This is a really entertaining selection of short crime-based stories, very similar in their theme to the old Roald Dahl TOTU. Jeffery Deaver's habit of pulling rabbits out of hats at the end of every chapter can be a little bit exhausting in his novels, but it completely suits the style and pace of these rapid fire whodunnits. By about halfway through you really get into the swing of the book and find yourself double- and triple-guessing the author -- and sometimes you're right. And sometimes you're not!
Each tale has some neatly drawn characters, a nice set up and a great sting in the tail. There's even one involving Deaver's regular hero, Lincoln Rhyme, and another (maybe my favourite of the collection) with a certain famous English detective from yesteryear. In all of them, you can't be entirely certain who the bad guy is. If there is a bad guy at all...
It's not quite a five star read, because some of Deaver's descriptive prose is just plain clunky (he refers to someone as 'dark-complected'. Good grief), and the tales may be just too similar to be swallowed in one chunk. You need to pace them out a bit otherwise the characters start to blur into a bit of a mush. And don't be misled by the 'featuring Lincoln Rhyme' cover blurb; this is NOT a Rhyme novel, and he's only around for one of the stories.
Overall, however, it's a cracking, easy, enjoyable and intelligent read. I didn't see the first volume when it came out, so will order it pronto...
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