Publisher's Weekly Review
This multinarrator effort enlivens the masterful plot twists in Deaver's 12 stories. Among the stories, "Fast" finds investigator Kathryn Dance in a battle of wits with a playful terrorist who won't reveal the whereabouts of a bomb planted in Monterrey, Calif. Narrator Kate Reading does a splendid job of increasing the suspense as the clock ticks. Keith Szarabajka lends a gruff, hardboiled tone to a high-stakes celebrity poker game in "Bump." Dennis Boutsikaris delivers crisp renditions of two yarns featuring the author's most popular hero, Lincoln Rhyme: "A Textbook Case," in which a canny killer checkmates the brilliant paraplegic sleuth's penchant for finding clues by emptying cans of garbage over the crime scene; and "The Obit," in which Deaver finds a unique way of providing readers with a detailed dossier on Rhyme. Boutsikaris also is responsible for the jaunty vocal mood that permeates "Forever," a novella that is the collection's longest, last, and, arguably, best entry. A Hachette hardcover. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Fans of the genre's most indefatigable prestidigitator are in for a treat: The third volume of his short stories (More Twisted, 2006, etc.) may be his best. "I hate ambiguous endings!" Deaver announces in his prefatory Author's Note. Fair enough, but there's plenty of ambiguity, some of it teasing, some of it nerve-wracking, in the middle of most of these dozen tales from the past ten years. Deaver regulars Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance appear in a pair of storieshe tangles with an exceptionally messy serial killer in "A Textbook Case"; she battles the clock to extract information from a white supremacist about the terrorist plot that's about to bear fruit in "Fast"that could have been sketches for their novels. In "Paradice," Hollywood location scout John Pellam crashes his truck, its brakes shot, into the western burg of Gurney and multiple betrayals. "Reconciliation" begins in a more ruminative vein, as a man returns to his hometown in the hope of somehow reconnecting with his uncaring late father, but ends with the usual Deaver surprises. Best of all are "The Weapon," another interrogation, this one with a sharper-edged punch line; "The Therapist," whose hero has a unique way of attracting and helping new clients; and "Bump," in which a has-been actor ends up in a reality TV poker show whose stakes are higher than he can imagine. The only real disappointments are "The Obit," an undernourished and eminently predictable tale that begins with Lincoln Rhyme's obituary, and "Forever," whose opening questionwhy are so many aging couples engaging in murder-suicide pacts?bogs down in disjointed plot twists and an ending that's, well, too ambiguous. Deaver describes five of these stories as new, and his publisher identifies five more as reprints. One of the others, "Bump," is a reprint as well. But what about "The Competitors," a routine tale of terrorism at the Olympics? It's just one more mystery.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This new collection from the maestro of the plot twist is a no-brainer for fans of tightly plotted short fiction: a dozen stories (some of them previously published) that showcase Deaver's gifts for story construction, character design, and out-of-left-field surprises. In addition to the various stand-alone stories, there's one featuring Kathryn Dance (of the California Bureau of Investigation and the lead character in her own series of novels), another starring John Pellam (the Hollywood location scout who starred in a trio of Deaver's earlier novels), and not one but two with Lincoln Rhyme (the quadriplegic criminalist, and Deaver's most popular character). Although all of the stories are solidly within the crime genre, they range quite a bit: there's a psychological thriller, a femme-fatale story with a noir feel about it, a private-eye tale, other variations on the theme. Deaver's novels, as his fans know, are intricate and deceptive; the most exciting thing about the stories is the way the author carries over the intricacy and deception to the shorter length. Required reading for the author's fans.--Pitt, David Copyright 2014 Booklist
