Jeffery Deaver delivers another breakneck thriller

You know what you’re going to get when you open a Jeffery Deaver novel. A well thought out plot, plenty of intrigue and danger, evil villains and clever good guys, and of course some very astute police work.  

In this regard, The Burial Hour does not disappoint. We see the return of forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme and policewoman Amelia Sachs on the eve of their impending nuptials. But, of course, things don’t quite go to plan when an eight-year-old girl witnesses the kidnapping in broad daylight of a man who is then thrust into the boot of a car. The only evidence left is a small noose made out of cello strings.

What follows next is a bizarre clip on social media of a man being slowly hung, and his breathing is providing an eerie soundtrack to his demise. Soon dubbed the ‘Composer’ the hunt is on for the perpetrator before the victim takes his last breath. Due to good sleuthing on the part of Lincoln Rhyme and his team, the man, a businessman is found and rescued before he is strangled. There appears to be no motive for the crime, but this is not the last we hear of the ‘Composer’.

Stefan Merck, alias ‘the Composer’ is a troubled young man who can only find peace through the sounds around him bringing him into what he sees as a type of harmony. This ‘harmony’ is his primary focus, and to attain it, he will do whatever he has to do. His unique sensitivity to music and sound has had him incarcerated in a mental health unit, as he can display aggressive and psychotic behaviour at times. He has managed to escape and is now on the hunt for his next victim.

The Rhyme and Sachs team are only just finishing the paperwork on this still open case when a Forestry Officer near Naples in Italy witnesses a man being kidnapped at a remote bus stop. The only clue left behind is a small noose and several footprints. Ercole Benelli is a bright young man and is immediately aware of a parallel case in America. He alerts the detective squad to this information and is seconded as part of the investigation team.

The man who has disappeared is a Syrian refugee, and soon he is being profiled on Social media being slowly hung whilst emitting sounds to complement the Composer’s music score. The Naples police team are astounded and upset when Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs arrive to investigate, in spite of being in a completely different country where they have no authority. Eventually, they are accepted as an advisory source of information, especially when their involvement leads to the victim’s whereabouts and rescue before he dies.

And now the plot really thickens. We are in a refugee camp not far from Naples. Vastly overcrowded, the authorities are struggling to maintain order and provide basic necessities. Stefan is spotted casing the outer perimeter, however, he is not yet a suspect until another male Syrian refugee is kidnapped just outside the camp.

There seems to be no motive, and as of yet, there are no deaths as the victims have been found alive. Meanwhile, a young American student enjoying the party life in Naples is accused of raping a young woman, and Rhyme is also called in to help advise at the request of the American consulate.

What seems to be a string of random trans-Atlantic events soon escalates into a terrorist plot and much more. Stefan Merck has not been yet identified or apprehended, in spite of the immediate police response. The Italian authorities reluctantly align themselves with the Americans as The Burial Hour gallops to the finishing line leaving the reader breathless as the whole case implodes. What I found particularly clever, and what also seems to be part of the Jeffery Deaver signature in this his thirteenth Lincoln Rhyme novel, is that nothing is quite what it seems, but to say more will ruin the story for you.

The Burial Hour hurtles along at breakneck speed with complex and engaging characters, plots and subplots and lots of wry humour. Lincoln Rhyme and his fiancé Amelia Sachs always make a great sleuthing team, with Rhyme’s being in a wheelchair just a minor inconvenience. This book will, of course, be snapped up in all of the bookstores, and deservedly so. It is as one clever critic put it, “dangerously good, distinctly Deaver”. I loved it, and I’m pretty sure you will love it too. Deaver never disappoints.

The Burial Hour by Jeffery Deaver (published by Hachette Australia) is available now from Dymocks.