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THE VANISHED MAN
by Jeffery Deaver
Pocket Books, June 2004
560 pages
$7.99
ISBN: 0743437810


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I am a fan of this series and have been since the first book. Cheers to Deaver for a fresh take on crime and crime fighters. I liked Rhyme from the outset and am rather glad he still hasn't gotten over himself and continues to moan on about his fate and condition.

That said, why do writers stay with series characters when they are clearly bored stupid with their creations? This is a trend I, as a reader, blame almost entirely on marketing dweebs in the publishing industry, but am willing to dump a part of the onus on the writers who go along. Come on! If you're done with a character, do like Christie or Doyle and give him/her a decent finish then walk away.

In THE VANISHED MAN Deaver makes little effort to advance either lead character. He is clearly far more interested in the topic of magic than in plotting a decent thriller. Drawing from what appears to be an exhaustive amount of research, he interweaves seemingly unrelated plots about white supremacy, revenge, political assassination and serial killings.

The reader is entertained -- no question about that. Deaver presents the art and craft of theater magic in great detail and winds his information nicely into the story. But the details and the twists overwhelmed the complex crime thread. By the end of a long novel I was bored spitless and only annoyed by One More Cliff Hanger tacked on with such sloppy technique that I was sure Deaver was watching television or talking on his cell phone while writing the section.

In addition to the marketing creeps I'm inclined to blame whoever edits (or doesn't) Deaver's work for this book as well. A few hours spent tightening the text would have made a great deal of difference. This could have been a fascinating, well-paced story with just enough twists and surprises to keep the reader guessing instead of groaning. Further, while I realize most popular fiction pays little attention to point-of-view 'rules,' it is distracting even to the unaware reader to have blatant head switches within paragraphs. If Deaver doesn't spot it, an educated editor should!

Gripes (see above) aside, this was an interesting book, if more than a little annoying. I do recommend it to long term fans of the series but warn new readers not to bother.

Reviewed by Sharon Brondos, July 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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