Solitude Creek

I love the Kathryn Dance character. She's cool and bright, likes stylish footwear, and is an expert at kinesics—a form of reading body language and facial expressions—which comes in handy when interviewing criminals. This book follows several cases Agent Dance works on with her fellow CBI agents. At the forefront is a psycho working in the Monterey Bay area, orchestrating deadly stampedes in crowded venues, then selling pics and videos of the death and mayhem. Who knew that was a thing, but it is. I know stampedes at concerts have happened in real life, but the ones described in this book are exceptionally terrifying. The other cases involve a drug cartel working on the west coast of California and some local hate crimes. The action show more in the book's first half is slow, but the author throws a few surprising twists towards the end. Some plot lines involving her kids were implausible, but I immensely enjoyed this book. show less

I can't believe I finished this book, but I guess I was hate-reading it toward the end. Too many convoluted plots, all resolved miraculously; too many loose ends tied in neat, unrealistic bows.

This is my last Jeffery Deaver book. I gave up on Lincoln Rhyme a couple of books ago. I wish I'd given up on Kathryn Dance before I wasted two evenings.

A cry of “Fire!” during a concert causes a stampede toward the exits, but the fleeing people find the doors blocked. Panic ensues and when all is said and done, three people have been crushed to death and scores of others are injured.

But there was no fire.

Antioch March is responsible for creating the fear that caused the panicked stampede. When Katherine Dancer, a body language specialist with the FBI, is brought in to investigate, she discovers that March has other attacks planned as he seeks to turn peoples’ fears into weapons.
Thus begins the race to identify the target, to keep the next attack from happening, and to keep the innocent from dying.

This top-notch thriller will keep readers turning pages far into the night.

Highly show more recommended. show less

This is another (almost) intriguing book by an artist of his craft. Kathryn Dance is led a merry waltz by a very clever criminal whose main skill is inducing fear into people, a fear which causes them to panic and in the scramble that ensues, people are killed or badly injured. So much of that is clear from the beginning, even telling us the perpetrator's name, Antioch March, and how he is planning his next event, taunted by his psychological problem which he calls "The Get". What is not revealed until much later is the appalling background to these planned events. Kathryn works her way through what clues there are, becoming quite devious (just how much is not seen until very near the end of the novel) herself in bringing the show more perpetrator to justice, and also starting a whole train of other convictions to be pursued. Unfortunately, and this where my bracketed (almost) comes in at the start, is that the end becomes rushed. The actual denouement is very well staged, but then everything falls into place too easily thanks to immediate confessions. Kathryn's love life also adds something of a distraction, although it does seem to be working out towards the end.
Still a good series, an intriguing plot, a good read, just the drawback of the quick ending. show less

Is it wrong to say I love Jeffery Deaver's Dance series better than his Rhymes series? Well I don't care. This book has a lot of interesting twists and turns that threw me for a loop. But maybe I easily thrown. ;)

Echt een fijn boek om te lezen. Actueel doordat groepen mensen in paniek gejaagd worden en de dader geobsedeerd is door iets wat hij het Oir noemt. Het is een vorm van verslaving. Mooie dreiging steeds. Tussendoor goede beschrijving van de gevoelens van hoofdpersoon, detective Kathryn Dance, voor twee mannen en haar kinderen.

Solitude Creek is the fourth book in Jeffery Deaver’s Kathryn Dance series and was originally published in 2015. Once again, we get the multiple twists and turns in the story that will take your breathe away. Even when you think you may know the bad guy there is still a subtle twist which you do not see coming.

Kathryn Dance a body language expert and agent of the California Bureau of Investigation was conducting an interview with Joaquin Serrano and dismisses him as not a suspect. When after he has been released information comes through that tells them he is a suspect. But he has gone, and Dance is in trouble, especially as she has embarrassed the CBI in front of colleagues from Sacramento and Federal Agents.

Kathryn is busted back show more down to rookie status and can no longer carry a gun when her role will not consist of much more than routine insurance checks. On this, she is visiting a Roadhouse on Solitude Creek where a tragic surge took place. But to Kathryn’s eye somethings did not fit right with the story the crime scene was showing. She got her friend, Michael O’Neil from the local police department to look it over.

As Dance and O’Neil begin their investigation, another crowd surge happens not far from Solitude Creek. This time gun fire aimed at the building but not injuring anyone caused panic and people were jumping out of the windows and crashing on to the rocks and ocean below. Things were not adding up. At the same time O’Neil was dealing with a number of hate crimes that were highly unusual in the town.

At the same time Dance is trying to be the mother to her two children, Wes and Maggie, and she thinks something is a little off with her daughter. While her son has a new set of friends, and they enjoy playing games with pen and paper, as well as being active on their bicycles. But Dance really needs to see what is upsetting Maggie. At the same time her love life with Jon is just bouncing along fine and dandy.

Dance is involved in multiple investigations like any law enforcement officer anywhere in the world. She is stretched and she knows what she is doing. She will get the bad guys whoever they are in the end.

There are some wonderful twists and turns in this story, some you expect, and some come as a surprise. This is why Jeffery Deaver is a master thriller writer, you cannot predict what is going to happen next. He does not telegraph the endings, like some American authors. A fantastic read. show less