The Cold Moon

I really enjoyed the seventh book in the Lincoln Rhyme series. This one also gives us a first look at a character that Deaver spins off into her own series, Kathryn Dance. We get to see the science side of things and also how Dance uses her expertise in kinesics, which is the science of body language, nonverbal gestures, postures and facial expressions. Dance works at the California Bureau of Investigation and gets pulled into this case via Lon Selitto who believes that Dance can help out Rhyme and Sachs as they hunt down a man known as "The Watchmaker." There is a bit too much science (there were whole paragraphs that made my eyes glaze over) and I have to laugh again at the constant Red Herrings, but I do love the callbacks to "The show more Bone Collector" in this one.

What I found interesting in this one is that we have Sachs investigating her first homicide solo and also assisting on "The Watchmaker" cases. It's not often that we get to see Sachs independent from Rhyme while they are investigating. Due to Sachs running her own investigation, you would think her focus would be split, but I got a kick at seeing how she was handling things. However, due to one of the cases (not telling you, no spoilers here) Sachs gets a huge revelation spilled her way.

Rhyme is his typical self. However, he gets thrown a bit with Sachs off doing her own investigation and tends to act petty as hell. I do love that with Sachs running a case though, we get to see the rise of Officer Ron Pulaski that readers met in the last book. Pulaski became a favorite while reading this book.

I also loved the character of Kathryn Dance too. I do wish that we got more details about her though. I know she's a widow with two kids. I still have no idea how her husband died though. And I really wish we got to see her showcase her abilities more in this one. She was great in every scene and I enjoyed it.

Per usual, Deaver shows us the police trying to track down The Watchmaker. But instead of being in that character's head, Deaver instead gives us the third person POV of a man assisting The Watchmaker. I have to say that this character, Vincent, was grotesque. I maybe got a bit sick reading about him. I will have to say though that Deaver got way too repetitive with this character though. All Vincent thinks about is "the hunger" and eats a lot. "The hunger" in this case is that Vincent likes to rape women, so yeah, you kind of hope he gets a cement block up his skull eventually.

We also get a reappearance of a character that I haven't thought about since "The Bone Collector." That was a nice little reveal that Deaver gives so this quickly pushed the book up to 5 stars for me.

I would say that "The Cold Moon" is typical Deaver. A lot of science with some great dialogue and Red Herrings thrown in. The ending leaves things with Rhyme having a nemesis though. I liken it to Holmes versus Moriarty. I started reading the next book in the series after this, and was glad to see how Deaver continues with this in "The Broken Window." show less

No. 7 in the Lincoln Rhyme series. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs chase a fiendish serial killer known as The Watchmaker, Amelia uncovers corruption in one of the city's precincts, and we meet a kinesics expert from the West Coast, who I suspect will be a recurring presence in further Rhyme novels. Nice touch, to provide a counterpoint for Rhyme's forensics. Deaver is fairly transparent---although he doesn't let you figure out what's really going on, you're usually pretty sure it's NOT what it seems to be at any given moment. After the first 100 pages or so, I wasn't falling for any of his authorial deceptions. I wish he'd leave out the whiteboarding updates, which he throws in at the end of several chapters. And I want to take my red show more pencil to every sentence that starts with "That was when..." or "It was then that..." Pretty good escapist stuff, just the same. show less

Dieser Thriller hat es wirklich in sich: Ein Wahnsinniger scheint willkürlich Opfer auszuwählen, die er auf qualvolle Weise sterben lässt. Und nicht nur das: Er stellt neben ihnen eine Uhr auf damit sie sehen können, wieviele Minuten es dauert, bis sie ihren letzten Atemzug machen... Doch kaum glaubt man, gemeinsam mit dem gelähmten Ermittler Rhymes und seiner Partnerin Sachs hinter des Rätsels Lösung gekommen zu sein, entpuppt sich eine völlig andere Wahrheit. Oder ist es doch nur eine andere Geschichte?
Auch wenn all die Ecken und Windungen die diese Story nimmt, ungewöhnlich zahlreich und etwas verworren wirken, wird am Ende jeder kleine Handlungsfaden wieder aufgenommen und einem logischen Ende zugeführt. Alles ist gut show more durchdacht und in sich schlüssig.
Aber der Vorleser: Er hat eine angenehme Stimme, doch bedauerlicherweise behält er die gesamten siebeneinhalb Stunden den gleichen Tonfall bei. Die Figuren sind nicht zu unterscheiden und wäre die Geschichte nicht so durchweg spannend, glaube ich nicht, dass ich die komplette Zeit durchgehalten hätte. show less

Boy, did I like this book! Neglected duties, woke up early, all just to finish it, no, to find out how it ends. And now that I'm done, I feel sad because there's no more pages to turn.

A very good thriller. Rhyme, Sachs and Dancer all playing a part. Plot twists, schemes, it had me fooled over and over again. Well done!

Nice touch, the watches indicating time of chapters.

The only thing I did not like was the listing of evidence, crime scene findings a few times in the book.

Once again, he got me. I should have remembered the lessons I learned from the last book and applied them here. Nothing was what it seemed. The villain was devious, brilliant and crafty and the only one who got away. I bet we see him reappear when we least expect it. I also had an intense déjà vu moment at one point and I went searching in the older Rhyme novels for what set it off, but I never did find it and the intensity of the feeling faded out.

Again Deaver presents us with a very elaborate main plot with a few side stories thrown in. Amelia's running a case of her own, something no one expected her to get results with and when she does, she encounters a lot of problems with other cops. Eventually she's presented with information show more about her father that upsets and disillusions her so much she decides to leave the force. Rhyme is devastated and counsels her to wait before making such a final decision. She starts training her replacement who is competent enough, but green and he'll be an interesting addition to the team if he survives.

Eventually, the two cases do come together as we knew they would. I couldn't see how and the solution surprised me greatly although I should come to expect it by now. One thing that wasn't mentioned much was the movement that Rhyme was able to achieve at the end of the last book. I wanted to hear about his progress, but I didn't get any of that. Of course his big brain defeats the equally big brain of the bad guy. This time the answers were more facile than I would have liked. It was as if it wasn't even a stretch for him this time.

Another big brain was introduced here in the form of Kathryn Dance; an expert in kinesics the study of body language and other cues to determine a person's real motivations, etc. I'm not sure if I like her or not. She seems enormously smug to me. I think if I had read this book before buying Deaver's latest, I might not have bought it after all since it features Dance. I thought it would be another stand alone, but it's a new series apparently. show less

“The full Cold Moon is in the sky, shining on the corpse of earth, signifying the hour to die and end the journey begun at birth.”

The quote above is left at murder scenes, along with a clock, and signed ‘the Watchmaker’. And, according to the internet, “The Cold Moon is in December, the month of hibernation and death.”

A good Lincoln Rhyme novel with it's usual twists and turns and chess matches. This one has a rapist, murderer, crooked cops, and right wing nut jobs! And a cool new expert in the character of Kathryn Dance, an interrogation and kinesics expert! (Kinesics being the science of observing and analyzing the body language and verbal behavior of witnesses and suspects.) And she’s from Pacific Grove, a place I was show more just visiting a couple of weeks ago!

A satisfying page turner that was quick to read and kept me entertained enough to want to pick up the next one!

“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.” - Louis-Hector Berlioz show less

I've really liked every Jeffery Deaver book I've read. I started with the Lincoln Rhyme books, and read most of them. This one introduced Kathryn Dance, who got spun off into her own series; I'm reading the first book of her series now, and it's wonderful, at least as good as the Lincoln Rhyme series, I believe.

I read this one a while back, and don't remember all the details, so I'll just say that if you like Jeffery Deaver's books, you won't be disappointed, and if you've never read the Kathryn Dance books, you'll be delighted at a new character that complements Rhyme very well. It would be great to read more with the two of them working together. But then again, it might stack the deck so much against the bad guys that there would be show more no suspense. show less