Book #15 in the excellent Lincoln Rhyme series. Jeffrey Deaver is well known for writing psychological thrillers that set the example for other writers. His series and stand alones cover many topics in today's headlines and are very hard to set down once you've started. He also has an excellent series of short stories that are perfect for those times you are between volumes, after all he can't write them as fast as we can read them. But Lincoln Rhyme and his wife Amy Sachs are star characters that investigate crimes no one else can solve. But this time, Lincoln has been fired and threatened for investigating outside his authority. But if he doesn't solve this killer's spree, who will? Another tension filled story that will have you gasping when the many threads finally meet. 5 easy stars from me.

This was the first Lincoln Rhyme book, but it definitely won't be my last. A serial killer that sneaks into people's homes in the middle of the night, it's creepy, it kept me up at night. I now need to go back in time and read more from this series! Such a thrilling read!

As soon as I picked up this book and started reading, I knew this book was going to be hard to put down. The plot was really well written, and also the story.

Lincoln Rhyme and his wife Amelia Sachs race to solve a couple of strange break ins, that seem to not really look like anything has happened, hence the Locksmith. They race to stop the suspect and also race to make sure Lincoln doesn't go to jail.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this story, and the book is very hard to put down.

Jeffery has always written excellent books, but this one is at the top of the list. It is a definite must read.

I would absolutely recommend this book!

This book is the 15th in the Lincoln Rhyme series. I have read and enjoyed each and every one of them and this one is no exception. Lincoln Rhyme is a forensic scientist working for the NYPD. He also lives his life in a wheelchair after an incident occurring while investigating in a previous book. He has several people helping him including his wife, Amelia. Deaver's books are so very well written. You can tell he does his police procedural homework before writing such interesting books. The characters are interesting and the plot keeps rolling along at a fast pace. I would recommend this book if you like mysteries and forensics.

This was not my favorite Lincoln Rhyme novel and I’ve read most, if not all, of them. I’m not sure why but I struggled to stick with it and finish reading. The Locksmith was an interesting enough criminal, and there were a lot of twists and surprises, but something was lacking for me. The story seemed to involve more political maneuvering and not much action or excitement, and there were several plots going on that made things confusing at times.

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 30, 2021

The Midnight Lock weaves together several intriguing and timely themes. A tabloid publisher buys the rights to scandalous stories and kills the stories in exchange for political favors. A moderator for a YouTube clone needs to decide whether videos telling political lies or promoting violence should be deleted from the site. New York’s mayor, plagued with bad publicity about unsuccessful law enforcement efforts, decides to take the city’s failure out on private contractors rather than blaming the city’s police.

One of those private contractors is Lincoln Rhyme, the famed New York City criminalist who doesn’t let a wheelchair get in the way of solving crimes by analyzing flakes of dust. As the novel begins, Lincoln is being cross-examined in a murder case that he appears to have solved by analyzing six grains of sand. The cross-examination suggests that he was sloppy. The jury wisely decides not to base a murder verdict on six grains of sand. Outraged over unfavorable publicity about cases that the police seem to have botched, the mayor decides to shift the focus away from the city and blames Rhyme for the verdict. He cancels the city’s relationship with Rhyme and, in what seems like overkill, threatens to jail him for obstructing justice if he investigates any further crimes, and to discipline any cop who helps him.

The new rule might make Rhyme’s marital life awkward, given that he is married to Amelia Sachs, a cop who is intimately involved in his investigations. He also works with a team of cops who promptly ignore the edict and help Rhyme pursue The Locksmith, a fellow who picks complicated locks, enters the residences of women who live alone, and gazes at them. The well-founded fear is that The Locksmith will grow bored with gazing at women and will move on to more violent crimes. The reader will learn The Locksmith’s identity before it becomes apparent to Rhyme and Amelia.

It isn’t immediately clear how the family dispute over a publishing empire will play into the story. Imagine a Rupert Murdoch clone who gains a conscience and comes to believe that he should sell his holdings and invest the proceeds in an institute to advance ethical journalism. Hard to imagine, yes, but it’s easy to imagine that his family members will be displeased. Nor is clear how a social media influencer who has the credibility and following of Q will connect to the larger plot. A social media moderator is another key character who stars in a few chapters before the moderator’s role in the story becomes apparent.

Rhyme novels are always interesting. The Midnight Lock has less energy than some of the other books in the series, although it does give an action role to an ex-cop whose heroic exploits might allow him to return to the ranks of law enforcers. The story seems to be winding down long before it ends. That’s always a sign of misdirection. In a contrived ending, we learn that things were not as they seemed, but the surprise ending isn’t likely to surprise many readers. Still, the plot elements fit together nicely and it’s impossible not to learn something new while reading a Lincoln Rhyme novel. This installment isn’t special, but it's entertaining.

RECOMMENDED

Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are investigate a criminal nicknamed the Locksmith. Imagine waking up finding someone has been in your apartment (and you have a top notch door lock) while you were sleeping. They also rearranged things in her home. This story takes you through the suspenseful journey of uncovering what the Locksmith is up to and why. I learned a lot about picking locks that I never would have known or guessed. The book is true to a another Jeffery Deaver - grab your seat for the ride novel.

I would highly recommend this book and the author.

“Though I’ve seen it a hundred times in person, and a thousand in my mind, I look over the lock once more, perhaps the way a chess player regards his opponent before the first move.”

The Midnight Lock is a unique voyeuristic thriller and was definitely creepy! I never knew there was such an art to lock picking, and Jeffery Deaver provided so many interesting and detailed descriptions of locks and lock picking materials. I never knew so much went into making and picking locks!

I loved the plot twists and I was guessing who “the locksmith” was up until the very end. Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his police detective wife, Amelia Sachs are a powerful duo. This is book 15 in the Lincoln Rhyme series, so I have many books to add to my TBR now!

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will post my review on instagram @thrillersandcoffee

This Novel Is Like A Fine Cognac – To Be Savored

Annabelle Talese wakes up with a slight hangover from an evening with friends, but something is wrong. Her window is slightly open, her slippers are not next to the bed, and her phone is not on the night table where it should be. She then sees a plate with a half-eaten cookie. Someone’s been in her apartment not six feet from her while she slept. She hastily dresses and leaves to call the police. The action switches to Lincoln Rhyme testifying in court, but the defense attorney makes him admit that the evidence he examined could have been contaminated. As a direct consequence, an accused murder is found not guilty. The novel takes off from here.

The main storyline of this novel is the most complex that I have read, but still is quite comprehensible. I was never lost. There are numerous threads running simultaneously. Each one is extremely rich in detail. The numerous threads are intertwined, merge, and diverge over the course of the novel. Each thread had it twists, turns and what I call literary grenades that kept the novel as a whole fascinating. My interest was quickly captured and held tight all the way to the end where one thread had a literary tsunami that change my understanding of that thread completely. That is why I referred to this novel as like a Fine Cognac. The enjoyment of both should not be rushed.

For the B-storyline, it is there but a little thin. This is 15th novel in this series, so this may be expected. This is the first novel in the series that I have read. The author did have characters appear without identifying who they are, but within a few lines the relationship became apparent. They are all regular characters in the series. The B-storyline is the usual culprit that can make a new reader of the series feel that something is missing while reading. This did not occur for me, so you should be able to read this novel without any issues.

There are not any intimate scenes. There is some violence with both the more edgy as it occurs and the less edgy described after the fact. There is a noticeable use of vulgar and rude language, but not to the level that it raised a red flag so I would add a caveat to warn potential readers for any of these issues.

I really liked and, maybe, a little surprised that such a complex main storyline was quite easy to follow. This really shows the skill of Jeffery Deaver as a writer. I have read two novels from Colter Shaw series where Deaver’s writing style was very different. He is like an actor who successfully can perform completely different roles. I was happy with the ending, especially with the literary tsunami being the cherry on top of the ending. Because of the Colter Shaw series, I already have placed Deaver as a “Must Read” author. I will need to read some lighter novels before tacking another Lincoln Rhyme novel. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and rate it with five stars. If the teaser interests you, do give it a try, just do not expect an easy beach read!

I received a free e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Penguin Group Putnam. My review is based only by my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

I used to read every Lincoln Rhyme novel and then got out of the habit. That was a mistake. "The Midnight Lock" is a very satisfactory entry to the series, with a clever, clever villain dubbed, "The Locksmith," whose voyeuristic behavior terrifies women he has watched on the Internet; a blunder on Lincoln's part that gets a mobster off of a murder rap; a parting of ways between Lincoln and the NYPD; a conspiracy theory blogger called Verum; and the tie in of a famous scandal rag to the Locksmith's crimes. Add in a few particularly dysfunctional families, several fires; a disgraced cop from Albany who is head of security for the scandal rag and there's plenty of fodder for the forensic criminalist and his team. I'd forgotten what a master Deaver is at putting every clue WE need out there while weaving together multiple subplots through the primary case. Plus, you learn a lot about locks in the book.

The Midnight Lock is the 15th book in the Lincoln Rhyme series. Deaver is back with a great story.

"A young woman wakes up to find that someone has picked the supposedly impregnable lock on her apartment door. Personal items are rearranged and it looks like he sat on her bed watching her. Sachs and Rhyme are brought in and learn that the perp calling himself "The Locksmith" can get through any door. They must follow the evidence to find his true mission and track him down before he escalates to more than just watching the sleeping victims."

This is the Rhyme/Sachs story that we want from Deaver. There's a criminal with an unknown agenda that thinks they are keeping the crime scene pristine. But Rhyme can make a big deduction from the smallest piece of evidence. One difference in this book is that Deaver does not give the reader a big whiteboard of all the evidence every few chapters. It is listed a couple of times but shown differently than previous books. (This is an ARC so the finished book may be different)

There are a couple of storylines running throughout. Deaver does a great job bringing them together at the end with some explosive twists. You'll never look at a food truck the same way again.

I like that Deaver seems to have found the balance between introducing a topic and overexplaining. There is a lot of information about locks and lockpicking here but it seems more incorporated in the story than just the data dump from some previous books.

This is a fast-paced, wildly entertaining book from Deaver. He keeps you guessing to the very end. Fans of Rhyme/Sachs will enjoy this book. And fans of police procedural/crime fiction thrillers will definitely enjoy this one. This can be read as a standalone.

Fans of Jeffery Deaver (and what thriller aficionado in their right mind isn’t) will be excited at the release of the 15th installment in the bestselling Lincoln Rhyme series, The Midnight Lock. Several women who have influence on the internet are waking to find that someone has come into their homes and moved things around and watched them sleep. These women have so-called impenetrable locks for protection, and authorities have no idea how this person has gotten into their homes. It has scared them enough that they have found other places to live and it has ruined their lives. Lincoln Rhyme is investigating with his wife, Amelia Sachs and the regular team. Unfortunately, there are political goings on and Lincoln and his team are fired from the job and it is given to the incompetent police forensics department, who obviously can’t solve the crime. Amelia, et al, find some ways around it, and continue to investigate this case as well as a murder and other nefarious incidents related to the case.

Deaver is a master storyteller as well as character developer, and it is evident in the fact that all of his Lincoln Rhyme novels are bestsellers and keep fans on the edge of their seats. His imagination is amazing – no regular person could think these plots up – and he never seems to falter. Although some of the Lincoln Rhyme novels are better than others, and this isn’t his best, it is much better than some famous, sloppy writers who have others write their novels, and The Midnight Lockis definitely Jeffrey Deaver doing what he does best. Lincoln Rhyme is a unique protagonist, as well as Amelia Sachs, and they actually have flaws and readers can relate to them. This makes it so that it seems readers are learning about what is going on with familiar friends.

As is Deaver’s style, the dénouement doesn’t come till the very end, and there are multiple surprises. As usual, Deaver gets five stars for this one.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

The Midnight Lock, is super creepy, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved it but I am also terrified to sleep at night knowing that someone out there could be fascinated with breaking locks and into homes.

Jeffery Deaver is an incredible story teller and had me on the edge of my seat in suspense the entire time. Like I said before, I was absolutely terrified reading this novel. Multiples times I had to put it down just for the sole reason that I needed to catch my breath.

If you are looking for something that will thrill you to the bone, look no further, this is an easy 5 star read.

I’m a long time Deaver fan and have read all of his Lincoln Rhyme series, so I was very excited to be approved for the 15th installment, The Midnight Lock. You definitely don’t have to read all of the books in the series, you get small amounts of background on each character and the mystery doesn’t require you know all that has transpired in the past.

One of the things I love about this series is the use of forensics and the way it is explained in a way anyone can understand it while also still being very technical as a subject matter expert such as Rhyme would be. The majority of the book is a slow to steady pace until the end when everything picks up to a fast speed. There are several layers of events going on in the plot and while it did come together in the end, it felt like it was perhaps a tad overly complicated to have so many extra storylines going on at once. Fans of crime fiction, forensics and Lincoln Rhyme will enjoy this one. 4/5⭐️

Thank you @putnambooks and @netgalley for this DRC. The Midnight Lock will be out November 30.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

I have read most, if not all, of the Lincoln Rhyme books and have enjoyed most of them. This is not high on my “enjoyed” list. Now I want to say that I am comparing this to other Jeffery Deaver books not to books in general.

I was really enjoying the book at first. The storyline was holding my attention but then something happened. I just stopped being interested. I, honestly, can’t even tell you why. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mindset or something. Because the writing seemed off.

I do really appreciate who Lincoln Rhyme is. And the mind that Deaver has given him. He is a fascinating character and even though I gave this 3 stars, as I said it is based on other Lincoln Rhyme books because honestly Jeffrey Deaver is one of the best.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A man is breaking into womens apartments, moving things around but not harming them. Lincoln Rhyme is on the case until he is pulled by the mayor and banned from consulting for the police dept. There are all sorts of twists and turns to this story. I have to admit I didn’t see the ending coming. This is definitely an edge of your seat book. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

I've read and loved every single book featuring criminalist Lincoln Rhyme (this is the 15th), and I'm pretty sure of one thing: I probably wouldn't like him a lot - he's more than a little bit on the arrogant side. That said, there's no one I'd rather have investigating a case in which I'm an innocent suspect than the master of evidence. This book did nothing to change that opinion and maybe enhanced it given the restraints that are placed on him and his team of experts.

Testifying for the prosecution in a case involving a known gangster, the defense attorney drills holes in Rhyme's evidence-collection skills and the accused is acquitted. When that happens, the powers-that-be put the blame squarely on Rhyme and declare that the department no longer has need of his consulting services. That presents a bit of a dilemma since his current case - involving a break-in artist known as the Locksmith, a person who slips into residences and rearranges things while the victims are sleeping - is just starting to get interesting.

Needless to say, Rhyme and his team, which includes police Detective Amelia Sachs (also his wife), have no intention of shutting down, but they do need to be careful not to run afoul of the police muckity-mucks. For those who have followed the series for a while, there are several references and comparisons to the Watchman, another Rhyme nemesis, who is believed to still be "out there" somewhere.

I will say that the story has several threads that make it a little harder to follow than some of the others (including an incognito conspiracy theorist and a mega-wealthy family that owns a highly successful "sensationalist" newspaper), and some of the explanations - such as how locks work - tend to get a little tiresome at times. But Rhyme's thought process, and Sachs's instincts, more than make up for those transgressions. One scene in particular is one of the most nail-biting I've experienced in many, many books (thank goodness it didn't last longer than it did - I couldn't have held my breath much longer).

In the end, most things are resolved with a few surprises thrown in, setting Rhyme's team up for their next adventure (for the record, I'm hoping that one character new to this book gets tapped for more). I'm more than ready, so bring it on. Meantime, many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for once again allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one. Good job!

A sociopathic intruder with master lockpicking skills terrorizes the women of New York City as he stalks his victims and watches them as they sleep. Forbidden from working this case, Lincoln Rhyme has lost his consulting position with the NYPD due to an error made during another case which sets a mob boss free. There are many twists and turns in this novel which will make you want to stay up until you finish. Although I was unnerved at times, I loved the roller coaster ride thriller that Jeffrey Deaver is a master at writing. If you're looking for an unpredictable, captivating page-turner, I highly suggest you read this book!

One of my favorite crime-fighting couples, Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, are back searching NYC for a person who is breaking into women's apartments that had supposedly impregnable locks. He arranges things in the apartments so when the victim wakes up, she will know that someone was in her space while she slept. The killer, known as the Locksmith, is terrorizing New Yorkers. He can break through any lock or alarm.

While this is going on, criminalist Lincoln Rhyme is terminated by the NYPD when it is discovered that he supposedly made a mistake in one of his previous cases. That makes his involvement in the case risky.

This is a fast-paced book that shows Rhyme and Sachs at their crime-fighting best.

The Midnight Lock by Jeffrey Deaver. I haven't read a Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic forensic scientist and criminologist, book in years, but I enjoyed reuniting with the familiar and relatable characters and the suspenseful, complex plots.

One thread has a young woman awake to discover that while she slept, someone has been in her apartment, moving things around, eating cookies while sitting in a chair watching her sleep, then taking a pair of her underwear, and leaving a note signed "The Locksmith" behind. Creepy--especially as part of the story is told from the Locksmith's pov. The indication is that at this point, the Locksmith is content to just mess with her mind. But he has other victims lined up as well, perhaps with intentions to more than frighten his victims.

The other plotline has Lincoln Rhyme forced to admit to a forensic error in the trial of a powerful and influential mobster. It results in the Mayor ending Lincoln's job as consultant for the NYPD, which also means that he has to surrender all evidence in the Locksmith case as well. He is not to be involved in any police work. But Amelia Sachs, Ron Pulaski, and Lon Sellito work at getting around the constraints placed on Lincoln by the Mayor.

There is quite a lot going on in this book--devious and twisty misdirections keep the reader from fully seeing the entire picture and there are threads that tangle in unexpected ways.

I enjoyed a revisit to the Lincoln Rhyme novels and really should catch up on some the books I've missed over the years.

NetGalley/Penguin Group. Nov. 30, 2021. Print length: 400 pages.