After a machine gun attack in the Washington, D.C., subway system leaves dozens of people dead, retired FBI document examiner Parker Kincaid must track down the assassin with the aid of only one clue-a ransom note demanding twenty million dollars to stop further massacres.

The Barnes Noble ReviewMay 2000The Empty Chair is the third – or, if you count a guest appearance in the millennial thriller The Devil's Teardrop, the fourth – novel to feature Lincoln Rhyme, the irascible forensic genius who became a quadriplegic when a cave-in at a crime scene damaged his spinal cord beyond repair. The series began in 1997 with The Bone Collector, which was recently made into a so-so film starring Denzel Washington. Every Rhyme novel to date has been characterized by authentic forensic detail and wild, even extravagant plotting, and the latest entry is no exception. The Empty Chair may, in fact, be the single trickiest suspense novel published so far this year.Unlike earlier volumes, The Empty Chair takes place outside of New York City in the bucolic but sinister environs of Paquenoke County, North Carolina. Rhyme – accompanied by his long-suffering physical therapist, Thom, and his beloved forensic assistant, Amelia Sachs – has just been accepted as a patient at the Medical Center of the University of North Carolina, where he is scheduled to undergo an experimental procedure that might increase the range of his mobility but might, on the other hand, result in his death. Shortly after his arrival, Lincoln 's plans are disrupted by an unforeseen emergency. Jim Bell, Paquenoke County sheriff, has trouble on his hands and needs Lincoln 's expertise.According to Bell, a disturbed teenager – known, for reasons that become graphically clear, as the Insect Boy – has murdered a local football hero and abductedtwoyoung women. Convinced that the women have only hours to live, Bell asks Lincoln to examine the trace evidence found at the abduction site in the faint hope of pinpointing the kidnapper's location. Though he knows nothing about the physical composition of the surrounding area – he and Sachs, as he repeatedly comments, are "fish out of water" in the American South – Rhyme agrees to help. Once again using Amelia Sachs as his eyes and legs, he sets up an ad hoc forensic lab in a borrowed corner of the local Sheriff's office and goes to work.This sort of scenario – a crazed killer, a race against time, a scattered handful of clues – offers more than enough drama to fuel any number of traditional suspense novels. In The Empty Chair, however, this same scenario is merely the first level of a complex, multitiered mystery that constantly confounds our most fundamental expectations. The first indication that The Empty Chair contains unexpected depths comes when Lincoln, flawlessly interpreting his disparate bits of evidence, locates both the Insect Boy (Garrett Hanlon) and his most recent victim (an oncology nurse named Lydia Johannsen) within the first 150 pages. At that point, Deaver throws away the rulebook.After talking with Garrett Hanlon in the Paquenoke County jail, Amelia develops the instinctive sense that Garrett might, as he continually claims, be a victim, and that another unidentified killer might still be at large. In a moment of intuitive – and reckless – empathy, Amelia abandons her professional principles and escapes with Garrett, determined both to prove the boy's innocence and rescue the remaining victim, a local history student named Mary Beth McConnell. From this point forward, almost nothing that happens in The Empty Chair is even remotely predictable.It would spoil too many of the carefully constructed surprises to reveal the plot in any more detail. Suffice it to say that the narrative – which seems, at first, a simple but effective chase story – broadens and deepens to become something stranger and infinitely more complex. Throwing a varied assortment of people and elements into the mix – a trio of Deliverance-style rednecks, an emotionally scarred cancer survivor, a revisionist account of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, an apparently deranged deputy sheriff, a pair of incipient rapists, the hidden motivations of a wealthy industrialist, and the tragic history of Tanner's Corner, a "town without children" – Deaver constructs an artful, entertaining melodrama that has much to say about the destructive consequences of uncontrolled greed.If The Empty Chair has a besetting weakness, it is Deaver's relentless determination to dazzle the reader with his narrative sleight of hand, piling on an endless, constantly escalating series of shocks, surprises, and unexpected twists that might, in a lesser writer's hands, have become just a bit too much. But Deaver, as usual, is a consummate professional, and he holds it all together with the ease and assurance of a natural storyteller. Readers familiar with the earlier adventures of Lincoln Rhyme will be lining up for this one, which seems likely to attract a substantial number of new readers, as well. The Empty Chair is Jeffery Deaver at his best and most devious and is recommended, without reservation, to anyone in search of intelligent, high-adrenaline entertainment.– Bill Sheehan

When Detective Bill Corde looks at the beautiful face of the murdered girl in the mud, he does not know his own life is about to turn into a terrifyingly real nightmare. For the girl's killer is now on the trail of Corde and his unsuspecting family.

Special Agent Kathryn Dance – introduced in The Cold Moon – stars in the latest thriller from New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver. When Special Agent Kathryn Dance is sent to interrogate the convicted killer Daniel "Son of Manson" Pell as a suspect in a newly unearthed crime, she feels both trepidation and electrifying intrigue. Pell is serving a life sentence for brutal murders years earlier that mirrored those perpetrated by Charles Manson in the 1960s. But Pell and his cult members left behind a survivor who – because she was in bed hidden by her toys – was dubbed the Sleeping Doll. Pell has long been both reticent and unrepentant about the crime. But Dance sees an opportunity to pry a confession from him for the recent murder – and to learn more about the depraved mind of this career criminal. But when Dance's plan goes terribly wrong and Pell escapes, leaving behind a trail of dead and injured, she finds herself in charge of her first manhunt. As the idyllic Monterey Peninsula is paralyzed by the elusive killer, Dance turns to the past to find the truth about what Daniel Pell is really up to. She tracks down the now-teenage Sleeping Doll to learn what really happened that night, and arranges a reunion of three women who were in his cult at the time of the killings. The lies of the past and the evasions of the present boil up under the relentless probing of Kathryn Dance, but will the truth about Daniel Pell emerge in time to stop him from killing again?

Special Agent Kathryn Dance – introduced in The Cold Moon – stars in the latest thriller from New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver. When Special Agent Kathryn Dance is sent to interrogate the convicted killer Daniel "Son of Manson" Pell as a suspect in a newly unearthed crime, she feels both trepidation and electrifying intrigue. Pell is serving a life sentence for brutal murders years earlier that mirrored those perpetrated by Charles Manson in the 1960s. But Pell and his cult members left behind a survivor who – because she was in bed hidden by her toys – was dubbed the Sleeping Doll. Pell has long been both reticent and unrepentant about the crime. But Dance sees an opportunity to pry a confession from him for the recent murder – and to learn more about the depraved mind of this career criminal. But when Dance's plan goes terribly wrong and Pell escapes, leaving behind a trail of dead and injured, she finds herself in charge of her first manhunt. As the idyllic Monterey Peninsula is paralyzed by the elusive killer, Dance turns to the past to find the truth about what Daniel Pell is really up to. She tracks down the now-teenage Sleeping Doll to learn what really happened that night, and arranges a reunion of three women who were in his cult at the time of the killings. The lies of the past and the evasions of the present boil up under the relentless probing of Kathryn Dance, but will the truth about Daniel Pell emerge in time to stop him from killing again?

In a race against time, Lincoln and Amelia are recruited to track down a cargo ship carrying two dozen illigal Chinese immigrants, as well as the notorious human smuggler and killer – Youling the Ghost. Can they stop the Ghost before he murders again?

The stunning new Lincoln Rhyme thriller – by the number one bestselling author of THE VANISHED MAN and GARDEN OF BEASTS. Geneva Settle is a bright young high school student from Harlem writing a paper about one of her ancestors, a former slave called Charles Singleton. Geneva is also the target of a ruthless professional killer. Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his policewoman partner Amelia Sachs are called into the case, working frantically to anticipate where the hired gun will strike next and how to stop him, all the while trying to get to the truth of Charles Singleton, and the reason that Geneva has been targeted. For Charles Singleton had a secret – a secret that may strike at the very heart of the United States constitution, and have disastrous consequences for human rights today. And Sachs is going to have to search a crime scene that's 140 years old before she can stop the killer.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Stone Monkey is back with a brilliant thriller that pits forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, against an unstoppable killer with one final, horrific trick up his sleeve.The Los Angeles Times calls his novels "thrill rides between covers." The New York Times hails them as "dazzling," and The Times of London crowns him "the best psychological thriller writer around." Now Jeffery Deaver, America 's "master of ticking-bomb suspense" (People) delivers his most electrifying novel yet.It begins at a prestigious music school in New York City. A killer flees the scene of a homicide and locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes, the police have him surrounded. When a scream rings out, followed by a gunshot, they break down the door. The room is empty.Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are brought in to help with the high-profile investigation. For the ambitious Sachs, solving the case could earn her a promotion. For the quadriplegic Rhyme, it means relying on his protégée to ferret out a master illusionist they've dubbed "the conjurer," who baits them with gruesome murders that become more diabolical with each fresh crime. As the fatalities rise and the minutes tick down, Rhyme and Sachs must move beyond the smoke and mirrors to prevent a terrifying act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all.

Three original short stories from New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver.Fast (A Kathryn Dance story)Kathryn Dance is in a race against the clock to track down the members of a domestic terrorist cell--and the lives of 200 people hang in the balance.GameAfter Sarah Lieberman's new tenants murder her in an attempt to steal her money, Sarah's housekeeper Carmel is determined to find Sarah's body so she can lay her soul to rest. But Carmel may discover that the truth is uncomfortably close to home ...Paradice (A John Pellam story)When a brake failure leaves him temporarily stranded in a Colorado mountain town, John Pellam finds himself suddenly accused of murder.

FIENDISH SUSPENSE. SHOCKING TWISTS. TWELVE DIABOLICAL TALES.New York Times bestselling author and highly acclaimed storyteller Jeffery Deaver - the undisputed "grand master of the plot twist" (Booklist) - returns with a dazzling new collection of short stories. In these twelve electrifying tales (including six written just for this anthology) Deaver proves once again his genius for the unexpected-in his world, appearances are always deceiving.A devoted housekeeper embarks on a quest to find the truth behind her employer's murder. A washed-up Hollywood actor gets one last, high-stakes chance to revive his career. A man makes an impulsive visit to his hometown, and learns more about his past than he bargained for. Two Olympic track hopefuls receive terrorist threats. And Deaver's beloved series characters Lincoln Rhyme, Kathryn Dance, and John Pellam return in stories now in print for the first time.

A beautiful woman goes to extremes to rid herself of her stalker; a daughter begs her father not to go fishing in an area where there have been a series of brutal killings; a contemporary of the playwright William Shakespeare vows to avenge his family’s ruin; and Jeffery Deaver’s most beloved character, criminalist Lincoln Rhyme, is back to solve a chilling Christmastime disappearance.

The best USA-based stories in the Akashic noir series, compiled into one volume and edited by Johnny Temple!

From International Thriller Writers comes WATCHLIST: two powerful novellas featuring the same thrilling cast of characters in one major suspenseful package. THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT and THE COPPER BRACELET are collaborations of some of the world’s greatest thriller writers, including Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Lisa Scottoline, and Jeffery Deaver, who conceived the characters and set the plots in motion. The other authors each wrote a chapter and Deaver then completed what he started, bringing both novellas to their startling conclusions.In the first novella, THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT, former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans. As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy figure from his past: the man known only as Faust.Harold Middleton returns in THE COPPER BRACELET -- the explosive sequel to THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT -- as he’s drawn into an international terror plot that threatens to send India and Pakistan into full-scale nuclear war. Careening from Nice to London and Moscow to Kashmir to prevent nuclear disaster, Middleton is unaware that his prey has changed and that the act of terror is far more diabolical than he knows. Will he discover the identity of the Scorpion in time to halt an event that will pit the United States, China, and Russia against each other at the brink of World War III?

Internationally bestselling author Jeffery Deaver delivers the latest sensational thriller in his wildly popular Kathryn Dance series.Newsweek calls Jeffery Deaver a 'suspense superstar,' and in his new novel, he lives up to the accolades once again as he sets his heroine Kathryn Dance on a quest to stop an obsessive stalker from destroying a beautiful young country singer.Kayleigh Towne is gorgeous with a voice that is taking her to the heights of the country pop charts. Her hit single 'Your Shadow' puts her happily in the spotlight, until an innocent exchange with one of her fans leads Kayleigh into a dark and terrifying realm. The fan warns, 'I'm coming for you,' and soon accidents happen and people close to Kayleigh die. Special Agent Kathryn Dance must use her considerable skills at investigation and body language analysis to stop the stalker – but before long she learns that, like many celebrities, Kayleigh has more than just one fan with a mission.