The October List by Jeffery Deaver
From Goodreads:
Gabriela waits desperately for news of her abducted daughter.
At last, the door opens.But it's not the negotiators. It's not the FBI.It's the kidnapper.And he has a gun.
How did it come to this?
Two days ago, Gabriela's life was normal. Then, out of the blue, she gets word that her six-year-old daughter has been taken. She's given an ultimatum: pay half a million dollars and find a mysterious document known as the "October List" within 30 hours, or she'll never see her child again.
A mind-bending novel with twists and turns that unfold from its dramatic climax back to its surprising beginning, THE OCTOBER LIST is Jeffery Deaver at his masterful, inventive best.
I love Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme's series, but have only liked a couple of his stand-alone. So my expectation wasn't too high, but I just have to read his new book you know?
I actually ended up liking this - not his best work, but I like that he's trying something new (the story happened backward) and I think he pulled it off - I was able to guess one of the twists about half way or slightly later, but I like that the ending still surprised me.
However the book ended a little abruptly, and I do wish that there is an epilogue or something to tie back to actual ending (i.e. the beginning of the story). I actually ended up having to re-read the first couple of chapters to "close the loop".
The writing and plot was quite concise so it was a fast read. And ah, I missed my bus stop while reading this...
4 Stars (more like 3.75, but since I rate at 0.5 increments, I bumped this one up for trying something different.)
Note - The book was borrowed from the library.
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Hmm. I love Lincoln too but don't have the best of luck with his other ones so I resisted this, but now that I see it's different I might have to give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteI like that it's something new and really was just reading it to see how he could pull it off. It lacks the usual scientific details like in the Rhyme series, but I do like this better than most of his other stand alone.
DeleteI, too, really enjoy Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series (haven't read but a few though), so I requested this from NetGalley. After I received it, all I saw were so-so reviews. It is still waiting for me, but your post is encouraging. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read a lot of books that start from the ending, so I was really curious how he'd do it! I have read other so-so reviews but my curiosity got better of me :) Not his best for sure but I read it with a different mind set / expectation I guess.
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