Getting engaged. What a wonderful time in your life. When your special someone “pops the question” and gives you the ring. Wealthy, eccentric, couples love to show off their engagement rings. The bigger and more opulent the better. Now there’s a murderer, dubbed the Promisor by the media, who has turned this happy time inside out. The Promisor has a love for diamonds too. Uncut. Untarnished. The raw, beautiful stone as it was unearthed. He is disgusted by the thought of this precious gem being flaunted on the “miserable fat fingers of rich women.”
The police want The Promisor caught quickly and as quietly as possible. Three murders and a wounded eyewitness on the run, in Manhattan’s Diamond District. Tortured victims and millions of dollars worth of jewelry left untouched. Obviously, robbery is not what motivates The Promisor. (Jeffery Deaver knows how to get a reader’s attention.)
As if chasing this elusive killer and trying to find the missing witness wasn’t enough, Deaver throws in a few subplots for our enjoyment. Multiple earthquakes in Brooklyn have resulted in gas leaks and explosions, sadly claiming the lives of several citizens. These rare occurrences are centered around an active geothermal drilling site and protestors are quick to blame them. Is it a coincidence? Of course not, this is a Lincoln Rhyme story.
Now while getting to the bottom of these earthquakes and chasing a remorseless killer, Rhyme somehow has time to get involved in yet another case. This time he seems to be switching sides. At least that’s the way the dirtbag prosecutors see it. Rhyme and Ron Pulaski begin digging into the prosecution of a Mexican drug lord who claims the evidence in his case has been tampered with and fabricated. We can always count on Rhyme to follow the evidence and present the truth. Even if that means exonerating a criminal and pursuing a case against federal prosecutors. Pulaski and Rhyme have put themselves in jeopardy simply by “looking into the case.” Although operating on a genius level, Rhyme is quite slow on the uptake this time. Maybe it’s his sense of service – I don’t know. He just did not see what kind of people these prosecutors really were.
In 1997 I read The Bone Collector and I was hooked! Over the years some books have been great, while others… well, not great. Still good – just not great. The Cutting Edge is the 14th book in the Lincoln Rhyme series and it is a solid, good read. The main story and multiple subplots are interesting, exciting, and feature plenty of classic Deaver style writing. The short, crisp chapters make for a fast read. Until you get to the detailed, I mean detailed information on diamond mining. It gets tedious, almost mind-numbingly so at certain points and a good 50 pages read like stuffing… just to make the book longer. But the story is worth the effort, stick with it. There’s a lot going on in the Cutting Edge and Deaver weaves everything up in a cliff-hanger style ending… leaving just enough string to keep us hanging until the next chapter in the Lincoln Rhyme saga. I can’t wait!
Happy Reading!