The Broken Window
Jeffery Deaver
Simon & Schuster, Jun 2008, $26.95
ISBN 9781416549970
Wheelchair bound Lincoln Rhyme prefers to have nothing to do with his estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme, due to a long standing feud dating back to their adolescence. However Art has been accused of murder by the State of New York and like most caught criminals swears he is innocent; Lincoln assumes otherwise, but bowing to family pressure starting with a visit from Art’s wife Judy, who he has not seen since two years before the accident, the former NYPD crime expert agrees to investigate.
Lincoln and his legs partner detective Amelia Sachs begin digging into the background to Arthur’s case. They soon find anomalies as they dig below the surface. The pair also notice a seemingly tangential link to a data mining firm that collects and analyzes consumer data with customers unaware of it. That leads the pair to begin to hypothesize that someone is using the information to serially kill people and set up innocent people like Arthur to take the fall; but how to prove their theory and uncover who seems impossible when all the hardcore evidence convicts Arthur beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The case is fascinating with an implied warning that if one IT guru can do what the culprit did with data imagine what a government agency filled with such experts can do with data. Adding to the fun of the read, is the look into his extended family and the incident that caused a schism. Readers will appreciate this strong Rhyme entry as the investigation is top rate and the insight into his broken family ties superb while bundled around a cautionary Big Brother is here caveat
Harriet Klausner
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