THE WATCHMAKER'S HAND

4.5 stars out of 5

One of the most daunting aspects of writing books in a series, it seems to me, is that the characters tend to become like old friends to readers - which is great, of course - but also readers who come to expect that each new installment will be at least as good - perhaps even better - than the last. To be sure, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this, the 16th featuring consulting forensic scientist Lincoln Rhymes and his now wife, NYPD detective Amelia Sachs. And make no mistake: it is very good - I stayed up 45 minutes past my bedtime to finish it, for gosh sake. But the abundance of technical "stuff" was a bit overwhelming, and for whatever reason, I didn't feel as much of a "connection" between Lincoln and Amelia this time out.

That technical part centers around construction cranes and the horrifying repercussions when they go beserk. Now I'm very familiar (or so I thought) with cranes, but it became clear early on that I had no idea what a "tower crane" is (I finally opted for a search engine to see what they look like, and yes, I've seen them). Neither Lincoln nor Amelia seemed to have their hearts into their relationship (even Thom Reston, caregiver of Lincoln, a paraplegic, lacked his usually spicy banter with Lincoln). On the other hand, the story did bring back a couple of unsavory nemeses from past books as well as actions/interactions of much-liked colleagues like Lincoln's former partner Lon Sellitto and colleague Ron Pulaski.

This one begins as a tower crane at a project in downtown Manhattan inexplicably becomes unstable, dropping 36,000 pounds of 6 foot by 4 foot flange beams and counterweights that, thanks to quick actions by the operator, kill just one human and injure only a handful. Shortly thereafter comes a demand from the perpetrator that promises a drop of even bigger proportions if that demand is not met within 24 hours. At that point, of course, the clock starts ticking (heads up, longtime fans) and Lincoln and Amelia switch to action mode.

From that point on, the action is pretty much nonstop; needless to say, the goings-on put just about everyone in danger and few events are what they seem to be. It puts all of Lincoln's vast knowledge to the test, tests the resilience of everyone on the team showed me that I'm able to sit on the edge of my seat a lot longer than I'd have predicted. All told, another good one - and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review it.

The Watchmaker's Hand by Jeffery Deaver (G.P. Putnam's Sons, November 2023); 427 pp.