The Burning Wire

The citizens of New York are under attack, with the electricity grid being controlled to grim criminal ends. Hideous, electricity-induced death is raining down, and the natural assumption is that it is the work of terrorists. The CIA and the FBI are pursuing this avenue, but quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme (Deaver’s long-term protagonist) is studying the forensic evidence, helped (as usual) by the resourceful Amelia Sachs and a talented team (among its number, FBI agent Fred Dellray). The attacks, Rhyme realises, are not terror-inspired, but the work of a brilliant criminal, whose manipulation of electricity in all its forms will give Rhyme and his co. their biggest ever headache.

Storytelling of a compelling order is the name of the game here, with suspenseful revelations hitting the reader at calculated intervals. And along with the crack use of narrative technique, there's the usual on-the-hoof, economical characterisation for Lincoln Rhyme and his team; just enough to make us think this is not somewhere we’ve been before.

Jeffery Deaver has spread his non-Rhyme wings before with his Kathryn Dance books, but the author has now signed on to continue Ian Fleming’s durable James Bond franchise. His Bond book is currently labelled Project X, but until it appears, The Burning Wire reminds us that the author is one of the surest scribes in the thriller field. --Barry Forshaw