The Burning Wire by Jeffery Deaver

39. - 552.) The Burning Wire by Jeffery Deaver – Lincoln Rhyme confronts the challenge of finding a killer using electricity to slay victims. The horrific effects of an arc flash spewing bits of molten metal through a body and cauterizing the wounds spook Amelia Sachs. I had not appreciated the killing power of electricity. The killer demands Algonquin Power, New York’s largest power company, take actions that would temporarily decrease the power used in New York. Unlike some of the Rhyme mysteries there is no pulling back from clever murders. Algonquin’s CEO, Andi Jesson, is a strong woman devastated by the murders. In the background, the Watchmaker has arrived in Mexico. Rhyme provides long distance support to the Mexican police. Trace evidence leads Rhyme, Sacks and the other members of the team towards the killer. The story was not really unfolding logically which is a surprise in a Rhyme thriller but Deaver smoothly draws logic out of the plot. As with every Deaver story no story line can be taken for granted. I never see the twists coming in his plots. In the end it was a very satisfying book. In his personal life Rhyme seems more human and even vulnerable as he considers his quadriplegic life. There can be few more dramatic shifts in form of investigation than between my preceding read, Child 44, and a Rhyme mystery. From Stalinist Russia where the primary official investigatory tool is torture and forensic investigation is non-existent when torture is not utilized to 21^st Century New York where sophisticated scientific instruments are relied on to analyze the evidence. Very good. (Oct. 5/10)