The Collateral Heart

A terrible arson in Manhattan burns an old building to the ground. Amelia Sachs—criminalist Lincoln Rhyme’s wife and crime scene investigator extraordinaire–manages to save a victim from a fiery death. And in doing so she makes an eerie discovery. The arsonist has left a package of clues that might hint as to their motive and where they will strike next.

As the perp prepares for another attack, and Rhyme and Sachs work feverishly to unravel the mystery, they cross paths with a detective from Long Island. Desdemona Vale is a sharp and unstoppable officer—balancing her fervent search for the killer of a young woman from her neighborhood, with the arduous task of caring for her two young granddaughters.

The searches for their respective villains lead Rhyme, Sachs and Vale improbably to another member of the cast: James Harper, a famed historian and the host of one of the most popular history podcasts in the country, a man who may, or may not, be able to shed light on the perp’s motive and identity.

As always in a Jeffery Deaver novel, the multiple, interweaving plots race along nonstop adhering to the template of a one-sitting read; nothing is quite what it seems to be; and the novel features three surprise endings!

More shockingly yet, as the layers of the plots are pulled back, Lincoln Rhyme learns to his dismay that he has a new nemesis—a worthy and terrifying successor to the Watchmaker. Can he stop the carnage in time? The answer is found on the very last page.