Deaver delivers in this Lincoln Rhyme novel!

The Twelfth Card is another in a long line of great Lincoln Rhyme novels, where both the action and the suspense build into a book that you cannot put down.

The book follows the case of an attempted rape that leads to murder and a 100 year old crime. While investigating the current threats against a smart (both book and street) high school student (Geneva), Rhyme and Sachs must also uncover what happened to her great uncle. The story is filled with twists and turns that are a hallmark of a good Deaver novel.

As always there is a little back story about Rhyme fighting against the medical world to test him or like in previous books, try some experimental treatment. This time I think it fits in very well to the story and adds to the over all enjoyment of the story.

This series is not getting old or stale for me. Each story is interesting and the growth of Rhyme in dealing with his limits and the future is always interesting.

So with all of these good comments, why not 5 stars? Well, I thought that the ending was sort of obvious, and I was able to figure out the mastermind prior to the big reveal, so that is why I knocked it down to 4 stars. All in all a good quick and interesting read that I would highly recommend to fans of Deaver and readers picking up a Rhyme novel for the first time!

More from Lincoln

Deaver always seems to pull rabbits from hats and keep you guessing through the whole story. Just when you have an idea of where he's going, he pulls the rug out from under you. "The Twelfth Card" is no exception, though the plot twists are fewer than before. The story isn't as tight as "The Vanished Man", but it's better than "Garden of Beasts". A satisfying addition to Rhyme's storyline (including the ending, finally giving some light to his otherwise hopeless situation). While the suspense isn't cranked up to the levels we've normally expected from Deaver, the story's still good. A recommended summer read.

Not His Best

Lincoln Rhyme is one of the most interesting characters in contemporary crime fiction but this outing fails to do him justice.

A Harlem teenager is almost killed while researching an ancestor in a small museum. The police suspect attempted rape and Amelia Sach's, Rhyme's protege and lover becomes involved because she is truly horrified by sexual assault. Rhyme agrees to assist to avoid medical tests that will determine whether his new therapy is rogressing. A whole cast of characters becomes involved and Deaver throws in his famous plot twists and turns.

While the hired killer is intriguing, he has basically one technique, distraction. Geneva, the teenager, is a bit too good to be true, particuarly in view of her preposterous living situation and the ultimate motivation for the hit is ridiculous and unsatisfying. Moreover, the author veers between political correctness and dialogue that sounds like a cranked-up Bud commercial. There are too many characters with too many issues and the twists and turns become predictable.

Not bad for the beach but definitely not his best.