'Shallow Graves' by Jeffery Deaver

RRP: £7.99 Pages: 324 Paperback Crime Fiction

I am a fan of Jeffery Deaver's work, but I found this one incredibly hard to read. I admit to skipping over sections of it which I just couldn't read. This wasn't his usual Lincoln Rhyme series and maybe I have been spoiled by that series for all of Deavers' other books. This one just didn't come up to par. It took really long (actually, never) to get into the story, and the story just didn't grab my attention - it was predictable and dull. Shame.

John Pellam had been in the trenches of filmmaking, with a promising Hollywood career - until tragedy sidetracked him. Now he is a location scout, travelling the country in search of shooting sites for films. When he rides down Main Street, locals usually clamour for their chance at fifteen minutes of fame.

But in a small town in upstate New York, Pellam experiences a very different reception. His illusionary world is shattered by a savage murder, and Pellam is suddenly centre stage in an unfolding drama of violence, lust and conspiracy in this less-than-picture-perfect locale.

Rating - 3 out of 10 - a disappointing facimile of Deavers normal work

'The Broken Window' by Jeffery Deaver

RRP: £16.99 Pages: 414 Hardback Crime Fiction

I have got on my bookshelf every single one of Jeffery Deavers' books which feature Lincoln Rhyme and, most of those which don't! So that will tell you that I love his books. All of Deavers' books are thrilling to read - the characters are real, the plots are complex yet easy to follow, and all of his books are page-turners with twists that no-one could expect!

Lincoln Rhyme is wrapped up in a transatlantic case when he gets an unwelcome phone call: his cousin, Arthur, has been arrested for first-degree murder. All the evidence says he did it. And this much evidence can't be wrong.
Or can it? As Lincoln and Amelia investigate, they find a spider web of crime woven by the most insidious killer they have ever encountered. A man obessesed with collecting - from junk on the street to intimate details about his victims, to the ultimate trophy: human lives themselves. This is a man who tortures and murders, a man proficient with razors and guns, but whose most dangerous weapon is information.
Information he obsessively culls from the corporate and government databases which contain every single aspect of our lives.
Information he wields with ruthless precision against those he targets ... and against those who try to stop him.

Rating - 10 out of 10! And this is one for the conspiracy theoriests amongst us too!