The Devil's Teardrop

The Devil’s Teardrop by Jeffery Deaver

If you’ve read a lot of Jeffery Deaver, well, this one is pretty much par for the course.  There’s a killer on the loose in Washington D.C. on the last day of the millennium.  Actually, there are a couple of killers - the one with the actual semi-automatic gun doing the damage is actually doing the bidding of his “master”.  The button man has specific orders to perform a massive act of killing in a predetermined place every four hours starting at noon on this New Years Eve day, and ending at midnight - unless a ransom is met.  Problem is, after the first killing at noon, the “leader” is killed in a traffic accident, and a massive hunt is on to find the number 2 guy, and the good guys don’t have a lot of information.  He has to be found before the next scheduled massacre, so a crack team is formed and the hunt begins.

So you see?  Typical Deaver.  Although contrary to what some have thought, this is not a Lincoln Rhyme novel - although the quadriplegic does make a cameo appearance.  My guess is that Deaver started this as a Lincoln Rhyme novel, but for whatever reason, decided to go in a slightly different direction.  It certainly could be a Rhyme novel - there’s essentially one piece of evidence - the original handwritten ransom note.  So for about 1/3 of the book, we get to read the note over and over again, looking for patterns in writing style, grammar use, and all sorts of things that only a handwriting expert would know.  So, obviously, just such an expert is brought in to the story very quickly.

That’s not to say he’s brought in easily.  Parker Kincaid is a retired FBI agent.  “Retired” in this case doesn’t mean “old”.  He’s still quite young - he just left the force the same reason why everyone leaves the force in books like these.  He’s divorced with two young kids in his custody.  Apparently, the ex-wife is a bit of a plastic materialist who does’t even like the kids - yet she’s now suing for custody.  Apparently she’s doing so just to tick her ex off, and also it makes us fell sorry for our protagonist.  So throughout the story, we’re reminded time and time (and time) again about Parker’s situation.  He really doesn’t want to do this job.  He’s retired.  If anyone “catches” him doing such a thing, well, a nasty divorce attorney just might have a case to take his beloved children away from him.

So the hunt is on.  Leads are followed up on, characters are introduced that seem inconsequential (although we know better), accidents happen, innocent people get killed, false leads are followed up on, yet our heroes continue to make progress as we know they somehow always will.

As you’re reading this, you probably sense a hint of sarcasm within these words.  I have to honestly say it’s not because I didn’t enjoy the book - I really did, it just seems as though the pattern with Deaver is becoming a bit too familiar.  I can’t really fault the author, though.  As I write this, I think I’ve read 7 or 8 of his books within the last year (I hadn’t read anything by him prior), so it’s more of an issue with me than him.  I’ve even found his trademark “spectacular bizarre ending twist” to be a bit of a yawner.  Again, there’s nothing at all really wrong with it, I just now expect the be shaken and stirred violently during the last 50 or so pages, so I’ve just somehow now taken it for granted that the roller coaster ride will only rapidly accelerate near the end.

You may feel the same way I do if you read many of this author’s works in a short time frame, so maybe a nice break in between the books is necessary.  Still, though, great job, and as always, it’s nice to see a writer do so much homework and research to get the labyrinth of facts straight.