Remember the quadriplegic, expert criminologist, who has motion only in a small part of his neck and in one finger? What about his brilliant redheaded protégé who acts as his legs at crime-scenes? Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are back in the third installment of this mystery saga. After searching for an old-fashioned New York killer in The Bone Collector (1997) and tracking the tattooed Dancer through the streets of Manhattan in The Coffin Dancer (1998), the partners are now helping the local police in a North Carolina town find the kidnapper and murderer of two young women. 

When Rhyme travels to North Carolina to undergo an experimental and risky surgical procedure, hoping to increase his mobility, he has no idea that his talents as one of the nation’s best crime-scene analysts would be called into play on a case. With physical evidence collected by Sachs at various crime-scenes, he must locate a hideaway cabin where a bug-obsessed teenage boy may be holding nurse Lydia Johansson. Rhyme and Sachs have no more than 24 hours to track the suspect Garrett Hanlon, referred to as Insect Boy by the locals, before he kills the abducted nurse.

Insect Boy is not the only opponent Rhyme and Sachs must face. The local deputies are not keen to accept the arrival of New York cops on the scene and taking control of their case. The local deputies have dreamt of catching Insect Boy since his first presumed murder a couple years back, and are willing to do anything to catch him – dead or alive.

When Sachs starts having doubts about the identity of the “real” murderer, she rejects Rhyme’s assumptions and starts her own investigation. Now Rhyme, assisted by his aid Thom and a marine biology scientist, must work against his lover and most valued friend, in locating the abducted nurse before the local deputies.

Deaver does it again and has written a real page-turner thriller. The plot is both well defined and well written. Allies become enemies, and enemies become allies. You will find new interpretations of the title The Empty Chair throughout the book. Suspense fans will be well served.

Reviews of other titles in the Lincoln Rhyme series

The Bone Collector #1
The Empty Chair #3
Kill Room #10
The Steel Kiss #12
The Burial Hour #13
The Cutting Edge #14 (includes Kathryn Dance)

Kathryn Dance Series
Solitude Creek #4