NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his assistant, Detective Amelia Sachs, are back to match wits with a criminal mastermind who works with deadly precision. This meticulous killer, dubbed the Watchmaker, leaves a clock at every crime scene. With each tick of these timepieces, urgency builds to stop a slew of threatened murders. High-grade suspense.

The pyrotechnics of the murder plot are dazzling on their own terms, but in "the great scheme of things," as the Watchmaker puts it, time itself is the subject of the story. In observing how a calamitous event like the destruction of the World Trade Center can establish new indexes of timekeeping (the "Before and After" syndrome), Deaver argues that stopping time in its tracks is a madman's ruse for stopping life itself.
— The New York Times

Mantegna applies his considerable talent to this latest Lincoln Rhymes mystery. Deaver's quadriplegic detective, Rhymes and his partner, Det. Amelia Sachs, attempt to stop a sadistic serial killer known as the Watchmaker, so named because he leaves specially constructed clocks at the site of each of his murders. However, as so often happens in Deaver's stories, not everything is even close to what it seems. Mantegna gives a smooth, no frills performance. He keeps the vocal deviations for each character to a minimum, concentrating instead on making their dialogue natural and realistic. His low-key delivery works especially well when describing the point of view of the Watchmaker or when delving into the inner thoughts of the killer's sexually deviant accomplice. The scenes between the two villains as they calmly discuss the fates of their intended victims, both before and after death, are genuinely chilling in their execution. Deaver fans will be pleased to have Rhymes and Sachs back in a new intricate and compelling thriller, with Mantegna once again serving as an excellent narrator. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 3). (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Listeners could find parts of this audio to be a bit too intense for comfort. Quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs head an investigative team of high-level detectives and police administrators aiming to keep the "Watchmaker" from succeeding at his next ritual-torture murder and leaving his calling card, a cased clock displaying the phase of the winter "killer" moon. Master detective vs. master criminal and forensic evidence vs. forensic psychology mixed into several diabolical, interesting plots keep the listener thinking and guessing up to the end. This book includes graphic descriptions of crime scenes, moments of intense suspense, and interesting speculations into criminal psychology. Joe Mantegna gives the novel a great reading, and Deaver's intricate plotting of a homicide investigation involving serial killings makes this essential. Very highly recommended for adult fiction collections. Cliff Glaviano, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

The latest serial killer to duke it out with quadriplegic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme is a nefarious figure, the Watchmaker, whose bark, sadly, is a lot worse than his bite. The first two victims are linked by identical clocks left at the crime scenes and the killer's clear determination to prolong each death for as long as possible. But Lincoln Rhyme and his legman/investigator Amelia Sachs don't need to work very hard to find clues to a killer who signs his work with a snatch of dark doggerel. Evidently the perps, soon identified for readers as unflappable Gerald Duncan and his rapist sidekick Vincent Reynolds, are intent on leaving a trail of evidence that will lead directly to them. Will Rhyme, Sachs and the NYPD catch the pair before they can kill florist Joanne Harper, Sgt. Lucy Richter and the rest of the victims they seem to have lined up? Fans of Rhyme's first six cases (The Twelfth Card, 2005, etc.) will skip this question to focus on a more interesting one: Which of the leads, revelations, twists and confessions can be trusted, and which have been planted for purposes best known to the Watchmaker? Deaver, an old pro at pulling rugs out from under readers, adds a piquant complication this time: another case Sachs is working on her own (an impossible suicide she's sure is murder) whose connection to the Watchmaker is worth the price of admission. But this time the complications-a technical term that refers to the extra dials and functions built into a first-rate chronometer-go way over the top for the last 100 pages, and the case peters out in diminishing returns. The most mannered of all Rhyme's adventures, with more red herrings than a fish market and a climax that's both a bangand a whimper. First printing of 300,000; Book-of-the-Month Club/Literary Guild main selection; Mystery Guild main selection

Deaver's seventh Lincoln Rhyme novel brings back the old familiar faces of Amelia Sachs, Lon Selitto, and rookie Ron Pulaski and introduces an excellent addition to the team, kinesics analyst Kathryn Dance. The group searches for the Watchmaker, an especially creepy killer with a fixation on the time it takes to die. George Guidall's performance reaffirms that he can do no wrong as a narrator. He slips easily in and out of character, his voice as fluid as a slide trombone. He is directive as Rhyme, dedicated as Sachs, and utterly disquieting as the meticulous killer and his depraved partner. This super-suspenseful thriller packs a wallop. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine