The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver

Author : Jeffery Deaver
Title : The Empty Chair
Published  2000
Publisher : Hodder Paperbacks
Pages : 496
Genre : Crime / Thriller

You've followed a killer into a swamp. Hopefully, you'll find him before he gets to his next victims

But you'd better watch out - The Insect Boy doesn't need his own hands to kill... Sick of his debilitating injuries, Lincoln Rhyme has traveled to a world-famous spinal cord injuries center in North Carolina for some risky, experimental surgery. It may make him a tiny bit better; it may kill him. But before he has a chance to undergo the operation, the local police department draft Rhyme and his partner Amelia into a shocking new case. Using their forensic skills the pair desperately try to track down two women kidnapped by a psychotic young man known locally as the Insect Boy.

     I first came to the world of Lincoln Rhyme through the film The Bone Collector. At the time I didn't realize that the film was based on a book. So when I finally found this out I jumped into that book with both feet. It was everything I liked in a good crime book, dark and twisted with plenty of gruesome murders. It was also a book that made me think, I had to work to pull apart the clues and work out who the killer was. So for some reason, it took me some time to circle back to these books, personal I like to blame my complete out of control to be read pile. So anyway a friend of mine had just finished this book and was telling me about how great she thought it was. Which obviously, in turn, jumped my memory of the previous book and I went and garbed my self a copy hoping for a repeat of the enjoyment I had previously had. 

     This book took me quickly back into Rhyme's world, While little time is devoted to catching the reader up on who his leads are. I personally would not have to expect it so much after the second book. The dynamic is already well established and it was fun to once again see them playing off each other. With Rhyme's before serving entirely as the brains this time around Amelia has clearly moved on. She is calling plays and is no longer simply being lead around. To me, she felt less two dimensional and this can only be a good thing. She knows also has a life without Rhyme's and this too allows her to grow and give more depth to her.  It overall as drives a more diverse storyline and for me, this can only be a good thing. As for Rhyme's himself he still, for the most part, comes across as the grumpy know it all who can pull apart clues better than no one else. The is a slight shift though relating to his disability. The author uses this to raise certain questions as to what you are willing to live with and also what you willing to risk to give your self a possible better state of living. 

     In the hunt for the insect boy, this book took a very different route than The Bone Thief. Whereas that one was about pulling apart clues left by a crazed killer that on Rhyme's can solve. This is more like the fugitive. While our hero's search for a clue in the hunt for the insect boy this are in more normal location and in part goes more into his motives as to where he may have gone. Everything is also a lot less clear cut as to what has actually happened, with no bodies it is more down to speculation a thing Rhyme's is never too happy dealing in. It's still interesting to see him work in this environment and There is still plenty of clues for both Rhyme's and us to play with and try and work out what is going on. There is defiantly still a good solid mystery at its core and kept me turning the pages. And the final ravel came as a good twist to me that I didn't see coming. Deaver is not reinventing the wheel here but does give you an enjoyable read that at least kept me going to find out what was going on. 

     Overall for me, The Bone Collector gave me more of what I enjoy in a book a bit more gruesome and defiantly a darker more twisted adversary. This book is by no means a waste of your time to read or a dud, and maybe it will fit you better than it did me. It is still an enjoyable way to spend some time.  If you haven't read any of these books start at the beginning and work your way here.