I remember the first time I borrowed a Jeffery Deaver book from the library and it's stuck with me for years because that book was The Bone Collector. I then sought out every other book in the Lincoln Rhyme series and hit a bit of a stumbling block. That stumbling block being The Twelfth Card. I must have started and stopped reading this book about five times over the years, and I have always struggled to get into the story. Annoyingly, I hate skipping a book in any series and so pretty much forced myself to see this one through so I can continue with the series! Geneva Settle is at the library researching one of her ancestors when a stranger enters and gives Geneva the sense that she's in danger. She escapes from the library in a very inventive way, straight into the arms of her friend and the police. The case is brought to the attention of Lincoln Rhyme, quite loosely because it doesn't really call for his expertise in the beginning, but still. I'm not usually crazy about stories like this as I wondered where it was going. Why would Geneva's looking into her family history mean that someone would want her dead? Especially as it's all from so long ago, so long ago that everybody involved is long dead. Lincoln Rhyme must first reach the conclusion that Geneva wasn't targeted at random and then the story really gets going. What I have always loved about this series is the rather unique way that we follow the crimes, and the way they are solved. For those new to this series, Rhyme is a quadriplegic, which means that he largely solves cases from home but does occasionally venture out into the field. He's quite a headstrong and determined individual, and very sarcastic too. He takes no messing from anybody, and his long-suffering aide Thom usually bears the brunt of Rhyme's anger and frustrations. But, there's a great partnership there between the two. Rhyme is quite clever, and he often thinks a few steps ahead of anybody else. Certainly me anyway! I particularly enjoy the level of detail that Jeffery Deaver goes into when it comes to the forensic details of crime. Rhyme and his team have a very sophisticated setup, and some rather unique ways of analysing evidence found at the scene. In the end I'm glad that I persevered with The Twelfth Card as it means that I can now finally continue with the series. That said, it was immensely enjoyable to be back in the company of Rhyme, Amelia and co. Jeffery Deaver's books were some of the ones that really kick started my love of crime fiction and reading this book almost took me back to that young age when the only care I had in the world was what book to borrow next from the library. The Lincoln Rhyme series is one I always recommend to people who are yet to discover it and if you are also yet to pick one of Jeffery's books up, I definitely recommend starting with The Bone Collector.
Jeffery Deaver- The Twelfth Card (Pocket Star Books 2006) 4.75 StarsWhen a young girl researches her families past for a school project, her life suddenly explodes into a twisted web of danger. Now Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs must stop this cold-hearted killer before he succeeds in his mission. Found at the scene, is the twelfth card from a tarot pack, the hanged man. They must figure out what everything means. Is the girl being hunted down because of the possible changes to civil rights this girl’s project might dig up, or is there some other reason they have yet to discover? Can they end this man’s killing spree before it ends this young girl’s life?The Twelfth Card grabbed my attention from the first page and refused to let go. I enjoyed how intense the plot was and how smoothly the storyline flowed. It was set up so that the reader would only figure things out when the investigators figured it out. Some of the decoys the killer set up were really well done and left the reader on the edge of their seat, guessing what might come next. I also enjoyed characters; all of them are very intriguing and fit in very well with the storyline. At times I do get a little annoyed with the constant mentioning of the fact that Lincoln Rhyme is paraplegic, but this is so minor it is hardly worth mentioning. I also thought that the book could have ended sooner, cutting out the last thirty or so pages. It was a cute ending, but unnecessary. Overall though I really enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it.For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.comTony PetersKids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnappinghttp://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/
What do You think about The Twelfth Card (2015)?
I read this book b/c of the cover >_>... yes I know that's a silly reason to read it, but I was hoping it was going to about a voodoo-tarot-reading Miss Cleo-type psychic being involved in a scandal from the past that influenced the young protagonist in the present. Instead you get a street-smart and resourceful girl ( whose character development was lacking and very linear/superficial) getting tracked by a murderer. I will admit the resourcefulness of the young 16 year-old Geneva (SPOILER: she escapes the killer cleverly in the beginning something that Rhyme becomes impressed with upon their meeting) and her background ( very very poor and living in Harlem, problems with bullies, schoolwork, etc etc etc.) make you appreciate her, but for this to be a Lincoln Rhyme novel he is more like a visitor in his own title series. More time is spent explaining who Geneva and exploring the internal mind of the Killer that the climax of the plot seems randomly forced. Like when a student is given only 10,000 words to write a story and upon realized they are half way done with their story with only 2,500 words left just cramming as much of the relevant elements in there. It is by no means a bad read however i feel in this novel Deaver added too much of "too little" of the minute details about the tertiary characters and not enough of depth to develop them. SPOILER ALERT : In particular he goes off on a tangent about the personal life of the murderer and how he seems practical/normal and has a girlfriend with a kid.The killer is actually more developed pscyhologically than Geneva is. She is more a plot device masquerading as a character. It's still an o.k. read if ur a fan of the Lincoln Rhyme series but it's very..... meh u_U.
—Sadist3x'sfast
Always eager to read the next Deaver-Rhyme book, I was left feeling a little disappointed by the Twelfth Card. Although packed with twists, turns and suspense, I found the story rather dull and lacking in substance creating an "oh" instead of an "ooooooooh". There were some excellent touches to the story, such as the historical theme and learning more about regular characters. The Harlem dialect was a nice touch although sometimes difficult to follow. I felt the last section of the book brought necessary closure and updates, which could have easily been overseen as unnecessary to the story but were in fact key to the overall rating. Although merely passable for Deaver, he still blows most similar genre authors out of the water!
—Catherine Brown (c4thb)
I just finished reading this book and i feel somewhat torn. Although i found the story very interesting and entertaining, at times I felt a few of the characters and dialog were a little unbelieveable. I was also annoyed at some of the subtle philosophical themes hidden throughout the story.Deaver goes into great detail developing the characters. I thought Boyd was incredibly interesting - especially with the inner torment of trying to become normal again. The conflict within is mirrored by Selitto's own bout with feelings of inadequacy on the job and Jax's conflict of street thug versus legitimate member of society.Another aspect that I give high marks for is Deaver's penchant for twists and suspense. Towards the end of the book, it seemed like every page had some sort of misdirection or twist in it.However, I felt the story was hurt by unbelieveable dialogue and situations. For some reason I couldn't connect with Rhyme or Sachs. The Ebonics dialogue smells like something that someone researched, not lived though. Even so, it's hard to quantify such a rapidly changing dialect into print without sounding cliché and dated.
—Satrajit Sanyal
