The Empty Chair
A Novel
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4.3 • 349 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Now a gripping TV series starring Russell Hornsby and Michael Imperioli! From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Bone Collector and The Devil’s Teardrop a spine-chilling thriller that puts renowned criminalist Lincoln Rhyme against the ultimate opponent—Amelia Sachs, his own brilliant protégé.
A quadriplegic since a beam crushed his spinal cord years ago, Lincoln Rhyme is desperate to improve his condition and goes to the University of North Carolina Medical Center for high-risk experimental surgery. But he and Sachs have hardly settled in when the local authorities come calling. In a twenty-four-hour period, the sleepy Southern outpost of Tanner’s Corner has seen a local teen murdered and two young women abducted. And Rhyme and Sachs are the best chance to find the girls alive.
The prime suspect is a peculiar teenage truant known as the Insect Boy, so nicknamed for his disturbing obsession with bugs. Rhyme’s unsurpassed analytical skills and stellar forensic experience, combined with Sachs’s exceptional detective legwork, soon snare the perp. But even Rhyme can’t anticipate that Sachs will disagree with his crime analysis and that her vehemence will put her in the swampland, harboring the very suspect who Rhyme considers a ruthless killer. So ensues Rhyme’s greatest challenge—facing the criminalist whom he has taught everything he knows in a battle of wits, forensics, and intuition.
With the intricate forensic detail, breathtaking speed, and masterful plot twists that are signature Deaver, The Empty Chair is page-turning suspense of the highest order.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lincoln Rhyme, the gruff quadriplegic detective and forensic expert of Bone Collector fame, strays far from his Manhattan base to a spooky North Carolina backwater in this engrossing and outlandish tale about the hunt for evil. The hick town is called Tanner's Corner, where Rhyme--in North Carolina for experimental surgery--has been called by the local sheriff to oversee the search for a kidnapper and his victims. The kidnapper is 16-year-old Garrett Hanlon, a local youth of ill repute whose obsession with bugs has earned him the nickname "The Insect Boy." His captives are Mary Beth McConnell, who Hanlon has stalked for months, and local nurse Lydia Johansson, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A marathon chase ensues across North Carolina's perilous swampland by sheriff deputies and Rhyme's assistant and lover, Amelia Sachs. Rhyme, a former New York City cop whose on-the-job injury several years earlier left him with movement in only one finger, directs the search from his wheelchair at sheriff headquarters. As he examines forensic evidence from the crime scenes and points along the search route, Rhyme grows increasingly suspicious about which players are the good guys and which are masking their evil intentions. The story grows heavy in the middle, but eventually takes several of Deaver's trademark twists, cleverly camouflaged for maximum effect. The characters surrounding Rhyme in his third adventure are colorful, back-country cutouts who serve their purpose well. In the end, it's all a bit hard to swallow--particularly the ultimate revelations about Tanner's Corner and its strange inhabitants--but for thrills and surprises, Deaver is still aces.
Customer Reviews
Insect Boy!
The Premise: In a small town, a young man was murdered, a college student and a nurse was kidnapped; then a Deputy Sheriff was stung by a Hornet’s nest critically. The main suspect is a teenage boy with an obsession with insects, nicknamed the Insects Boy. The county Sheriff has asked Lincoln Rhymes to help find the kidnapped and the suspect.
This is another in series of Lincoln Rhymes and Amelia Sachs forensic investigation thriller. I saw the Bone Collector movie and in my mind’s eye I will always see Denzil Washington and Angelina Jolie as the main characters.
I liked the story line, nothing is what it seems, of course. There are plenty of twist and turns. The story captured my attention from start to the end. I recommend this novel as a great weekend read, you will want to devour it and I don’t want you to be late for work!
way too long
Deaver meanders as usual and makes his books far too long and complex. Settle down Beavis!
Empty ChIr
Good read . I enjoy this series.