Book Review: The Empty Chair

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Empty Chair     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Jeffery Wilds Deaver
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Police Procedural
Series: Lincoln Rhyme # 3
Simon and Schuster, May 2000, $25.00, 432 pp.

Quadriplegic Lincoln Rhyme knows he is wheelchair bound for the rest of his life, but refuses to recognize any physical limitations. Instead he depends on his protégé Amelia to serve as his extremities on criminal cases they investigate for NYPD. She gathers the evidence that he analyzes. Together they have captured several felons.

The wily criminologist is always willing to participate in any cutting edge research in the hopes that a way will be found to at least lesson his paralysis. Accompanied by Amelia and his caretaker, Lincoln travels to North Carolina so that he can be tested for a new medical procedure. However, before he even checks in, the county sheriff asks Lincoln to help them find a missing teenage girl who has been abducted. Lincoln finds the kidnapper and his victim. However, Amelia breaks the boy out of jail, leaving Lincoln with the need to find them before the authorities kill them.

Jeffrey Deaver has written another compelling police procedural starring a powerful protagonist who rejects any notion that he is crippled. The audience will not pity Lincoln because they will admire his intelligence and fortitude. THE EMPTY CHAIR contains a fast moving plot and a wonderfully developed cast of heroes and villains. The romance between teacher and pupil is beautiful and a realistic triumph of the human spirit.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner