The Steel Kiss

The Steel Kiss by Jeffery Deaver

My 31st Jeffery Deaver novel I’ve read in 7 ½ years. You don’t read that many books by one author unless you really enjoy their work. I’ve also read all of his Lincoln Rhyme novels – in order. That’s a pet peeve of mine. When authors use the same character in multiple books, you might just miss something relevant to the progression of the main characters if you skip a book or read them out of order.

The Lincoln Rhyme books always work well for my tastes. As I’ve stated in some of my recent reviews (all on Amazon) though, I’ve been suffering a bit from “Deaver-Rhyme ennui”. The stories and characters can get a tad repetitive over time and one can’t help but feel as though you’ve read it all before. Perhaps Jeffery Deaver read my mind (or my reviews) because this book seemed somewhat fresh compared to the multitude.

In this caper, Lincoln Rhyme and many of his cohorts are back once more dealing with an intelligent psychopath who is using IoT (Internet of Things) technology to cause panic and mayhem. If you’re not familiar with the term IoT, it’s essentially the technology that allows you to lock your house from your smart phone even if you’re across the country; or the ability to have your refrigerator generate an e-grocery list as it tracks food that is removed. It doesn’t seem too far-fetched to figure how a computer savvy individual can break into the code of said devices and really cause havoc. As always, Deaver does an excellent job with his research.

Fortunately, Deaver expounds on the idiosyncrasies of his characters a bit less than normal this time around. Lincoln is still a grouch, and partner Amelia Sachs is still high-strung, but we don’t read as much about Rhyme yelling at his aid for more scotch or Sachs’ “scratching her scalp until it bleeds”. This is a very good thing. For the constant reader, these mentions really do get old after a while. It’s also nice to see that Deaver elects to only use many members of the supporting cast sparingly in this story. Again, it becomes cumbersome when we get so used to Rhyme and the regulars huddled in his private lab going over evidence while Rhyme screams at all of them for not being at his level of intellect.

We also meet a few new characters and read several subplots. Normally having many subplots isn’t always a good thing, but I welcomed the change in this book. Included here are stories about a parent, an ex-lover, and a student of Lincoln Rhyme’s who is also a quadriplegic (Lincoln is a teacher in this book – having ‘retired’ from the police force). The length of this book seemed to be about 150 pages longer than the normal Lincoln Rhyme escapade, but that didn’t bother me at all. Again, Jeffery Deaver is a very strong writer, so the fact that he adds so much “fresh” material and perspective is a change for the better.

Deaver is famous for his plot twists, but when you’ve read so many of his works, you’re not as astounded when you come across them. As another reviewer put it: “When you’re really trying to figure out how a magician will fool his audience, you tend to look at his hands and not necessarily where he’s trying to get your eyes to focus.” That’s a great description of myself when I now read Jeffery Deaver. The surprise factor wears thin after you’ve read so much of the authors’ work.
Still, though, this was very enjoyable. I thought this was one of his best Lincoln Rhyme efforts. I imagine it must be a real chore trying to keep things fresh for his repetitive readers. Deaver succeeds here. Hopefully he’ll do as good of a job next time as well.