APRIL 2016 - AudioFile
Quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, return in this story, which finds them pitted against another punctilious killer. Narrator Edoardo Ballerini is perfectly in tune with the Rhyme character, emphasizing the detective's great intellect and questionable people skills with his pointed delivery, while not suppressing the wit in the writing. His voicing of the other characters is full of subtleties that contribute to a thrilling listen, particularly his depiction of the killer, who presents a convincing picture of a sad loner with a terrifying mission. This is a typical Jeffrey Deaver tale, filled with interwoven plots that can send the listener's mind off in completely the wrong direction, and Ballerini ensures that the end result is a thoroughly gripping listen. K.J.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio
Although I would categorically deny it if cornered, I secretly enjoy the various dramatic, even (soap) operatic developments in the lives of fictional sleuths. And there are plenty of these in The Steel Kiss…These are the kinds of intrusions that would normally distract from the forensic detail for which Deaver's darkly witty series is noted. But here they serve to heighten the tensions of the plot and complicate the efforts of Rhyme and his troops…
Publishers Weekly
01/18/2016
Bestseller Deaver’s clever 12th Lincoln Rhyme novel (after 2014’s The Skin Collector) finds the forensic expert no longer working for the NYPD. But Rhyme’s lover, NYPD Major Cases detective Amelia Sachs, could use his help. She was chasing a murder suspect in a Brooklyn department store when she stopped to deal with a bizarre, fatal elevator accident. The lawyer for the wife of the man who was crushed in the elevator’s gears wants Rhyme to assist in a difficult civil suit. Meanwhile, the suspect, a cunning killer, plots more attacks that employ ingenious ways to subvert modern technology. Entertaining subplots focus on the release from prison of Sachs’s lover before Rhyme, Nick Carelli, who served time for robbery and assault; a private mission undertaken by Patrolman Ron Pulaski, a former protégé of Rhyme’s; and the travails of Rhyme’s new protégé, intern Juliette Archer. Convincing characters and an unexpected closing twist will remind readers why Deaver is one of today’s top thriller writers. Author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. (Mar.)
AudioFile
Narrator Edoardo Ballerini is perfectly in tune with the Rhyme character, emphasizing the detective’s great intellect and questionable people skills with his pointed delivery, while not suppressing the wit in the writing. His voicing of the other characters is full of subtleties that contribute to a thrilling listen, particularly his depiction of the killer…Ballerini ensures that the end result is a thoroughly gripping listen.”
Booklist
The plot twists are clever and unexpected, the dialogue is colloquial and natural, and the characters...are vividly realized. Highly recommendable.
Suspense magazine
With an unmatched ability to create the perfect characters…Deaver takes fans to the edge in this one and dangles them over the cliff…One of the best books of 2016.”
RT Book Reviews
Deaver delivers another heart-stopping thriller in his Lincoln Rhyme series...The action, suspense and horrific crimes continue unabated.
Suspense Magazine
Deaver doesn't disappoint. With an unmatched ability to create the perfect characters...Deaver takes fans to the edge in this one and dangles them over the cliff...One of the best books of 2016.
The Big Thrill
If you're looking for a pedal-to-the-floor thriller with reversals and twists, this is the novel for you.
RT Book Reviews (4 stars)
Deaver delivers another heart-stopping thriller in his Lincoln Rhyme series…The action, suspense, and horrific crimes continue unabated.”
Associated Press
Deaver is a genius when it comes to manipulation and deception. Stellar plot twists are in full abundance in The Steel Kiss, and the story line veers in several unpredictable directions.”
BookReporter
Loaded from first page to (almost) last with suspense of one sort of another....THE STEEL KISS is a terrific novel.
New York Times Book Review
Darkly witty…unsettling.”
Huffington Post
Deaver at his best and when you are Jeffery Deaver this means the best of the best.
Connecticut News
[THE STEEL KISS is] like a master class in how to perfectly balance plot and character....A terrific novel.
From the Publisher
"Deaver is a genius when it comes to manipulation and deception. Stellar plot twists are in full abundance in THE STEEL KISS, and the story line veers in several unpredictable directions."—Associated Press
"Deaver doesn't disappoint. With an unmatched ability to create the perfect characters...Deaver takes fans to the edge in this one and dangles them over the cliff...One of the best books of 2016."—Suspense Magazine
"Darkly witty...unsettling."—New York Times Book Review
"Fiendishly inventive...all the usual thrills, which are worth every breathless minute."—Kirkus Reviews
"The plot twists are clever and unexpected, the dialogue is colloquial and natural, and the characters...are vividly realized. Highly recommendable."—Booklist
"Clever...entertaining...Convincing characters and an unexpected closing twist will remind readers why Deaver is one of today's top thriller writers."—Publishers Weekly
"Deaver delivers another heart-stopping thriller in his Lincoln Rhyme series...The action, suspense and horrific crimes continue unabated."—RT Book Reviews
"Deaver at his best and when you are Jeffery Deaver this means the best of the best."—Huffington Post
"Fans will marvel at the creative manner in which Deaver incorporates current technological and societal trends into the plots of his thrillers."—Library Journal
"[THE STEEL KISS is] like a master class in how to perfectly balance plot and character....A terrific novel."—Connecticut News
"If you're looking for a pedal-to-the-floor thriller with reversals and twists, this is the novel for you."—The Big Thrill
"Loaded from first page to (almost) last with suspense of one sort of another....THE STEEL KISS is a terrific novel."—BookReporter
Library Journal
02/01/2016
In Deaver's 12th Lincoln Rhyme novel (after The Skin Collector), NYPD officer Amelia Sachs tracks a sick and twisted domestic terrorist with a grudge against capitalism. Vernon Griffith, the People's Guardian, has stolen a long list of products installed with a DataWise5000 smart controller and, using a Wi-Fi remote and cloud technology, triggers products to malfunction and thus maim or kill victims—stairs on an escalator give way, a microwave explodes, a transmission disengages, a circuit box electrocutes, a band saw blade loosens, a stove seeps gas, and a baby monitor shocks a child. After much methodical and ingenious sleuthing, Sachs and her mentor, the paraplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme, follow a circuitous route of evidence across Manhattan until they finally identify the killer and the rationale behind the accidents. But they lose his trail. VERDICT Fans will marvel at the creative manner in which Deaver incorporates current technological and societal trends into the plots of his thrillers—in this case, remote devices signaling smart controllers. [See Prepub Alert, 10/4/15.]—Jerry P. Miller. Cambridge, MA
Kirkus Reviews
2016-01-10
The latest of Lincoln Rhyme's fiendishly inventive antagonists is a killer who rails against rampant consumerism online, then hacks into the Internet of Things to murder New Yorkers who've grown too attached to their computer-driven toys. Following a spotting of the perp dubbed Unsub 40 in a crowded shopping center, the NYPD's Amelia Sachs is at the point of apprehending him when a calamitous escalator accident claims her attention and bystander Greg Frommer's life. Unsub 40 escapes to plot further sabotage of the microchips that regulate the behavior of common household and industrial devices that might otherwise turn nightmarishly lethal—though he'd be even happier with the kind of hands-on violence that allowed him to swing a ball-peen hammer or wield a razor-sharp saw. Amelia directs Frommer's destitute widow, Sandy, to attorney Evers Whitmore and quadriplegic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme (The Skin Collector, 2014, etc.), who's now left criminal investigation to teach forensics and concentrate on civil cases, for their help in preparing a liability lawsuit against—well, against anyone they can find with plausible liability and substantial assets. For a while, it looks as if Amelia and Rhyme, her sometime lover, will be competing for expert help and resources. But their two cases predictably join together, freeing them to focus together on what they do best: turning over every clod of dirt in the Big Apple in search of Unsub 40, who continues, through a combination of cunning and uncanny good luck, to elude them. Deaver, evidently worried that he hasn't provided a generous enough banquet of felonies, interleaves a couple of complementary cases for Rhyme and Amelia's associates, but these are both subpar and distracting, though they do allow another of his patented multistage, 60-page denouements, though this time with gradually diminishing returns. Fans savvy enough to ignore the ill-advised extras and keep their eyes on the duel between Rhyme and Unsub 40 will be treated to all the usual thrills, which are worth every breathless minute.
