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The Twelfth Card
A New Lincoln Rhyme Novel By
Jeffery Deaver
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Jeffery Deaver has written some of the best-selling and critically acclaimed mysteries of recent years, including The Vanished Man and The Bone Collector (adapted into the popular Denzel Washington film). After last year’s World War II thriller, Garden of Beasts, the master returns to his most popular creation, quadriplegic forensic scientist Lincoln Rhyme.
In THE TWELFTH CARD (Simon and Schuster, June 2005, $25.95), the sixth book in the Lincoln Rhyme series, Rhyme and partner Amelia Sachs chase a brilliant contract killer through the mean streets of Harlem. As usual, the duo is racing against the clock—but now they’re also turning it back. The key to this breathlessly paced mystery lies in an unsolved case that’s 140 years old.
The action opens in a midtown library, as Geneva Settle, a high school girl from Harlem, researches a term paper. Lurking in the stacks is Thompson Boyd, a professional killer who has been hired to eliminate the girl and make it look like a rape. The street-smart Geneva eludes Boyd, but not before a librarian goes down in the crossfire.
Enter Lincoln Rhyme and his detective partner, the ambitious and beautiful Amelia Sachs. With Sachs “running the grid” at the crime scene and the wheelchair-bound Rhyme analyzing the evidence from his high-tech apartment/laboratory, they begin to home in on the killer.
Meanwhile, the ruthless Boyd still has Geneva in his sights—and he will eliminate anyone who stands in his way. Boyd is adept in the use of poison gas and explosives, but his greatest skill is misdirection. At the first crime scene, he leaves a Hanged Man tarot card—the twelfth card. Is this a vital clue, or merely a trick to throw the police off the trail? Who wants Geneva dead, and why?
Strangely enough, the answer may lie in the subject of Geneva’s term paper. Charles Singleton was Geneva’s ancestor and a former slave. Active in the early civil rights movement, he campaigned for the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, but was later arrested for theft and disgraced.
Searching Charles’ letters for clues, Geneva is determined to prove his innocence. But the facts don’t add up either way. What is the connection between Charles and the murder of a Tammany Hall henchman? What happened at the mysterious meetings in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Gallows Heights, attended by luminaries including Frederick Douglass? What was the terrible “secret” that Charles took to the grave?
Ingeniously orchestrated plot twists and multiple surprise endings—Deaver’s bread and butter—keep readers guessing through the final pages.
But Deaver is to up to more than his usual brilliant plot machinations. THE TWELFTH CARD is the most emotionally resonant Lincoln Rhyme novel since The Bone Collector, which kicked off the bestselling series in 1997. That first entry found Rhyme in despair and contemplating suicide. THE TWELFTH CARD brings Rhyme to a new crossroads. After months of physical therapy, doctors predict that Rhyme may regain some feeling in his limbs. For Rhyme, the prospect is at once exhilarating and terrifying. After all he’s been through, can he handle the disappointment if the therapy proves a failure?
Like Rhyme, the mystery men of THE TWELFTH CARD also quest to be whole. Civil rights activist Charles Singleton dreamed of being more than “three-fifths of a man,” as dictated by the law. Hitman Thompson Boyd suffers from a spiritual numbness that mirrors Rhyme’s physical state. Years in prison have transformed Boyd into an unfeeling killer, incapable of grief or joy. A relationship with Jeanne, a single mother, offers Boyd a chance at redemption—but will his killer instincts prevail? This odd triangle of criminologist, ex-slave, and killer lends THE TWELFTH CARD a thematic cohesion and depth that is rare in the thriller genre, and represents a high-water mark for the Lincoln Rhyme series.
Strong female characters are another Deaver hallmark, and THE TWELFTH CARD is no exception. A proud, self-reliant teenager who refuses to accept the limitations of growing up in inner-city Harlem, Geneva Settle has her own, secret reasons for proving her ancestor’s innocence. And of course there’s Amelia Sachs, whose expertise with a pistol belies a warm and decidedly feminine personality. She couldn’t be more different than the acerbic and often emotionally distant Rhyme; their unlikely partnership, both professional and romantic, forms the heart of the series.
With nailbiting action, surprises galore, and Deaver’s most three-dimensional and perversely sympathetic villain to date, THE TWELFTH CARD is the work of a master storyteller.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeffery Deaver is the author of twenty-one suspense novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Vanished Man, The Stone Monkey, The Blue Nowhere, The Empty Chair, The Devil's Teardrop, and The Coffin Dancer, as well as The Bone Collector and Speaking in Tongues. His latest novel, Garden of Beasts, is available in hardcover from Simon & Schuster. As William Jefferies, he is the author of Shallow Graves, Bloody River Blues, and Hell's Kitchen. He is a five-time Edgar Award nominee, an Anthony Award nominee, and a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers' Award for Best Short Story of the Year. Deaver was born in Chicago, attended and graduated from the University of Missouri, and received a law degree from Fordham University in New York. Readers can visit his website at www.jefferydeaver.com.
ABOUT THE BOOK
THE TWELFTH CARD
A Lincoln Rhyme Novel
By: Jeffery Deaver
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: June 2005
Price: $25.95
ISBN #: 0-7432-6092-9