Jeffrey Deaver -- Devil's Teardrop

Jeffrey Deaver -- Devil’s Teardrop

Personal Information:

Born May 6, 1950, in Chicago, IL. Education: University of Missouri, B.A.; Fordham University, law degree. Addresses: Home: Clifton, VA; CA. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents Inc., 250 W. 57th St., Ste. 2515, New York, NY 10107. E-mail: info@jefferydeaver.com

The Devil's Teardrop: A Novel of the Last Night of the Century (1999)

An emotionless assassin programmed to wreak havok on Washington, D.C. at four-hour intervals until midnight on New Year's Eve, 1999, is pursued by retired FBI agent and top forensic document examiner in the country, Parker Kincaid.....The story is full of twists and turns and nonstop action, and although he's by no means a major character, the quadriplegic New York criminalist Lincoln Rhyme makes a cameo appearance here.

RECOMMENDED SIMILAR TITLES

The 9th Judgment - James Patterson; Maxine Paetro

Cat & Mouse - James Patterson

Every Dead Thing - John Connolly

Lou Boldt/Daphne Matthews Series - Ridley Pearson

Lucas Davenport Series - John Sandford

The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

Silent Witness - Richard North Patterson

Swimsuit - James Patterson; Maxine Paetro

Series:

The Lincoln Rhyme Series:

The Bone Collector (1997)

The Coffin Dancer (1998)

The Empty Chair (2000)

The Stone Monkey (2002)

The Vanished Man (2003)

The Twelfth Card  (2005)

The Cold Moon (2006)

The Broken Window (2008)

The Burning Wire (2010)

The Kathryn Dance Series:

The Cold Moon (2006) — first appearance

The Sleeping Doll (2007)

Roadside Crosses (2009)

The Burning Wire (2010, appearance)

The Rune Series:

Manhattan is My Beat (1988)

Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990)

Hard News (1991)

The John Pellam Series:

Shallow Graves (1992)

Bloody River Blues (1993)

Hell's Kitchen (2001)

Read-alikes for Jeffrey Deaver:

While Thomas Harris' output doesn't begin to rival Jeffery Deaver's, his Hannibal Lecter tales are essential reading for Deaver fans. Red Dragon was the world's first peek at the monstrously intelligent psychiatrist, in this story of a behavioral scientist's pursuit of a brutal serial killer who targets entire families during the full moon. The narrative alternates between agent Will Graham's investigations and the chillingly warped psyche of multiple murderer Francis Dolarhyde, with the imprisoned Lecter manipulating both men. Like the best of Deaver's reluctant detectives, Graham's unwanted ability to place himself in the mind of the killer at each grisly crime scene leads him to details that begin to add up to an identity; all the while, the relentless calendar puts him under a deadline to find either the killer or his next victims.

Dennis Lehane won a Shamus Award for his first novel featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, A Drink Before the War. Since then, he has gone on to explore the effects of brutal crimes on these introspective detectives who are changed by the evil they confront. The pair's growing and changing relationship, along with gritty details of life in working-class Dorchester, Massachusetts, adds a stylish element to these compelling mysteries rife with twisted plots and explosive conclusions. A whole host of well-developed secondary characters fill out the stories and add a true sense of dimension to Lehane's writing.

Chris Mooney is a newcomer to the mystery scene, whose debut novel Deviant Ways won critical acclaim and justifiable comparisons to both Jeffery Deaver and Thomas Harris. Familiar elements crop up in this story -- a traumatized FBI profiler, a psychopath with novel methods, high-tech details -- but Mooney's focus on the characters and their interactions make this story rise above the run-of-the-mill serial killer chase. His follow-up, World Without End, begins to cross over into the Technothriller realm, but with that same attention to character development, plot intricacy and compressed time that makes Deaver such a good read.

Like Jeffery Deaver, Ridley Pearson is known as a master of plotting who has explored a variety of specialties (terrorism, accident investigation) in his standalone novels, but his Lou Boldt and Daphne Matthews series, starting with Undercurrents, set a higher standard for mysteries of forensic investigation. Combining Boldt's eye for a crime scene with Matthews' psychological insights gives readers the best of both worlds, while their on-again, off-again relationship, messy personal lives and empathy with victims make them genuinely human. Over the course of the series, Pearson also introduces readers to new characters who begin to take center stage from Boldt and Matthews; this evolution allows Pearson to maintain a familiar setting while evading the trap of a series with no room to grow.

Finally, who could read about Lincoln Rhyme solving crimes from his New York apartment without thinking of Rex Stout's classic detective, Nero Wolfe? Ensconced in his West 35th brownstone, surrounded by epicurean meals, books and orchids, Wolfe is served by his loyal legman and Boswell, Archie Goodwin. Like Amelia Sachs, Goodwin does the pavement-pounding and interviews, while the stay-at-home Wolfe reluctantly applies his brainpower to the crimesolving. The classic character has been revived and brought into modern times by author Robert Goldsborough, starting with Murder in E Minor. The first of the originals, Fer-de-Lance, is a good introduction to Nero Wolfe's genius. The revival pays homage to the original in keeping the violence low-key, so these Mysteries are for the fans of Deaver's puzzles and plot twists, not for those who look for cinematic action.

Andrew Smith is the Readers Services Librarian at Williamsburg Regional Library.

The Devil's Teardrop was made into a TV movie airing on the Lifetime network in August 2010. It stars Natasha Henstridge, Tom Everett Scott, and Rena Sofer.

Website:  www.jeffreydeaver.com