Run, run, RUN AWAY from this dreadful Deaver. I truly believe his publisher said, "You've got another book due next month Deaver, where is it?" and he thought, "oh SHOOT" and just threw something together.

I did not finish this book, so if it redeemed itself more than a third of the way in, I didn't get to it.

Deaver spends the beginning chapters either lecturing us on this genesis and social impact of blogs and the social media side of blogging, or, he forces us to read page after page of fake "texting" blogs supposedly written by teenagers.

This dreadful and boring expository is interlaced with predicable action and non-action.

If you enjoy Deaver, find something else, because this is just terrible. ( )

I love Jeffery Deaver's mysteries, and while I'm not as familiar with Kathryn Dance as I am with his Lincoln Rhyme mysteries, the technology plot line drew me in quickly. This was a great follow-up to Deaver's Broken Window. The plot moved along quickly and was packed with what I consider fairly Deaveresque twists and turns.

There's a secondary plot line involving Dance's mother, that I didn't love, and which likely continued from an earlier book I didn't read. Thankfully, there wasn't much depth to it and it didn't distract from the main plot as much as I feared it might have.

In all, a nice quick thriller, definitely recommended. ( )

Everyone has seen them - roadside memorials for accident victims, certain stretches of dangerous road with numerous crosses and signs commemorating the loss of a loved one. But this time, when a small handmade cross appears on the side of the highway, it doesn’t represent a life that has been cut short, but one that soon will be.

California Bureau of Investigation agent Kathryn Dance, an expert on kinesics (body language), is sent to interview the teenage girl who survived the attack, and it soon becomes apparent that the young victim knows more about her attacker than she is saying. Following the clues, Dance is led to a report on a website about a recent accident that took the lives of two local teenage girls, and she is disturbed by the brutality of the user comments attacking the boy who was driving the car. Considered an outcast by his peers, Travis Brigham is a likely suspect for the attack, seemingly acting in retribution for an accusation against him posted online. Dance quickly locates Travis, but is unable to do anything but briefly question him before he vanishes.

When another cross appears, and this victim also condemned Travis on the internet, Dance must work rapidly to identify other possible targets of Travis’s rage as the allegations and rumors being posted about him grow more outrageous and vicious by the minute. But just as the anonymous screen names conceal the identities of the users, the tragedy of Travis’s circumstances hides a deeper and darker story.

“Roadside Crosses” also contains a subplot that carries over from Deaver’s previous Kathryn Dance book, “The Sleeping Doll.” At the end of that book, a severely burned police officer is revealed to be the victim of what appears to be a mercy killing, and in “Roadside Crosses,” Dance is shocked when her own mother, a registered nurse at the hospital where the officer died, is arrested for his murder. Unable to get involved in the investigation, Dance can only watch in frustration as her mother is vilified by an overzealous prosecutor and condemned by protestors.

Jeffery Deaver’s books have always kept me on the edge of my seat, and his latest is no exception. “Roadside Crosses” is another page turner from a master of suspense and misdirection who doesn’t reveal the hoops until he’s already pulled you through them. Deaver skillfully guides his readers through a carefully and tightly plotted mystery that should satisfy any fan of the genre.

love Jeffery Deaver! His books are the kind I stay up late to read. This was no exception. It was full of twists & turns. Very well-done. Although the Lincoln Rhyme books are my favorites, this will do until he comes out with another Rhyme book. ( )

Jeffrey Deaver is another big favorite of mine. He's prolific, but he always delivers a quality page-turning thriller. He's got several series going, most famously the Lincoln Rhyme novels, but this is the second book in a new series of novels featuring California Bureau of Investigations agent Kathryn Dance. Where Lincoln Rhyme is interesting because he is a highly intelligent & driven forensic scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic, Kathryn Dance is interesting because she's an expert in kinesics (body language to the rest of us).

Deaver is a retired attorney & he builds a plot much like I imagine you build a case - step by step, bit by bit - in his novels he deals the cards to you one by one until you get the whole picture. He is also the master of the unexpected twist. He does this better than anyone I've ever read - throwing a monkey wrench into what you thought was going on & forcing you to look at everything from another perspective. I've often thought he should consider a third a career as an illusionist because he's just that good at misdirection.

This was an enjoyable novel combining additional character development with a great story that features the world of blogs & MMORPG's - two things I like an awful lot. He manages to write about the virtual world (or synth world, as he calls it) without sounding like a complete n00b - that tells me he actually researches what he's writing & listens to the experts he consults (another really great quality in a human being). A fun, smart read. ( )