DECEPTIONS

5 stars out of 5

With full knowledge that I sound like a broken record, I’ll again say I’m SO not a fan of short stories and will pass on them every time. Except, that is, when they’re written by a long-time favorite author; when that happens, I cannot NOT read them – and such is the case here. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that at least a couple of the stories here feature characters from series that made the author a favorite of mine in the first place, like Lincoln Rhyme and "Tracker" Colter Shaw.

There’s no way to review each and every story without giving away too much, of course (although I’ll mention there’s an interesting “connection” with a twist at the end the last one), so I’ll just offer up brief descriptions, to-wit:

Forgotten: (Colter Shaw): The father of a teenage boy convicted of killing a drug dealer offers missing-persons-finder Colter Shaw $2,600 to find proof his son is innocent.

Hard to Get: Analyst Dr. Albert Lessing, an analyst for a clandestine CIA agency, is asked to infiltrate another country and get himself recruited as a U.S. spy (with no official protection from the United States).

The Writers’ Conference: Jim Handle, a detective in the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Department, has been assigned to head up security at the local convention center – a place often considered a top terrorist target. This assignment sounds easy peasy – all the convention presenters and attendees are crime writers. Five of them are competing for the “Tombstone Award,” with the winner to be announced at a banquet. What could possibly go wrong?

An Acceptable Sacrifice: Trying to “take out” a bad guy who wants to “take out” a busload of tourists isn’t a bad thing. But what if the people planning to take him out have the wrong bad guy? This one’s a real zinger.

The Adventures of the Laughing Fisherman: Book character lover Paul Winslow is back with his former therapist because he’s lost his interest in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books. When the therapist suggests he put his powers of deduction to work in a real job, he decides he’ll try to deduce the identity of the “Upper East Side Slasher,” who’s killed at least three so far.

Where the Evidence Lies: Forensic analyst Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, are in Miami for his forensic lecture when a plane crashes at Eastern Dade Airport there. A prominent businessman killed in the crash had some notable enemies, as did the pilot. Sabotage is suspected, but can Lincoln and Amelia prove it?

A Woman of Mystery: A killer is on a rampage, and he (or she) is now in Milan with his fifth victim lined up. All Detective Inspector Rinaldo Tosca knows at this point is that the “Sunday Killer” strikes on the last day of the week (or first, if you’re part of the roughly 55% of the world’s population that begin their week on Sunday, according to Timeandate.com). Tosca is at a loss for clues, until a woman comes to the office to say she has information – including the name of the next victim.

The Bookkeeper: Colter Shaw is trying to intercept a killer in the library of the New School for Social Thought in Greenwich Village when he finds a break-in, but no dead body – just a stolen laptop. The killer, Shaw says, is a hitman nicknamed “The Bookkeeper” paid to eliminate people who are opposed to democracy. Clues point in the direction of Russia, but real evidence is hard to pin down.

The Deadliest Sense: The final story returns to Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, who are trying to find a prolific killer who’s got an impeccable record for leaving no clues – no motive, no connections, no possible means of identification. As usual, Lincoln does what he does best – focus on the evidence. Even if they don’t solve this one, though, there’s another case on tap.

And that’s it. All very interesting, and I could have read the entire book in one day if life hadn’t intervened and I hadn’t answered a phone call from a friend I haven’t heard from in years. Anyway, it’s a fun read, and I heartily thank the publisher, by way of NetGalley, for allowing me to sample it in the form of a pre-release copy. Go read it for yourself – you won’t be sorry!

Deceptions by Jeffery Deaver (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, August 2026); 304 pp.