Speaking in Tongues
A Novel
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3.3 • 8 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Coffin Dancer and The Final Twist comes a gripping story about Two men of words, one who seeks only peace—the other, violence.
Tate Collier, once one of the country's finest trial lawyers, is trying to forget his past. Now a divorced gentleman farmer, land developer, and community advocate in rural Virginia, he's regrouping from some disastrous mistakes in the realms of love and the law. But controversy—and danger—seem to have an unerring hold on Tate. Even as he struggles to rebuild his life, his alter ego is plotting his demise.
Aaron Matthews, a brilliant psychologist, has turned his talents away from curing patients to far deadlier goals. He's targeted Tate, Tate's ex-wife, Bett, and their estranged daughter, Megan, for unspeakable revenge. Matthews, ruthless and hell-bent, will destroy anything that inhibits his plans. When their daughter disappears, Tate and Bett reunite in a desperate, heart-pounding attempt to find her and to stop Matthews, a psychopath whose gift of a glib tongue and talent for coercion are as dangerous as knives and guns.
Featuring an urgent race against the clock, gripping details of psychological manipulation, and the brilliant twists and turns that are trademark Deaver, Speaking in Tongues delivers the suspense punch that has made this author a bestseller. It will leave you speechless.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Before he launched his praised and popular series about quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme (The Empty Chair, etc.), Deaver made his reputation with tricky, stylish thrillers such as Praying for Sleep and Manhattan Is My Beat. This slick novel is a throwback to those books and Deaver's first wholly outside the Rhyme universe since A Maiden's Grave. The basic plot is simple. An insane but intensely charismatic psychiatrist, Aaron Matthews, for reasons revealed only near book's end, kidnaps his patient, alienated Megan McCall, the young adult daughter of former Virginia prosecutor Tate Collier, and imprisons her in an abandoned mental institution. Tate and his estranged wife go looking for Megan and enlist the cops in their search. Much violence ensues. Deaver's characters are workable but not deep, though there's some psychological probing along the fault lines dividing Tate, his wife and their daughter. The novel's primary appeal arises from its thrills, which are plentiful. Like James Patterson, Deaver writes dialogue-driven prose, in short, strong sentences and paragraphs that demand little from the reader while seizing attention to the max. Tate and his wife are forgettable heroes, but Deaver tells some of the story from feisty Megan's gripping POV, as she fights back against her captor--one dandy villain who delights in conning others through disguise and misdirection, allowing for plenty of plot curves. This isn't Deaver's most accomplished novel but it's high-energy entertainment.
Customer Reviews
Not so hot
I've enjoyed a number of Jeffrey Deaver's books, but this wasn't one of them.
A lame story of kidnapping and revenge with none of the smoothness and continuity we expect from this author. Un-real
characters ... awkwardly written and confusing in the extreme..the plot was too far-fetched, the coincidences too cute and and the overall story was just lame. I knew by page 25 I was in trouble, but having paid the price, I toughed it out to the ridiculous end.
G.B.