his physical condition, Rhyme is not always an especially sympathetic or likable character, and he is especially acerbic in this one. Also, the plot of this one involves a villain who uses electricity to kill his victims and terrorize the populace, and Deaver goes on and on...and on...and on...and on about electricity and its properties to the point where you want to scream "enough already." This book could have been reduced by about 50 pages and been a better story.

Still, the last 100 pages or so are such that you don't want to stop until you finish the book (at 1:01 AM this morning in my case). You can gather that I don't consider this one of my favorite Rhyme books, but I hesitate to say that Deaver "jumped the shark" with "The Burning Wire." As I said, everyone is entitled to a batting slump, so I'll reserve that particular judgement until the next Rhyme novel in 2012.

Oh, and this story includes a very important personal development in the life if Lincoln Rhyme, which I will not reveal since some of you may already be readers of the series.

And if you have not read any of these books, they are all in print, and I would suggest you start with the first one, "The Bone Collector." While the books are a series, each one stands on its own so it is not absolutely necessary that you read them in order.